Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments considering grade acceleration

DD7 (almost 8) is in 2nd grade at a very small gifted school. She started out in kindergarten in public school and after a couple of years of minimal acceleration/differentiation there we moved her to the new school this year. Overall she has been happy and finally feels that she is learning. She is in a multigrade class, basically 1-3 grade. They use a gifted curriculum and work at least a year ahead in language arts, social studies, history, creative writing. The math teacher has the children split into groups by ability but she is able to differentiate further and provide more challenge if needed. DD started the year in the middle group and worked ahead until the teacher moved her up to the top group. Next year they plan to have a K/1 class, a 2/3 class and a 4/5 class as the school expands a little.

In the past month or two DD has been asking to skip a grade. At first I didn't pay that much attention to be honest as it was not something I was considering. Now she is becoming rather insistent. So, I figured I should talk to her teachers about how she was doing and how different the 2nd vs 3rd curriculum will be and let them know that DD wanted to go to 4th. Her math teacher thought for a minute then said that whatever we decided she could give DD additional challenge however she felt that DD learned very quickly and was focused and motivated and thought she would have no problem skipping to 4th grade. She is currently doing 4th to 5th grade math right now (but the current 4th and 5th grade students are working well beyond that). Then I met with her language arts teacher who thought about it a minute then said that DD's writing and vocabulary stand out (as excellent) and she has never come across anything that DD does not know how to do. Her reading comprehension and analysis are above level. Overall she felt there were not be much different if she went to 3rd grade next year as she is already performing at least at that level.

Ok. So now I am in a perhaps eviable position that the private school is completely open to just "moving her up" to 4th and into the next class. If it doesn't work out we can easily move her down. I know that if we were still in public school that grade skipping is much harder to get. I am now a bit uncomfortable keeping her in 3rd as the teacher didn't feel it would challenge her. I know the math teacher could give her more but honestly I feel that DD's performance will rise to the top (or near the top) of whatever group she is in (within reason). If she is in a class of 4th and 5th graders then she will work to be at their level. If she is at the top of the class already then I don't think she will push to do more. She certainly didn't at public school. Socially I don't think it is a big deal right now. It is a small school and the kids play together at recess, lunch etc and have enrichment type classes altogether in the afternoon (art, computer, chess, theater etc). I am a bit nervous about moving her up a grade as I really don't want her to go to middle school early. This is especially true if we move her back to public school at that point which will be a tough transition I think (tiny school to large school). We had even considered whether we wanted to move back to public school this year or next because there are better teachers for 3rd, 4th , 5th and because of cost of the private school and some considerations for her younger sister. Overall I think we are better where we are but we are considering all options including pursuing a skip to 4th at the public school where she would hopefully be in a 4th/5th grade class that is advanced.

I have heard about the Iowa Acceleration scale but do not know what it includes. We do not have achievement test results for example and I suspect it might use those results. I am wondering if there is any use in having her tested even though the school is not requiring anything. If we did consider returning to public school with acceleration would there be a problem if we did achievement testing and then the school wanted to do their own testing? Is there anything else that we need in order to use the Iowa Acceleration scale or is it even necessary to go through any of that if the school is willing. I am just afraid to take this decision too lightly just because the option is easy to do.

We are already thinking about skipping DD4 into kindergarten next year. She barely misses the K cut off and the private school doesn't have a problem with her starting K early.

I'm just not sure how I feel about my soon to be preschool and 3rd grade children (next year) becoming K and 4th graders instead. But of course I want them to have challenge and enjoy school. I know many children on this board have accelerated and been happy. These decisions are so hard! Then again, when I mentioned to DD that I was considering the skip but I hated to have her go to middle school a year early she said, "No problem. I'll just take a year off to work and earn money for college." So thats helpful Not sure how much she will earn at 10 years of age but you never know.

Your situation is so similar to mine except for our dd's ages. In our case school recommended that we skip k and go to the 1-5 grade level for 1. Teacher is flexible and further accelerated dd with challenging content. We also has the option to undo the skip if at any point we felt uncomfortable. We agreed to the skip and it was the best decision. When you have a school that is so child focused and flexible, you can't go wrong, imho. I had the same concerns about sending a newly turned 5 to 1st grade but her maturity level and social skills have developed to match her classmates', and all in a good way- no unwanted growth in maturity . So I say go for it. All the best with your decision!

There is a good review of the Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS) on Hoagies Gifted Education Page here, information provided by the publisher (Great Potential Press) here, information from the developers (Belin-Bank & University of Iowa) here. The Iowa Acceleration Scale is now in the 3rd edition, 2009. This is sometimes called IAS3.

The IAS does take achievement test results into account. The benefit to having your child tested, even if not required by the school, is that you may learn information about your child which may be helpful for ongoing education planning as well as for day-to-day parenting.

A parent who wishes to become familiar with the discussion guides, but whose school does not require the IAS tool to be utilized as a part of a decision making process for acceleration, may purchase just the manual to read through. The manual contains about a dozen interesting case histories and summaries of relevant research.

Other recent threads on the topic of acceleration, which anticipate impacts in future years, include
Grade skipping thoughts
Grade skipping tradeoffs

The IAS tool helps parents gather and record facts/evidence to be weighed in decision making, shifting the focus of the process from away from how one "feels" about the opportunity to accelerate, and more about what one "thinks" and "knows" about the aptness of the opportunity for a particular child at a particular point in time, helping parents feel more assured in their decision. In this way, the use of the IAS may help remove angst and second-guessing. As circumstances change, having a set of data may help with future decisions as well... for example, an additional grade skip, or undoing a skip.

Best wishes with your decision.

If she skips into the 4/5 class next year but at the end of 5 you think she isn't ready for middle school can she do an extra year at the elementary school? If she completes elementary school several years ahead is there a gifted middle school because if not she may need to skip all or part of middle school anyway. Is it likely she will be allowed to do that? Can you homeschool middle school?

thanks for the additional details about the Iowa Scale. The Hoagies review especially helped me to understand what data goes into it.

The best thing about this potential skip, I think, is that it is pretty flexible. I believe I could even keep her labeled a 3rd grader and put her into the 4th and 5th grade class which would make it easy if we wanted to keep her there for 2 more years. We could start off that way and then make her an official 4th grader at some point during the year if it was working out or leave her at 3rd if we wanted to keep her there longer. The school is adding middle school next year though I do have qualms about keeping her in such a small school environment. The middle school group is expected to be about 20 children in 6-8 grade. Our other option is the public middle school. They are supposed to be pretty good and one of them has a fairly new fully inclusive gifted program. Hoping they will start one in the other school though which is a couple blocks from our house while the other one is 10 min drive. I've also considered transitioning her back to the public school before the transition to middle school. There is a 4/5 class at the public school that is supposed to be pretty advanced. I am sure it would still be a step backward to go there but if we go to public middle school then it might be worth it. I'm not sure about the homeschool option. I am not sure it would work that well for us.

You may already be aware of this: While some gifted programs may be flexible and provide the appropriate level of curriculum and pacing for each student, other gifted programs simply teach "one year ahead." You may wish to ask gently probing questions when you tour the school. Having your child shadow can also provide good insight into the quality of the gifted program. There are lists of questions to ask when making a school selection.

Yes, I am expecting that the gifted program at the middle school is not going to be super challenging. We will just cross that bridge when we get there. Our only choices would likely be the gifted school she is at with the small middle school or the public gifted tract. I don't think homeschool will be an option. It will be a problem to let her learn at her pace now and then hit a wall in middle school but it seems worse to hold her from learning now.