Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy How to advocate?

Some may say the school does NOT feel that is necessary, as they've made their decision utilizing other criteria and you presenting more data may challenge their thinking and complicate the process.

My thought is to not give away your power to the school by asking if they want the data. If you believe you have important/relevant data, then gather it, copy it, present it, and document that you've done so.

There is a lot of information about Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments by Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), and their RIT (Rasch unIT or Rasch Interval uniT) scores, on the company website and archives at nwea.org. Content changes frequently.

It is my understanding that the RIT score indicates the point in the curriculum at which the child answers 50% of the questions correctly, therefore does not indicate mastery, and is intended to pinpoint each child's zone of proximal development (ZPD). However this is predicated on learning material and developing skills in the curriculum's prescribed order (or learning continuum)... which not all children do.

There are also RIT growth targets.

Stagnation may result from a ceiling effect... not teaching a student new things, or may indicate a benign "gap" which would not preclude the individual from having a solid foundation and learning other skills seamlessly, or may indicate some type of learning difference or learning disability and may need to be explored further.

Also, MAP is being renormed very soon...2015 norms are in the process of being released, I believe. This could potentially impact your DD's percentiles (possibly for the better, as I believe that the preliminary norms suggested that many mean scores have gone down in recent years. https://www.nwea.org/content/uploads/2015/06/2015-MAP-Comparative-Data-One-Sheet-JUN15.pdf

My youngest missed the advanced 6th grade LA class by one percentage point (and one actual point) on the MAP Reading. She had the required F&P Level Z.

I wasn't going to fight for placement in an LA class, since I think our middle school LA classes are pretty useless. Yesterday we received an "override" form so that she can be placed in the advanced class. We will fill this out so she'll be in the advanced section - don't know if you have any such options. (I didn't know this was an option, but I have learned that there is stuff like this in our district due to "those parents" - and my youngest has benefited from the work of such parents.)

I really wouldn't worry about middle school LA unless your district offers something special. Our older ones got more out of mom or dad going over their essay with them than the middle school teacher instruction.

I would see if your district has waiver or override forms. We have used them for middle kid (for complex scheduling issues), though at one point the HS tried to force her to sign one for gym class. To make her schedule work with the required 10th grade swimming (yep, cannot defer swimming until 11th), they wanted her in advanced swimming with the swim team members. She is NOT a good swimmer. Made something work with a group one step down from advanced, so not perfect but she didn't drown.

Best of luck, but I wouldn't worry too much.

Thanks, all! I am worried that I've already annoyed personalities at the school, but so be it. But, I have to advocate for my kid. She had a RIT of 218 in first grade. In third grade she went up to 229. And that is the sum total of the growth that she experienced in elementary school. She says that she reads every third word on "those boring tests." I believe her. I guess I have to tell her to slow down and pay attention. It's especially hard because they invited her to test and her own self-esteem has been impacted by this experience. There is a Science Olympiad team, and she was intrigued by it, but then saw that there is a "try-out" date on the flier and said that she didn't want to do it anymore. It's hard because she's an eleven-year-old and I see so many insecurities creeping in. I don't think that there is a lot in the curriculum that would be great for her, but I do think that being clustered with other curious and bright kids would be a boost for her. But, maybe being in the regular class will be good because she'll have time to read whatever she wants at home. I'll try to calm down about it all!

That's about the age when girls may begin to hide their talents. Your daughter may be engaging in self-sabotage by only reading every third word of a test she was invited to sit for, and by avoiding Science Olympiad tryouts.

Without pushing, you may wish to help her explore the Science Olympiad website, discuss a time when you may have tried out for something for which you did not make the cut but still found the tryout experience to be valuable, and see if she can reignite her spark of interest.

Attending tryouts is as much about a child deciding if s/he finds the extracurricular to be a good "fit", as about the organizers of the extracurricular seeing which children are believed to be a good "fit". The experiences of acceptance, rejection, resilience, and refining what may be a good "fit" are all great practice for job interviews (including babysitting) and also for the college selection process. You may also wish to reinforce that everything worthwhile and rewarding does not necessarily come "easily" or "naturally" but may take effort, practice, and persistence.

Kids with multiple talents and interests may want to tryout for several extracurriculars throughout middle school and high school. If you are not already helping your daughter collect samples of her work, this may be a good time to begin a portfolio or resume of your daughter's activities and accomplishments, including extracurriculars, contests/competitions, outside classes, and a list of books read.

Just wanted to chime in about science olympiad tryouts; i haven't read the whole thread, but agree with Indigo avove. It would also help to get some inside info about your school's team- teams vary quite a bit. Our DD was also put off by the idea of tryouts, but after much coaxing and a personal shove from a beloved teacher, she ended up attending. She knew early on in the tryout process (it lasts several weeks here) that the team would be a good fit and that she wanted to be on it. The SO experience has been a defining one of her middle school years- she found a tight-knit, supportive peer group, encouraging teachers/coaches who understood her, and limitless opportunity for intellectual challenge. Her confidence has soared, and she has explored in depth many areas of science not typically touched on in middle school (often using AP and college texts, lots of independent research, etc).

Just be aware that some teams are quite competetive, even between the team members (depends on how the team is organized/coached, and whether they have to compete amongst themselves after joining the team. Here, all the competition is in making the team; once you are on it it is completely collaborative, but they dont all work this way). The SO website is a good introduction, but you really want to know how the specific team functions before choosing to encourage your DD. Also, be aware that SO can involve a significant time comittment, again, depending on how the team is structured. For DD this was a positive, as she would probably be reading about/doing science much of the time anyway, but it does limit other extracurricular opportunities.

Best of luck to your DD!

Yes, when advocating on our children's behalf,
sometimes we are promoting an idea to the schools...
other times we are promoting an idea to our children.