Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments skipping 2 or 3 grades mid-year?

aeh- thank you for your input and experience. I agree whole-heartily that I don't want to place him in a class where he may be able to keep his head above water. I want him to be comfortable, confident, but still learning some new material. Thank you also for encouraging me to follow my "gut". I understand that the MAP-M would give us more information, but I think we're trying to make this decision before the next testing window.

ashley- True, it's not our only chance for acceleration. There's actually an option for all students in 3rd grade to test into a compacted curriculum for 4th &5th, which covers 4th-6th grade in two years, so that they're ready for pre-algebra in 7th grade. That may be an option for us as well. I could certainly send in a packet of work for him to do during his extra 30 minutes in homeroom, but the school seems open to letting him use a computer for a more systematic approach, but I'm not sure what to suggest.

Are they thinking of using a math program like EPGY (now Redbird) or something else?

aeh's advice is right on. Also, this is where you need to know where students in your son's school are...in our DC's school, a 4th grader would typically be VERY solid in multiplication facts (fluent). Remember that MAP is supposed to be untimed. Your DS might not have the luxury of figuring out through addition how to multiply in a higher grade-level class where other students are already fluent in facts (and this could make him stressed or uncomfortable). I would not want to place a child in that math class if they would likely be a weaker member of that class. Students in 3rd grade, on the other hand, are more likely to be learning to become fluent in their multiplication facts.

Another option would be to ask your school..."can we try this for 30 days and revisit, if needed?" That way, if 3rd is too easy for him, you might be able to adjust his level.

The wonderful upside to all of this is that your school is open-minded and flexible!

In your situation, I would aim for a pathway that gets him into the 4/5 compacted class, assuming this is a gifted service, even if it sounds like it takes him to the content a little later. If it's compacted to honor the needs of gifted learners, that is, reducing repetition and minimizing the drills, then this will be a better fit to both his age and learning needs, as well as bringing him into an environment of gifted kids. In contrast, the current 4th grade class has those kids missing from the classroom, the content will move more slowly, and will likely involve more drill & homework.

I have requested that math accelerations be based on curriculum-based testing. The MAP scores are something that motivate the discussion of an acceleration, but the level would be better decided by the grade level on which he can show proficiency in the curriculum. This means he can demonstrate not only mastery of the concepts, but can perform then in the context of how the school teaches it.

DS went from K->2 for the last 12 weeks of K based off of standardized testing and end-of-1st semester curriculum-based test of 2nd grade math. He then skipped 1st grade, but stayed in 2nd grade math for the first quarter with the agreement to re-evaluate at the end of the quarter. After those 9 weeks, his teacher started compacting 2/3 for him, and we formally accelerated again into a 4/5 compacted class as a 3rd grader once he scored highly on the end of 3rd curriculum-based test.

This approach of effectively skipping 1 year, make a plan for when to re-evaluate, and skip again, worked really well. We were also able to time it to put him into the gifted cluster, which meant that he was getting the pace and depth that he needed with peers that weren't as old as they would have been otherwise. He's now doing another compaction program for middle school math. Pacing & "peer" group (2 years older) are really important to keeping him engaged.

The next thing to consider: Scheduling is the bane of our existence. I would ask the school develop a plan for each remaining year of elementary school so that he can both access his math education and the rest of his education. I have found that beginning the discussion of scheduling by January for the subsequent year is necessary to achieve anything close to workable.

Thank you Loy58- I was looking at Redbird last night and that might be an option. I had suggested CTY, but it is a lot more expensive and we'd have to convince the school to pay for it. Your point about the multiplication facts is very valid and the amount of time it would take him to compensate for not being fluent in those facts. I'm certainly leaning towards the 3rd grade placement, but all these considerations are really helpful in making our case. A 30-day trial is a great idea too.

geofizz-I'm glad to hear that your acceleration plan for your DS went well and seems like a solid plan. We'd be accelerating 2 years right now, with the option of skipping another one through the compacted program in the coming years. Thank you for suggesting advocating for scheduling now for next year, that will be our next step!

You've already received great advice above and I don't have anything to add to it other than, it's important to know and understand the math curriculum and program in your own elementary school and school district. For instance, in our schools, fluency in math facts wouldn't really be a barrier to getting work done until a student reaches pre-algebra, and once students reach pre-algebra, students are allowed to use calculators. My dysgraphic ds was never able to do any math fluency worksheet quickly but he had no issues with multiple grade math acceleration. Ability to understand and manipulate fractions, however, was something that slowed down quite a few of my dd's friends and was an obstacle once they hit pre-algebra/algebra. My gut feeling on that was it was due to the our elementary school math curriculum in the early grades, and my dd didn't have the same issue because she'd had a traditional math tutor take her through fractions etc (she'd fallen behind in math due to vision issues and needed outside tutoring to make up for lost time).

Best wishes - I hope you're able to work out a schedule with the school!

polarbear

These posts are so helpful and have great advices. We are currently in a somewhat similar situation with my DS7. He took the MAP k-2 test in the fall and got 213 on the math test. We are currently not considering grade skipping but is advocating with the school for an accelerated cirruculum for him.

The principal actually suggested to have my DS taking the MAP 2-5 test to better understand his current level in math, before we meet. He doesn't need to take the reading test because the school already had enough information for that. So I am wondering if you request the school to administer the test just for your DS, maybe they can do it without waiting to the next test time?

By the way, I was originally scheduled to meet with the principal, DS' first grade teacher and the LA and math specialists yesterday but the meeting got cancelled and we still have to reschedule. I hope this is not a bad sign. They have been pretty on top of things...

Thank you polar bear. I think we need some more information, both on where he is in regards to the curriculum at our school and how important it is for him to be fluent on his facts. Honestly, trying to do some of the 4th grade work this weekend has been stressful, he doesn't know how to do some of it and gets very frustrated. At this point I'm wondering if he should even be in 3rd grade math. They didn't even suggest 2nd, but since they didn't share much data about his abilities compared to the curriculum, I'm starting to wonder if they got ahead of themselves because of his strong reasoning skills.
ajinlove- I'm sorry your meeting was cancelled. We actually requested an EMT, which by law they have to hold in 30 days. All that was required was for me to email and request one, and the clock started ticking. Just an idea :-)

Is the compacted course actually compacted or does it just mean the do half the work as homework? I would find someone in the class and check. Also based on personal experience i would not make plans based on something available in the future - so far walk to maths and the intermediate extension programme have both been abolished at the end of the year before my son qualified

Thank you mom2R&R. I actually sent in the WISC-V test result to the school and asked for a meeting after the winter break. The psych who tested my DS did say that the school is required to meet with me within 30 days after I send in the report. SoI am hoping we will have the meeting within the next couple of weeks :-)

DS always liked math, liked to talk about it, loved numbers. We would give him problems to solve in his head when we were driving. I tried to teach him new things and realized that since I did not have a plan that I was leaving huge gaps so we went to IXL to fill those in.

He was quite accelerated and after a few years of back and forth with the school we settled on having him do EPGY during school. Biggest issue here was that he went through four grades of school in 6 months, much of this due to him already knowing the EPGY material. So be aware - using EPGY may not slow him down.

At some stage, I made flash cards through 20 for his multiplication. He memorized these over a long period of time, typically doing a few at a time on long car rides. He is in 7th today and still reviews these cards once every six months or so and believes those cards have been a huge help to him.

He wants to take Calculus now and arguably could have this year but we have slowed him down through AOPS courses on combinatorics/# theory. We have bought the AOPS books and he works through them independently and once finished he takes the online course. He likes this approach.

The downside we have is that he learns math independently as he is too accelerated for his school. He loves to talk about math so we found a math club and also have him go to a tutor periodically (a professor from a local college). They do not have a set program but talk through what he is working on usually. He really looks forward to this.

If we were doing it over I think I would have tried to slow him down even more early on as it is not great to have him studying independently. Also we might have tried to get him into a school that it would have been easier to have him attend higher level math classes with other kids. Just thought I would share our experience. It is not a great situation to have them several grades ahead of their peers but in our case better than having them sit in a class where he is not interested.