Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Credit by Demonstrated Mastery/ need feedback fast

Credit by Demonstrated Mastery is an option in our school district. I have wondered if taking the assessment for Biology to show mastery and go on to the next class might be an option for DD11. There are several reasons I might be interested in this for DD: she consistently receives high 90's in her 7th grade science class without trying. She took the 7th grade level Iowa (ITBS) at age 9 and received her highest scores in science (85th%)). She is already grade accelerated into 7th grade and the work load is usually easy. I asked DD is she is learning anything in science now. She had to think about it awhile and stated she learns "some things". Finally, at home she's a sponge for science Youtube videos so she likes science quite a bit.

So, the idea of giving her the opportunity to take higher level science sounds good. What are the pros and cons? What do I need to think about with this option (would it adversely affect college applications for example).

Darn. Just spoke with the guidance counselor. DD, if she showed she had "demonstrated mastery" of the Biology class, would STILL have to take 8th grade science next year, and then in 9th grade would be placed in a higher level science class because she bypassed Biology. I asked what does one do with a kid who showed they knew most of 7th grade science curriculum at age 9?? The counselor went on to explain that is what SSA is for, and I came back with the fact that there is only SSA in math and English, and DD is currently accelerated 3 years in math so we have that covered. The counselor then pushed me to speak with the AG teacher who has already stated that she only allows 8th graders to do special projects.

Really, I had decided that middle school was just a holding pen for kids while they went through puberty, and DD would have to wait until high school to see some challenging classes. I was prematurely excited about this mastery business. Oh well. At least there is some interesting summer work.

I am lucky here because my son goes to a public school that is 6-12th grades. We have been able to accelerate him all over the place as needed in each class. He isn't getting straight As but that isn't the point. I want him to have to work a bit. The only thing they won't let him accelerate is history....requirements for middle schoolers are very specific in this area. Have to have civics in 8th and have to have American History in 7th (because they have a state mandated career planning component in this class that is required). That's okay because we have the majority of his day at higher levels and the history class has the big history fair project that he is enjoying.