Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources a nation Decieved

Any suggestions about narrowing down the reading of A nation Deceived? I printed out vol 1 and 2 today. I'm sure to need more ink after that soon.

Have you people, who know what you are doing, read all of this? This is huge. Once again I feel overwhelmed. It makes me think our school is just going to say sorry we can't help you this is beyond our abilities. ok, I get over it and get busy.

Would the executive summary help you? I think I'd give that to the school, not both volumes of the report.

These things are tools. If they help you, use them. If not, don't.

And they do mail them for free, you know...Just to save your printer...

The times when I plunked down a copy of the full report, the school folks' eyes just rolled back in their heads... too much information for an introduction.

I think the executive summary is a better starting point for many, especially for the teachers & admin:
http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/Nation_Deceived/Executive_Summary.aspx

And I like the FAQs (under Question & Answer heading), both "General" and "Parent," especially the section for parents, which includes one section on responding to school objections:
http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/Resources/QA/General.aspx
http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/Resources/QA/Parents.aspx

When I finally plowed into the full report, I remember skimming first, marking pages/sections to go back and read in full. The second part is 190+ pages, but includes brief summaries of each chapter at the beginning. Initially, I skipped some chapters entirely, as I was "on a mission' to make the decision-at-hand, but have since revisited the whole report.

Lastly, I really enjoyed reading through the personal stories:
http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/Personal_Stories/Read.aspx

When I was spinning in circles over whether or not to let our son skip K & start 1st @ age 4y11m, I found many of these personal stories to be very compelling. While I like thoughtful, wonky research as much as the next guy... I really connected to many of the anecdotes.

Lastly lastly, there's even a small collection of video stories... these weren't on-line when I found the website a few years back.
http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/Personal_Stories/Video_Stories.aspx

opps. I didn't mean to imply I was going to give Nation Deceived to the school. I'm trying to get more of a handle on our situation. I printed this out for myself. I have in mind to go into school when I get explore results. I want to be better armed with facts.

I do have in mind to have ready a small portfolio of articles/ copied pages. I think keeping it minimal is good. I'm not sure if I will actually use it. I just want to get prepared.

Dandy- thanks so much for your anwser. I will check this info out.

Oh, if it's just for you then I'll reiterate that these things are tools. Use what helps you; ignore what doesn't. You don't have to read every word to get what you need out of something like "A Nation Deceived." Skim it. Read the summary.

I'm all for gathering info so that you're prepared. But if you feel overwhelmed, then maybe you have more info than you need...

FYI, there aren't any more free copies left.

thank you.

Oh, I didn't realize they had a limited supply. Thanks, Melissa!