Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy More help with advocacy, please!

on the left side, click on state policy and it will allow you to search policies by state from a map of the US (that's assuming you are in US .)

Just wanted to say that it wasn't until we directly stated that we wanted a 2 year subject acceleration for DS in math that anyone paid attention. We did it in a formal letter to the Principal that included the reasons why (SCAT and test scores, a couple samples of what he could do) and it was at that point that they finally agreed to assess DS (not just on the age appropriate material). That was what got the ball rolling for us and the 2 year math acceleration is happening now.

Good luck, Cat

That's Great Catalana! Same here... nothing til our meeting with princ. saying what we wanted and we are now 3 weeks into the school yr. with the newly skipped grade and all is going well!

Love to hear the successes of hard work paying off! Great job!

Yes, my previous response was directed to JaneSmith. I can understand your hesitancy because the teacher may feel insulted and I've been in a similar predicament. I've also seen both sides with my children where the oldest did in class differentiation, I sent in a more challenging workbook, and then did math afterschooling until she entered a gifted magnet program this year.

She's in 3rd grade and they've started off with a 4th grade math book like the NC charter school. If I hadn't kept her challenged she would have had a large discrepancy between her math and reading skills. She would have still been accepted based on her reading scores but she'd be having a much tougher transition right now with the math.

With my youngest I was more prepared, had her privately tested and met with the principal in the spring before K. I asked for subject acceleration for reading and math which she did by joining the 1st grade class part time. Everything went well and she really thrived last year. At the spring conference the 1st grade teacher recommended having her do in class differentiation instead of another year of subject acceleration.

I was torn about going against the teacher's recommendation but didn't want to be in that position again where, even though the teacher has good intentions, it's just not enough. I put it in writing that we wanted to continue with subject acceleration again this year and it's been going beautifully.

I would say something like "his younger brother is attending a charter school and it is working well in meeting his needs for accelerated work. In 3rd grade his brother is doing 4th grade work. We think it would also be a good fit for DS but are concerned he won't be prepared without subject acceleration this year. I would hate to see him repeating work he's already mastered this year and falling behind the students at the charter school. Subject acceleration to 5th grade math would help him keep pace and be prepared."

Keep in mind my state doesn't even allow charter schools so I don't know the politics and whether there'd be a backlash so I understand your hesitancy. Maybe someone else can help massage a better approach.

Inky, that is exactly how I feel. I am sure her intentions are good, but what I've seen so far is so inadequate that even ramping it up significantly won't make it enough. Frankly, the fifth grade curriculum probably won't be enough either, but it will have *some* new stuff and we can address deficits next summer.

I really appreciate all the responses. I feel better prepared to address this now. I realize now that I need to be upfront about asking for the fifth grade placement. I can't expect them to think of it. The only think I am unsure of now is if I whould wait until Tuesday (when I may have test results) or just send an email today or tomorrow. I already have a pretty good idea of what the test results will be. But maybe I should wait until the school sees them.

If it's just a few days I'd probably hold off until I had the results. We justified our reasoning for wanting another year of subject acceleration using her spring test results which were at the 99% for the higher grade. That made it less about the teacher and more about proper placement for her readiness level.

"I can't expect them to think of it."

Exactly. Until I saw the look of surprise on the principal's face (as though we had asked them to send him to Mars on a rocket), I didn't realize that subject acceleration just didn't register! Which is of course kind of sad, because it is such an easy and inexpensive way to address this sort of thing.

Cat