school seeing different kid then we see at home. - Page 2

[JollyGG]

Yes this is a full time gifted school. Unfortunately it is a full time gifted school with relatively new leadership and staff that is relatively new to gifted education. Two years ago we had basically decided that this school wasn't for us based on an interview with the former principle. When I asked about asynchronous learners she basically answered that they only accept globally gifted kids. Well I had written the school off and was pursuing the grade skip after talking with her because she just didn't seem to get giftedness.

In the midst of us trying to figure out what to do for 1st grade (skip it, whatever) the gifted school got a new principle. She is very very knowledgeable about gifted education and I do feel that the program benefits from her leadership.

Compounding the issues with the previous principle there was some house cleaning when she left and a lot of the staff is new. The 2^nd grade teacher is an experienced teacher but this is only her 1^st year in gifted education. My son’s 3^rd grade teacher is only in her 2^nd year teaching and her 1^st year at the gifted school. The other second grade teacher is an experienced teacher but is only in her 2^nd year at the gifted school. I’m unsure of the experience of the 4^th grade teacher or the 4^th/5^th grade teacher but it is, at least, their second years at the school. The 5^th grade teacher is also new to the school, and I’m not sure what his previous experience is.

So I do feel they have a lot to learn about gifted learners. Every teacher at the school (especially the new ones) are required to be working on their gifted education endorsement and attend ongoing training on gifted issues.

I am working on a proposal and plan to ask the principle to let me do an in-service on grade skipping.

I might also ask her about doing more training on asynchronous learning.

So while it’s a full time gifted program the staff does have a lot to learn. The positive is that, because it’s a full time gifted program, they are at least willing to hear me out and learn.

Edited by JollyGG - 11/10/10 at 7:40am

[JollyGG]

We’ve arrived at a compromise, of sorts, about Math. The teacher is pre-testing at the beginning of each chapter and only making him go over the parts he missed on the pretest.  The teacher in the lower math group is a more experienced teacher than the one in the math group he left. She has more experience and a few more skills to help him stay focused and ideas to help him work on his accuracy and careless mistakes.

For now they will keep him in the lower math group but will evaluate frequently to determine when he is ready to move to the higher group. This should be a temporary placement allowing him to work with a more experienced teacher on his attention to details.

I’m still not thrilled about it. But I can look at the positives.

I plan to meet with the teacher sometime soon to go over the evaluation from the tutoring center. All of his skills were right where I had estimated them to be at.

I’m hoping that they will be a bit more willing to move his Math group when they see that an unbiased 3^rd party, other than me, also thinks that a 4^th grade math placement is appropriate. That would be moving him up from his old math group rather than down. But I’m not willing to be patient at this point as long as he is receiving at least some benefit from his current math placement.

The evaluation showed him on grade level in writing and even further above grade level than I thought in Reading (around 7^th grade) supporting my assertion that he needs more challenging reading materials.

We’ll see how it goes.

[eepster]

Originally Posted by JollyGG 

I’m hoping that they will be a bit more willing to move his Math group when they see that an unbiased 3^rd party, other than me, also thinks that a 4^th grade math placement is appropriate. That would be moving him up from his old math group rather than down. But I’m not willing to be patient at this point as long as he is receiving at least some benefit from his current math placement.

Are you sure that his current placement isn't doing typical 4th grade level work?  This is a full gifted school, I could see the lower math group working 1 grade level ahead, the middle math group working 2-3 levels ahead, and the advanced group working on stuff that typically just isn't even part of a regular curriculum since they all just intuitively get the entire elementary school math curriculum.

[JollyGG]

Originally Posted by eepster 

Are you sure that his current placement isn't doing typical 4th grade level work?  This is a full gifted school, I could see the lower math group working 1 grade level ahead, the middle math group working 2-3 levels ahead, and the advanced group working on stuff that typically just isn't even part of a regular curriculum since they all just intuitively get the entire elementary school math curriculum.
 

When I complained about the lower math group I was told that he was working on 3rd grade math in the new group (implying that I shouldn't be upset as it wasn't remedial for his grade).