Conferences tomorrow

[FandEsmomma]

Winter MAP scores are in..  EJ didn't do as well as I thought he would on the math (196-kinder) but is still way above the 99th percentile for kinder 98th for first 84th for second. His reading moved into the 99th percentil for kinder and 76th for first. I am not sure why these were sent home before conferences but thats ok, gives e time to formulate my questions.

I have already contacted the principal (before these came home), requesting a meeting with him, the school psych, the gifted teacher, his teacher and next years potential teacher. I want things in place well before school starts. I gave him the psych report yesterday so he has a clue where we are coming from.

From those of you who have been in my shoes, what should I be asking for for EJ. His GAI is 138, he is in the 99th percentile for reading and math on NWEA MAP. His WIAT scores place him in second grade for reading and third for math. Our school district doesn't skip and doesn't believe in math acceleration. Gifted pull outs are 45 minutes a week and start in second grade. There is a magnet school that starts in third grade (which EJ will qualify for unless he bombs the wisc in second grade).

Thanks

Sheila

[hempmama]

What are you hoping to have happen? Where do you get the sense he is in his class now? Is he being kept from working on whatever you think he should be? Do you think he needs more because he is not testing as high as you think he should? I know the first test is often wacky, and lots of kids don't test appropriately since they are not used to the format. Even the word "review" threw my DD the first time she saw it in a testing situation- how could she review something she had never seen before?

Our district uses MAP too(finally! A test on here I am familiar with!), and those scores would place him right about in the middle of my daughter's old K class. I have a son in K now, but they are just taking the MAP for the first time today, so I don't know about that class. So he'd probably be getting appropriate instruction IF the numbers were accurate, and IF his class is a little like hers (which was really bright; class make ups vary so much, even within schools, which also vary, of course). The "second grade" designation is for the US average second grader, not second grade at your school, kwim?

What math program do they use? Our school uses "Discovery Math," and it bites in general and is also terrible for accelerating, so we do Singapore at home, though we didn't start until 1st grade. Do they not believe in math acceleration for the whole of elementary, or just kindergarten? Could you supplement outside? Do they do reading groups? That reading level should be pretty easy to accommodate within the general education rubric- there are probably some other kids who would make up a reading group for him, and writing exercises are generally scaled.

(edited for typo; no content change)

Edited by hempmama - 1/11/12 at 4:35pm

[FandEsmomma]

This is his third time taking MAP, He took it in the spring to see if he qualified for early entrance to first grade (he just missed the reading) and they took it in the fall. I am looking for something different in math for him. I do have the average second grade scores for the district as I also have a second grader. He is well above the district average second grader.

Our district uses everyday math. It is a spiral curriculum. We supplement with Singapore and he just started 2B. We also use kumon multiplication. I spoke with the district asst. super of mathematics in September, they don't accelerate anyone. They start subject compaction in math in third grade when the advance students complete 3rd 4th and 5th grade math in 2 years. He is far beyond all his classmates in math. If he was in my dd's 2nd grade class he would be a part of the weekly pull out enrichment group. Reading is guided reading, so there are no issues there. He is in the highest reading group although there are 2 kids that are a bit higher then he is in the group.

I thought he would score higher on the MAP only because he is so much farther ahead in math concepts then dd. I know he doesn't want to be the last one done with the test. He likes to do the fun activity everyone else does. Am I worried about his scores... heck no. He did great as did she.

As for the meeting, I want to make sure the school is addressing his needs. Right now, he says he could use harder math at school. His words "its too easy mom. when am I going to learn something

[hempmama]

If you have a second grader at that school then you are probably aware enough of the range of abilities there (my district is huge, so district scores would not be that helpful). It's too bad he doesn't have a buddy in class who could handle 2B type stuff. You'd think there would be somebody, if it's a generally high achieving school.

Did they do anything for your DD? I thought you were asking because you had not been through this process before, but I bet you have a lot of information already. Have any other parents needed to advocate much? You probably know the range of options better than we could. Pull out? Is there any group he could be a part of that could do non computational units- symmetry, 3d shapes, etc? Would they be open to a parent directed pull out- one parent pulling out 4 or 5 kids? If, though, they really really don't do groups or anything, I think supplementing at home is the best bet, assuming everything else is going well. I am familiar with Everyday Math- it sucks in precisely the same ways Discovery does, IMO. It sounds like reading is not an issue, and there's plenty else to learn aside from subject content.

Is there a math club at the school? We have one mostly for older grades, but younger kids can join too if they are interested/have the ability. That might be a workaround.

[Geofizz]

Sheila, any movement from the school?

My son in in such a similar boat, and I have no idea where he would belong or how he can be appropriately educated.  I've been losing sleep over it, but not yet making the call to have him tested, especially after watching what it's been like for my daughter.  His will be faster because his ceilings are lower being younger, but it's still a huge investment of time and energy.

Tomorrow is the end of the first semester for my kids.  Tonight I go to a meeting to figure out what's happening to our math curriculum in the elementary level.  We live in Lake Wobegon, where evidently every parent thinks their darling is gifted and should move along faster, which makes the school very resistant to responding to any request.  DS is now done with 2B.... 

What's the general performance level of your schools?

Have you read Developing Math Talent?  It's generally aimed at slightly older kids, but it was very useful when I was going through my daughter's math acceleration in 2nd grade.

[FandEsmomma]

I had a brief meeting with the principal last night after conferences. He sent an email to the gifted teacher, the kinder teacher and the school psych. He is going to set up a meeting for (hopefully) this coming Tuesday morning to discuss how to handle the rest of this year to ensure ds is challenged and how we will be handling that challenge.

Our district is above average performance. That being said, we are the largest elementary (only) district in our state and one of the largest in the country at 29 elementary schools. Our school is in a middle to low income area. We have a diverse school with a heavy bilingual (ELL) influence.I know ds's score in math is the by far highest our kinder teacher has seen in the 2 years we have tested with primary MAP. From talking with a few of dd's classmate's parents, he is way ahead of where the top second graders where last year as first graders.