Skipping ahead a grade - Page 2

[serenbat]

Quote:

 but that power is over their choice for their child's education. Not over the teacher.

we do have the right over the teacher and as a parent (here in the US where I live) you can change who the teacher is, you can object to what the teacher tells you, you can make changes the teacher does not want to make, you can have testing the teacher does not want to do, you can opt out of many things, etc--yes, it is power over the teacher

parents should be made to feel in-powered (especially on here)

power is IN the parent and this is growing the more that become aware they are entitled to accountability by the teacher's

we vote on school funding, who does and does not get hired and in some cases who get's fired- the public (and this also means taxpayers that do not have children) - the community is demanding the school and the teachers be held accountable and they are

Edited by serenbat - 11/28/12 at 1:37pm

[moominmamma]

Well, again, I beg to differ and I suppose it's semantics again. If you move your child to a different teacher, you have moved your child. You cannot have the teacher moved to a different grade or classroom on your say-so. If you insist your child to be tested despite the teacher's objections, it's the child who is being tested, not the teacher. You can opt out of various things, but it's your child who is being reassigned. (Obviously if you're dealing with a teacher who is grossly inept, your advocacy may be part of what leads the principal or superintendant to reassign or fire a teacher. But you're merely providing information: you're not making the decision.) You should feel empowered to make choices for your child's education. That's a healthy and productive form of empowerment.

Miranda

[Geofizz]

serenbat, schools in the US vary dramatically based on state law and local culture.  A lot of what you are reporting is frankly foreign to me.  It is not the reality I've lived in this state, county, district.  Yes, state law gives me the right to appeal to the superintendent if the building principal makes a decision I don't like.  The only family I know that did that now attends a different school.  They burned so many bridges in the process, it was no longer possible for their child to get an appropriate education in the school.

In my school, I've heard of exactly one case where the teacher was changed for the student, and I have no idea the circumstances.  I know of no examples where the teacher was held accountable to anyone except for their building principal and other district administration.  Generally, accountability is only to grade level performance.  My state makes no requirement to serve a child above grade level.  All above level differentiation and acceleration is done out of good will through the chain of command (and it is unfunded by the state).

I have had a lot of success in advocating for my two kids (including a 2e 5th grader with a double subject acceleration and a pg 2nd grader with a grade skip ... so far) with the deferential (not submissive) approach in which I consistently show respect for the teacher's wisdom.  I have never had success barging in and informing the teacher I'm boss.  The only times I've done something close to that it backfired badly.  The outcome was negative for my DD.  I have had far more success with the collaborative informational approach I've outlined above.

You very well may have other experiences to contribute to the conversation, but please respect the experiences of others chiming in to help the OP sort out the best path for her DD.

[Geofizz]

Originally Posted by serenbat 

ETS- the OP also has the right to go over the teachers head and speak to the next up is she is dissatisfied with that the teacher says or if her desires for her DD are different from that of the teacher- each state has their own set of rules and the teachers word is not the final ruling 

The OP hasn't yet talked to the teacher.  The OP needs to do that so as to not antagonize the teacher.  Sure, she could go to the principal.  The principal could hand down a decree the the teacher must teach the child multi-digit subtraction with regrouping.  However, it's the teacher that must implement it.  If this isn't done collaboratively, I'd bet your bottom dollar that the teacher will not be able to find the time to do this.  The teacher won't see the significance of it, and the teacher will be taking time away from serving kids still working on 1-to-1 correspondence.  In terms of accountability, the teacher is more worried about the kid working on counting. 

Instead, work together with the teacher to find a way to serve the child, and I'd bet you that any teacher worth their salt will follow through.

[serenbat]

we do have the right to request a different teacher and I know several that have done it and not just in my state

I did not state the OP should antagonizing the teacher nor should it be viewed as such.

[rusticity]

My DD was grade skipped last year.  She went from K to 1st after Christmas break.  It was at the teacher's suggestion and no one in the school can recall it happening before.  We did not ask or push for it b/c she was very happy in Kindergarden and our older DD had been even more academically advanced in K and we did not skip her nor did anyone suggest it.  I think one factor in my DD's case is that she seems to be globally advanced - not just academically but socially and verbally.  Her teacher seemed to keep commenting on things like how she worked well with kids who struggled in school and seemed to know intuitively to give other kids a chance before jumping in and solving the problems or answering the questions.  I do think personality has a large part in how teachers perceive students and the option to advance.  Our older DD is more introverted and we presume this caused teachers to think she should socially be at her grade level.   In any event, both are doing well.  The grade skipper is currently in 2nd, socially doing well & the top of her class academically.  Sure, she could be challenged more but she is happy and has lots of outside interest and activities.  Our school did no big testing - they just measured her reading and did a check of her math skills.

Good luck.

[ChristaN]

I read most of the other posts and skimmed a bit, so I hope that I am not repeating anything.  My dd14 is grade skipped.  She's currently a 10th grader and started this school year a few weeks before her 14th bd.  Given your dd's bd, I'm guessing that she is one who missed the K cut by a month or two, so she'd really not be unusually young for grade one.  

Like the pp, the things that we found to play well into dd's grade skip were that she is very socially and emotionally mature (she seems a lot older than she is and people often assume that she is 16 or so not a young 14 y/o), that she was still near the top of the grade into which she was skipped and is still well beyond the 99th percentile in all subjects but her weakest one, and there were no ways of easily meeting her needs without the skip.  The school approached us in her instance.

The one piece that I would see as key before considering a skip is getting an individual IQ test done.  For a child who is on the older end for grade, an IQ in the 120-129 range would probably be sufficient for a successful grade skip if coupled with a motivated child and high achievement across the board (which it sounds like your dd likely has).  In my dd's instance, b/c she was the youngest in the grade pre-skip, the IAS that others have mentioned would have put her as an immediate "no" had she not been at 130+ on an IQ test (98th percentile+).  It took some convincing in our instance, but I do think that it was the right thing for her socially as much as academically.  It's almost five years post-skip for her and I'd still say that.

I'd either get a private assessment of IQ and achievement done or see if the school would be willing to test beyond basic end of K achievement at least for you.

eta: In regard to your question about the timing of a skip, the IAS recommends not doing it in a transition year (i.e. not skipping the last year of elementary or middle school), but I don't recall it making reference to mid-year vs. the end of a year.  In our instance, our dd did skip the last year of elementary school here (5th) and it was done at the end of the year.  She completed 4th grade and then went on to 6th grade the next fall.  However, with your dd being in early elementary, I don't know that it would be a big deal to change classes mid-year if that winds up being what is right for her.

Edited by ChristaN - 12/2/12 at 12:02pm

[JollyGG]

I also have a grade skipped child and I usually end up chiming in on these types of discussion. My son skipped 1st and moved into 2nd at a full time gifted program. He's now in 5th and doing very well. Most of his classmates and their parents frequently forget he's younger.

However, it hasn't always been smooth sailing. Our son has poor executive function skills (organization, focus, etc.) and every time issues of this sort came up it inevitably ended up blamed on his age. He's also a poor writer which is also blamed on his age. As time has moved on it has become clear to everyone that these issues are ones of personality and just who he is and would be issues with or without a grade skip. However, these issues made it so that I know others have questioned our decision more than once. So for us it hasn't been easy. I know others have a smoother experience than we did. However, even with the difficulties it was absolutely the right decision for him and I wouldn't change it.

But, the reason I know it was the right decision is because we tried all the options available to us at his grade level first. The grade skip was not a perfect solution but it was a heck of a lot better than leaving him where he was. That is simply what it comes down to for us.

So, I'll agree with other posters and recommended that you try every option you can find before considering the skip.