Re: Advice please!
Posted by Kevin on 10/06/08
On 10/05/08, What to do... wrote:
> Okay, I'll admit it...I'm a parent who needs advice. My
> daughter is in second grade. She is mature compared to the
> other children in her class--she is a Fall baby, the
> majority of the kids in her class are Spring babies. This
> is one factor why she is mature but she is in other areas of
> her life too--very responsible, etc. Her teacher is pushing
> to have her advance a grade. She was tested last year (end
> of first grade) using the Stanford Achievement Test. In all
> areas, she scored way above her grade level--Total reading
> score, 5.9 grade equivalent; Math 3.0 grade equivalent;
> Spelling, 4.4; Language, 10.6; etc. and Complete Battery,
> 4.97. What would you suggest to do with a student like
> this? Right now, they have her going to a 6th grade
> reading/language class, 4th grade spelling...She attends a
> small private school where moving into different classrooms
> for different subjects is easy to do..
The grade equivalents on SAT9 or SAT10 are pretty
meaningless, as the tests have only grade-level questions.
The test is designed only to detect 3 states really: above,
at, and below grade level. Because grade-level students are
expected to get most of the questions right, there is more
room on the test for diagnosing below-grade level performance
than above-level performance.
What you have from that achievement test is that she is
uniformly above grade level, but the test can't really tell
you how much above, since it doesn't have hard enough
questions.
You have more information from the placement at the
school---if she is holding her own in a 6th grade
reading/language class and 4th grade spelling, then those
placements are probably right.
It sounds like the school is doing the right thing, placing
her in each subject according to her ability in that subject.
If the bulk of her placements are 3rd grade or above, she
might be more comfortable with a 3rd grade homeroom than a
2nd grade one. If the school schedule makes it difficult to
do subject acceleration for some subjects, and the teachers
think she'd be better off a grade up, I'd listen to them.
If you are not certain about the acceleration, go through the
Iowa Acceleration Scale to see what the standard
recommendation would be in your daughter's case.
General rule of thumb is that acceleration for gifted kids is
the most thoroughly evaluated intervention, and the one with
the best results from research studies. Flexible
subject-by-subject acceleration is the ideal, since kids
aren't necessarily equally advanced in all subjects. It
sounds like your school is doing a decent job of this so
far---many parents here will be envious
Posts on this thread, including this one
- Advice please!, 10/05/08, by What to do....
- Re: Advice please!, 10/06/08, by Kevin.
- Re: Advice please!, 10/07/08, by GT Teacher.
- Re: Advice please!, 10/08/08, by el ed.
- Re: Advice please!, 10/08/08, by Nancye.
- Re: Advice please!, 10/08/08, by What to do....
- Re: Advice please!, 10/08/08, by two cents.
- Re: Advice please!, 10/09/08, by Juliana.
- Re: Advice please!, 10/10/08, by Nancye.
- Re: Advice please!, 10/21/08, by LbP.
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