Daughter Is Intelligent, but School Sees Otherwise

You can always request that she be re-tested. At this late date in the school year, it would most likely be for next year's placement. Also, think about the social aspect. There is a big difference socially in kindergarteners and 2nd graders! Talk to the school about their gifted program. Don't be alarmed -gifted is considered part of Special Education, so that's the department you will probably need to speak to concerning testing and gifted programs.

Have you asked yourself why your daughter blew this test? I mean, that is kind of bizare, do you think that she deliberately did not do her best? if this is a really gifted kid who wants to move on and work on academics far beyond her age level, I would be very hesitant as a teacher or administrator to offer a second test to promote her, and they may be thinking that it is all Mom, and not the child, if you know what I mean.

Here is the problem in a nutshell. It is really hard to tell if kids are "gifted" at this age. You will find that very many of the kids who seem that way as a 6 year old may continue to learn quickly through the lower primary grades, but by the end of 3rd, begining of 4th the differences between the early achievers and their peers, in very many cases, will be gone. Some of those kids will go on to be gifted at that point, and some of the kids who had a more typical pace early on will test as gifted. Testing at this point is most unreliable, sometimes because even smart kids cannot do their best every day, and what you may be seeing is a that view, a more typical view, from your new district.

Jumping two grades is very questionable, and enrichment is far, far better in nearly every circumstance than promoting the child beyond thier chronological range. If you think she is miserable, then I would suggest that you focus on that, and you certainly need to deal with the behavior, since children viewed as behavioral issues are also not ones that teachers think of for accelerated promotion.

She needs to learn to get along with her peers and that is a skill that is as important for kindergarten as any academic skill. Her peers are not 7 or 8 years old, even if that is her preference age. Getting along with an older or younger child is a very different skill than the give and take of what should be a more equitable balance of power sharing than what goes on between and older and a younger child.

Speaking as a person who deals with school districts frequently as an educational advocate, you may have created some of the resistance by coming off to the new district as a demanding know it all- I am not trying to insult you! It is a reality that parents have to deal with, even on the special ed side, if you come in and sound like you are telling them what to do, they may not listen to you just because they are put off. If you are a school offical, please don't blast me either, I have seen it over and over, and even really, really good people fall prey to this, it is human nature.

If you really feel like your daughter needs something more, see if you can re-establish the relationship with the school and find someone who will champion your cause. Find out how that district handles kids like yours, if that pot is empty, you may be chasing a rainbow that you don't want to find the end of. Work on her difficulties as they present themselves in her current grade situation, you may be there for a while.

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You left out critical information, and your subject title is a little missleading, both made you appear to be asking for trouble. You have less to worry about for the peer age problem, but I think I would still be cautious and be sure that before you consider promotion, that you are sure that she has not missed any critical pieces of instruction by skipping a grade. A lot goes on in First grade, even if they can read and ad. There are critical building blocks that you need to be sure that you do not skip.

As for what to do now, here is my suggestion. Go to the Georgia department of Education website and look up the grade level skills for 1st grade. In Texas, these were called the TEKS. This would be the criteria that Texas schools used to justify promoting her. In Texas there are several tests that measure aginst the TEKS, the most commonly used when we were there is called the CLAS. Find out what it is for Georga, and find a qualified person to do this test privately. If she flubs it a second time, she is not ready.

If she seems to sail through, and you are sure that she will not miss anything in the first grade ciriculum, then try again to re-establish the relationship with the school. My hunch is that how they viewed you coming in has something to do with it. It may be a long road.
Good luck
M.

Many times, schools have a "gifted and talented" program. Ask about that.
Maybe they kept her in Kinder since she is new... and their curriculum may differ from her previous school... and their tests did not reveal that she skip a grade.

Also though, before you request that she skip a grade(s)... how old is she? You also need to consider her emotional maturity... many times, kids who skip a grade(s)... eventually find themselves to be not on par with the older kids... because emotionally they are still the youngest of their classmates... and for example, when in pre-teen/teen grade levels... they will NOT be at that level themselves, due to their age... and you have to decide if you want your girl to be exposed to and going through those things, at her younger age. For example, the other girls getting their periods or talking about boys, or having boyfriends etc., or going to Proms or doing "teen" things when she herself is not a Teen.

My friend, has a daughter that skipped a grade. But now that she is a pre-een... she is left out... by the other girls who are teens. Because she is younger and their things are not age appropriate for her... and the phases they go though at that age, is not on par with her. So although being advanced and smarter... the social aspects and making friends... has been hard. She is lagging in those areas... because the other "older" girls, ignore her... although nothing is "wrong" with her personality nor maturity. But she is STILL younger than the rest... the other girls are "teens" but she herself is not at that stage yet.

Although a child can be smart or advanced... that does not mean their emotional maturity is on par, with OLDER kids... "smartness" is not the only factor. Her social skills as well...needs to develop, and her understanding how to navigate herself with all kinds of kids. There will always be kids who are not as smart as her, or MORE smart than her.

And yes, there is a BIG difference between Kindergarten and 2nd grade, as Julie B. said. My daughter is in 2nd grade now... there are 7 year olds and 8 year olds in her class. And just between the 7 & 8 year olds... there is a noticeable difference... in their attitudes and interests and the things they talk about... but the academics is the same for that grade level.
So keep that in mind. Would you REALLY want your girl... to be in a class with 7 & 8 year olds????

There is a difference between book smart and Emotional Intelligence as well... and the emotional part, really affects kids and their development.

all the best,
Susan

As a teacher, I would not consider advancing any child that is failing to create relationships with peers and adults. One would only be setting the child up for further failures. I would work on her social-emotional development first. Promoting her to 2nd grade with children that have had a whole year ahead of her to learn expected routines and expectations would not be good for her socially or academically.

My family and I moved from Indonesia to Texas during the middle of my 5th grade year. Since the local public school had 10 + pregnant 8th graders my parents decided to send us to a private school. I had to take a test and did very poorly. I think I even remember messing up on the time portion. Anyway, the school really wanted to hold me back a year because of the test and my parents said "No Way!!!" Half way through that semester the school apologized and said that I was where I needed to be. I just really freaked out on the test, probably and combination of not being a great test taker and culture shock. Good luck with your daughter!

Sounds like she may be upset about the move and he way of expressing that to you was by not trying on something she knew was important to you. Chances are if she is advanced as you say if you sit and talk to her about the test and then possibly have her retested she will do as well as she did before. If she wont talk to you possibly have the school councelor talk to her.

Lots of good suggestions. I agree it could be she was not having a good testing day or was distracted by the move etc.. I hope they will reconsider allowing her to retake the test, she sounds bored already. I am not thrilled with the idea of 2 grades, just because of the social aspects and now that she is in a totally new situation, it may be too stressful for her.

In kinder, the teacher told us that our daughter really had a hard time with a certain type of evaluation testing they do with kindergartners. Come to find out it was placing cards in order to tell a story. Our daughter was doing this story in the most creative way she could think of and it did not fit the pattern they were looking for. That night I asked our daughter about it, she remembered the activity. I explained to her that in school sometimes they just want the "boring and normal story" not a "creative story". I told her to from then on to always ask, "Is this a creative story or a normal story?".. Solved that problem..

What I am saying is that your child probably understands the difference in being serious and doing her best in situations if she is told ahead of time, this is important so do her best.

Not sure if this is doable but, can you get your daughters test scores from Texas to show Georgia and ask if your DD can take the test again? Sounds like your DD was either distracted or not interested in taking the test and wrote answers randomly. Did you ask your DD why she missed simple questions and if she was distracted? If she was older I'd say she was trying to sabatoge herself so she wouldn't have to move up a grade. But since you say she seems to want to talk to older kids and finishes her work so fast, sounds like she would want to be in a higher class next year. Good luck, this is an unusual situation.

Unfortunatley, if she did not try on the test, I'm not sure there is anything the school will do as far as offering to retest her this school year. You can pay for your own outside testing, but first I would make sure that the school would recognize and accept the source you use, and if so then I would speak with your daughter and explain why she is being tested and the importance of it. I have a friend with a 150 IQ who blew off the gifted test the first time she took it because no one explained what it was for, so she "didn't qualify"...then a couple of years later when they allowed her to retest, they unearthed her 150 IQ.

The only other course of action I can think of is to have a conference with the school councelor with her teacher present. Explain everything you said here, and maybe if her teacher speaks up in front of the counselor to say that she really does seem very intellegent and has started causing behavior problems due to being bored, they can work together with a plan of action. I was skipped a grade ahead (moved to 1st grade when I had barely started kindergarten) and HATED, HATED, HATED being the smallest and youngest in my class every single year...and then as a teenager I felt so much younger as everyone around me got their drivers license a whole year before me. Because of this, I never even entertained the thought of having my daughter skip a year ahead, even though she is gifted and flew through everything that was placed in front of her in kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade.....Luckily, she had some really excellent teachers those years because she never became a behavior issue through boredom. Each teacher had a unique way of keeping her occupied-- either giving her a packet of extra work she could do after finishing the lesson everyone else was doing, or having her be a "helper" to other kids, or having reading material on her level always available and allowing her to read when she was done (which she LOVED), or one year the teacher tested her on the chapter tests for the math book and tested her out of nearly all of them so then she borrowed a textbook from the next grade up (I think this was in 1st grade and she was working out of the 2nd grade book----this was fine except when she hit 2nd grade, she was not ready to work independently on the 3rd grade textbook since the skills were much harder and new, like multiplication, and required more instructional time her teacher couldn't dedicate to her)......anyway, my point is there are options to keep her challenged within her classroom but her teacher has to be willing to put in the effort.

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I would ask for her to be re-tested. With all the changes going on she could have had an off day during testing.

If they won't skip two grades, or find a way to otherwise address her needs, is homeshooling an option at all?

She failed the advancement test, perhaps because it was different/more difficult than the other state, or she was just having a hard time adjusting from the move and it threw her off.

She is possibly gifted and is maybe toying with everyone because she is frustrated and possibly hurt. Did she know she was going to be advanced in the other school? If so, she may be feeling let down and simply bored.

Are there extra curricular programs she can join to be with children her thinking level? It may really help give her motivation and a release.

One thing that worked for my friend in this situation, is the teacher had her gifted child help tutor other kids. If his work was correct, he gave it to her early and then he was able to walk around the room and help answer questions, just so long as he didn't do the work for them or distract them. Then, he could go play quietly as the other kids finished their work. Just something that has worked for other children in similar situations.

Perhaps work with her teacher on seeing her potential, here are some links about teaching gifted kids:
http://www.ri.net/gifted_talented/teachers.html

other resources:
http://www.ri.net/gifted_talented/rhode.html

as well as characteristics of gifted children so you can look at it objectively:
http://www.ri.net/gifted_talented/character.html

I also agree with what another mom wrote. Skipping one grade, age difference wont matter so much, but skipping 2 grades, the social pressures and maturity levels can be a lot harder to deal with and she may have a hard time fitting in and feeling accepted in her preteen/teenage years.

We had this issue when we moved from NC to CA the first time. After one month the teacher called me in and said "I just don't know what to do with your daughter' She gave her 2nd grade material to supplement her first grade curriculum then the principal without testing her OK'd the move to third at the end of the year. At the end of this year ask for her to be moved up to third.
Document everything and your reasons why, go into the school in a nice pantsuit or business type dress. . Use the words least restrictive environment. Don't take no for an answer and be very direct. You are in charge of her education.
Sometimes "gifted" or AG or GATE or whatever the school wants to call it is just more busy work and more homework on top of the regular work they have to do.
Good luck.