Daughter to Go Back to Kindergarden.

Go to www.wrightslaw.com today. Scroll down the left side of the page and click on retention. This is a terrible educational practice, and if your daughter had trouble this year with first grade, she will next year after another year of kindergarten and you will be delaying her access to appropriate educational intervention strategies that will help her learn. She does not need more of what did not work, she needs something different to learn what everyone else does. Do not let them hold her back. This is highly correltated with reading failure, dropping out, and contact with the juvinile justice system in the future. It is a cop out by your school district and it has bad educational conequences for your daughter that cannot be repaired later. Do some reading, and just say no, then advocate for appropriate services for your child. If you need more help, this is the time to hire an advocate to help you insure that you get things going for your child. You can find a yellow pages for PA on the wrightslaw site that will list advocates and other services that you may find helpful

If you do not have a private educational evaluation for your child, get one as soon as posible. You should never know less thant he school does, and you should not count on them to interpret the data in a way that is really good for your child, you should hold a private evaluation and get it interpreted privately so that you have knowledge to keep the school district honest.

Good luck, I work as an advocate, it may seem like a lot or slightly over reacting, but this is the time to be sure that she is set up for sucess. You cannot go back and fix this if you hold her back.

M.

IN kindergarten one of my daughter's best friends wasnt' handling first grade very well at all, I think the social adjustment was affecting her academics. She is a November baby and was actually only 4 when she started kinder anyway. So they put her back into my daughter's kinder class and she flourished. She is a very intelligent little gil, she just needed a little time to grow up.

I don't understand why her kindergarten teacher didn't recommend holding her back if she wasn't prepared for first grade. I would keep her in first grade but if she is struggling, allow her to repeat the grade. I teach middle school and see kids who were passed on or whose parents didn't want them held back. These kids struggle every day and many of them are so frustrated that they give up. There may be a learning disability and you should request testing from the school district. I also recommend working with her on letters. numbers... whatever she is struggling with.
Good luck

Demand an evaluation. A thorough evaluation. Make a stink until they do it and prove to you that they have gotten a full spectrum of tests done.

Don't let them just hold her back without intervention, but also if it turns out she needs more than can be done adjunctively don't be so afraid of holding her back that you push her through when she really could use that extra time. It is much less painful for them to do over a year at this age than later.

But don't let them just push her back because they don't know what to do with her. Make sure you and Dad and SM are all on the same page!! Good Luck.

It sounds like it's a shame the kindergarten teacher didn't have a better idea of her possibly not being able to handle first grade. I think you and dad and step mom all need to meet together with the teacher and the principal so you aren't hearing things second hand and you're all on the same page.
Some children, even those who are very intelligent, have a hard time adjusting to the first grade. It happens.
I have friends whose son was recommended for retention in kindergarten and they hit the roof!!! They were threatening to sue and jerk him out of the school and everything else. His intelligence didn't have anything to do with the recommendation. He was put in a combo K-1st grade to give him some extra time and then he was able to go to a regular 2nd grade class with his other classmates.
I have friends who wanted their son retained because he was really struggling and the school wouldn't do it. When they moved, he started a new school and repeated a grade and it was the best thing that ever happened for him. It gave him a chance to get caught up and build his confidence.
Pushing kids too hard because of a perceived stigma can really backfire.

Hopefully your daughter can get the evaluations and the intervention that she needs to help her feel successful in school. They should be able to give you examples of certain areas where she has strengths and weaknesses and have a good plan that you all feel comfortable with.

Again, I strongly advise an appointment all three of you parents can attend at the same time so you can be a united and informed unit.
She is a lucky little girl to have parents who love her and want what's best for her.

Best wishes.

Hi, R.:
Do you think that the divorce and remarriage could be affecting your
daughter?
Just want to know.
Good luck. D.

Perhaps there is just a learning disability, that happens. Everyone learns at different paces. Did they share with you what she was struggling with? Schedule an appointment to discuss the results and their findings.

Do you or her other family work with her at home? My feelings are education is a dual effort. Children should learn at home as well as at school. At some point, they get burned out and only want to do what they have to, but that doesn't mean that you stop, you just find different ways to teach them. So, you play the ABC game in the car and identify the alphabet letters in the signs seen along side the road while in the car or taking a walk. Restrict the TV programs to one fun show of their choice and the rest Public Broadcasting (PBS) educational type shows. In time, if they want to make a purchase, you teach them about money by the sticker or shelf price, the amount needed and the amount expected back. If they don't want to learn, then they don't want the item that bad. Teach them geography when you are going on vacation. Show them the map and identify your state and the destination. Then all the states that you will travel through. My daughter is four and can identify about 25 percent of the states because she has a family member who lives there or she has been there, or her sister traveled there. She has a understanding of the different countries because her sister traveled to Costa Rica.

As well, I buy age appropriate work books. If you read the preface, they explain a good method of working with the books. We work on the books about 20 minutes per day. In using those Brain Teaser flash card things, I learned that my daughter cannot identify the letters of the alphabet at random. She is now getting there.

It sounds like there is a pretty good relationship between Dad, you and Stepmom. See if you can all get together and meet with the school.