Gifted Program and/or skipping a grade at Taylor Elementary? Should we go private?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any experience with the advanced and/or gifted program at Taylor? My child will be in kindergarten there in the fall. Her preschool director and classroom teacher have asked me to look into skipping ahead to 1st grade because her math and reading skills are so strong in pre-k. They both think she's socially and academically in a good place to do so.

While I'm thrilled that my daughter is doing so well, I'm no freaking out because I have no idea how this process works here and what the pros/cons would be at that school. Should we be thinking private at this point? How does Taylor accommodate kids who are ahead?

The experiences of anyone with insight into the gifted program and/or skipping grades at Taylor would be really appreciated. Also, if anyone has experience with this kind of thing at NOVA private schools, I'd appreciate your insight as well.

[Anonymous]

Talk to the school. Arlington doesnt have the same kinds of programs as Fairfax, but they are accustomed to getting kindergarteners at all levels. They should be able to work with kids at all levels. There will be other readers and kids with math skills. I'm also not sure what kind of "superior" private school there would be around here.

I was "that kid" when I was I kindergarten, and in my case the school wanted to skip me. I thank my parents for saying no and keeping me at grade level. There's a lot more to long term education than whether they go into kindergarten reading. Just follow your kid's lead and monitor but don't hover over what's going on. If she reads well, let her read a lot of her own choosing when she's at home. Let her do enhancement projects at home based on her interests.

[Anonymous]

If you want to look at private schools, Congressional in Falls Church is the only private school in the area that would talk to us about differentiation and advancement. The others we spoke with told us "all our students are advanced" or "our advanced curriculum is sufficient challenge."

[Anonymous]

The effects of grade-skipping are long-term, and the problem is you cannot possess all the cards to make a completely informed decision at this time. I'm sure your DD will adjust to Grade 1 beautifully if a school accepts her there, the issue however is that she may eventually lag more and more behind her classmates socially and emotionally - and it's just that today the social differences are so minimal they are hard to recognize.

This is from my perspective as a student who skipped a grade at 12 and felt completely excluded from the high school social scene as a result of my own immaturity. I thrived academically, but when you are a teenager developing your own identity, academics are not everything There are plenty of children with such a significant difference between their academic talents and social maturity, for whom one cannot find the perfect placement.
Your daughter might also have no difficulties whatsoever!

Good luck with you decision.

[Anonymous]

I would avoid skipping at all costs. These days, many are waiting an extra year for K, so your child would be with kids up to 2.5 years older.

Many children are well ahead of the game at this age, and it is impossible to determine whether they will continue at a rapid pace or blend right in when the other kids start reading.

I would start her on time, in either public or private school in K, and reconsider skipping 2nd or 3rd grade when the time comes.

[Anonymous]

Don't worry OP your brilliant snowflake will be in good company. I predict that at least half the class got the same story from their kid's pre-K teacher.

[Anonymous]

From personal experience I would not take a preschool teachers advice on public schooling. It is unlikely they have a good handle on the public school curriculum.

My son's preschool teacher told us also look into pushing him ahead. After talking to the public school, we were discouraged from doing so and we followed our gut and put him in K. This was the best decision. Just because a kid is ahead in K does not mean they will stay that way. Do you really want your kid potentially struggling with a group of older more mature kids, or do you want them having it a little easy with kids their age? Just something to think about...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't worry OP your brilliant snowflake will be in good company. I predict that at least half the class got the same story from their kid's pre-K teacher.

Yep -- happened with my kid's preschool teachers, and my kid went to Taylor. He's very bright, but he didn't need to skip a grade to be sufficiently challenged.

Talk to Mr Hindman. Tell him what the preschool teachers said. He's familiar with the situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want to look at private schools, Congressional in Falls Church is the only private school in the area that would talk to us about differentiation and advancement. The others we spoke with told us "all our students are advanced" or "our advanced curriculum is sufficient challenge."

Which is probably true. Congressional's line is pure marketing b.s.

Most kids in this area who enter K are advanced.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the insight. I really appreciate it. It's great news that she's doing so well but truthfully it's thrown me for a little loop. I felt like I had just gotten the "where's she going to school" question licked and could relax for the summer. Cue the Nelson Muntz "Ha ha" on me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to look at private schools, Congressional in Falls Church is the only private school in the area that would talk to us about differentiation and advancement. The others we spoke with told us "all our students are advanced" or "our advanced curriculum is sufficient challenge."

Which is probably true. Congressional's line is pure marketing b.s.

Most kids in this area who enter K are advanced.

You must not have a child there, or any comparison base. I do. My child went from our base FCPS school to an FCPS AAP center and then to Congressional. The level of challenge and depth of learning is much greater at Congressional.

Now Nysmith is another story. They will declare anyone gifted who is willing to pay enough money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any experience with the advanced and/or gifted program at Taylor? My child will be in kindergarten there in the fall. Her preschool director and classroom teacher have asked me to look into skipping ahead to 1st grade because her math and reading skills are so strong in pre-k. They both think she's socially and academically in a good place to do so.

My son is a fifth-grader in APS (not Taylor) and he was identified by his kindergarten teacher within the first few weeks of the year and he started getting some pull-out services right away. All kids entering APS go through a variety of teacher-administered assessments at the beginning of the year so they will figure out pretty quickly if your kid is far enough ahead of the rest of the class that there is a need for differentiation. In addition to pull-out, gifted resource teachers in Arlington do "push-in" if there is a group of kids in a single class who are advanced in a given area, and provide supplemental materials for classroom teachers so that they can give more challenging work to kids who are ahead of the rest of the class. There is also a summer program for gifted kids that starts after K.

I don't think APS skips kids--my son would be a candidate if anyone ever was, but they have never said a word to us about it, and I don't know any kids who have skipped, even those that went on to TJ. Maybe they do in a few rare cases, but there are so many advanced kids in the system that it seems like they just provide differentiation and keep kids in their original grades.

[Anonymous]

My DS was ahead in K and just kept getting farther and farther ahead. Moved to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I don't think APS skips kids--my son would be a candidate if anyone ever was, but they have never said a word to us about it, and I don't know any kids who have skipped, even those that went on to TJ. Maybe they do in a few rare cases, but there are so many advanced kids in the system that it seems like they just provide differentiation and keep kids in their original grades.

8:41 here -- I know of one kid who was skipped, so it does happen. But the threshold is very, very high.

[Anonymous]

All the dc in the Taylor demographic are above-average so your dd will blend right in.