Bright but not gifted children essentially being ignored?

[Anonymous]

DD is in 2nd grade, so too young for the gifted program and I have no clue if she'd qualify anyway. She is very bright in the sense that she enjoys school, sails through the assignments and tests and rarely, if ever, struggles with new material being presented. However she is just dumped into one of the mid-level reading and word study groups and even though the teachers claim these groups are "fluid" and can anytime, its been my experience they don't really.

I feel like all of my daughters teachers, while nice enough, basically ignore my daughter. She's not so freakishly bright that she blows them away and they give all this attention to differentiation, but she's obviously not struggling in anyway. So she just floats along doing exactly what is expected of her but never being challenged in any way. She could ace the Friday word study test on Monday. The teacher sends home all these science and social studies "study guides" for upcoming tests and encourages us to review them with the kids, but my daughter knows the info cold whenever I discuss with her, and when I don't bother the review, she still aces the tests.

I'm not saying my daughter is super unique - I'm willing to bet there are several kids in her class that fit this description. So why don't they make the work harder? Challenge these kids? I feel like the teacher looks at her and thinks "Phew! A student I don't have to worry about or spend any time with! Thank goodness!" Makes me sad and frustrated.

We are in the process of pushing for DD to receive harder word study words (that some in the class already receive, so not special words just for DD) and I've gotten push back from the teacher which really surprises me.

[Anonymous]

It's 2nd grade. Isn't it supposed to be easy?

[Anonymous]

There must be some reason the teacher is keeping her in the middle group and not giving her the more challenging words and assignments. Instead of asking the teacher to give her the harder words, ask the teacher what she still needs to work on in order to move up to the next group.

The teacher isn't intentionally keeping her in the middle group just because she's "easy" - I'm sure most of the kids in the top group are easy kids too. Find out what she really needs to work on.
For my DS, it's writing. He's also in second grade and in the top reading group right now, but the teacher has told us that, while he's one of the very best readers in the class, he's on the verge of being moved to the middle reading group because of his writing skills.

[Anonymous]

From your description this sounds like it is more about emotion than facts. You feel that she was dumped, that she is ignored, that the teacher is just relieved she's an easy kid, that she is not recognized as special, and this is making you sad. But the only fact I heard is that you would like her to be in a higher reading group. So, without the sadness and frustration etc., ask the teacher how she was assessed to be in this reading group because you think she should be in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We are in the process of pushing for DD to receive harder word study words (that some in the class already receive, so not special words just for DD) and I've gotten push back from the teacher which really surprises me.

OP, did you talk to the teacher? What did you say? What did the teacher say?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From your description this sounds like it is more about emotion than facts. You feel that she was dumped, that she is ignored, that the teacher is just relieved she's an easy kid, that she is not recognized as special, and this is making you sad. But the only fact I heard is that you would like her to be in a higher reading group. So, without the sadness and frustration etc., ask the teacher how she was assessed to be in this reading group because you think she should be in it.

I disagree. The facts seem to be that her daughter knows the material, seems to not be challenged by the stuff that comes home. OP is rightfully wondering whether/how/if the teacher can challenge her more. A kid who sails through school getting nothing by A+'s and 100%s might be a child who works really hard, or it might be a child who isn't challenged at all.

[Anonymous]

We gave up sadly. You described our child in the 1st exactly, His teacher even told me early on she did not think he could pass the tests and acted shocked when I disagreed and then he got them all right. We just work ahead some weeks so other weeks we just have light homework. My kid knows the words for the next two spelling tests and has already done the assignment probably for today or next week in his reading book. The teacher doesn't care and refuses to challenge him.

[Anonymous]

The barbell issue is big in schools.

[Anonymous]

If you child is ready for the higher reading group - I believe she would be placed in the higher reading group. Have you asked the teacher directly why she hasn't been?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From your description this sounds like it is more about emotion than facts. You feel that she was dumped, that she is ignored, that the teacher is just relieved she's an easy kid, that she is not recognized as special, and this is making you sad. But the only fact I heard is that you would like her to be in a higher reading group. So, without the sadness and frustration etc., ask the teacher how she was assessed to be in this reading group because you think she should be in it.

I agree.

Also, I have one highly gifted and one advanced but not gifted.

My highly gifted kid spent much of early elementary on his own, until we moved here and was placed in AAP. He is a go with the flow kind of kid, so that combined with already mastering the curriculum made it easy for the teachers to leave him to hisown devices for most of the day.

My very smart kid is more of a firery personality. He gets lots of attention, lots of enrichment, lots of different teaching techniques. I think it is because he is more boisterous and the teachers are trying to keep him occupied and find what catches his interest to make it easier to teach the rest of the class.

Your daughter probably has a good sized group of academic peers in her level placement, and is probably and easy student to teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is in 2nd grade, so too young for the gifted program and I have no clue if she'd qualify anyway. She is very bright in the sense that she enjoys school, sails through the assignments and tests and rarely, if ever, struggles with new material being presented. However she is just dumped into one of the mid-level reading and word study groups and even though the teachers claim these groups are "fluid" and can anytime, its been my experience they don't really.

I feel like all of my daughters teachers, while nice enough, basically ignore my daughter. She's not so freakishly bright that she blows them away and they give all this attention to differentiation, but she's obviously not struggling in anyway. So she just floats along doing exactly what is expected of her but never being challenged in any way. She could ace the Friday word study test on Monday. The teacher sends home all these science and social studies "study guides" for upcoming tests and encourages us to review them with the kids, but my daughter knows the info cold whenever I discuss with her, and when I don't bother the review, she still aces the tests.

I'm not saying my daughter is super unique - I'm willing to bet there are several kids in her class that fit this description. So why don't they make the work harder? Challenge these kids? I feel like the teacher looks at her and thinks "Phew! A student I don't have to worry about or spend any time with! Thank goodness!" Makes me sad and frustrated.

We are in the process of pushing for DD to receive harder word study words (that some in the class already receive, so not special words just for DD) and I've gotten push back from the teacher which really surprises me.

Same happened with my boy. You need to have a conference with her teacher and make sure they show you the tests results. Ask key questions and you'll know if she lies to you.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, what would your reaction be if she was placed in a more challenging group and made Cs?

[Anonymous]

Sympathies OP. You are probably exactly right in your assessment of how teachers view your child. Teachers are always glad to have easy, smart kids and parents who don't push for anything additional. There probably are other kids like your daughter in her class. I have found that there are a bunch of smart kids interested in learning, but a curriculum and teachers that don't have the flexibility/passion to help them. My DD is like yours...blows through assignments blind. HW takes a few minutes. School is a social engagement for her. I was disappointed because I was looking for something more.

[Anonymous]

In the earliest grades, the focus is typically on mastering skills not content. Your DD may know facts cold and learn them quickly, but be lacking in the skills the different the gifted kids. You can supplement at home if you feel she is not be nurtured in the gifts her teacher does not see. Most parents do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From your description this sounds like it is more about emotion than facts. You feel that she was dumped, that she is ignored, that the teacher is just relieved she's an easy kid, that she is not recognized as special, and this is making you sad. But the only fact I heard is that you would like her to be in a higher reading group. So, without the sadness and frustration etc., ask the teacher how she was assessed to be in this reading group because you think she should be in it.

I agree.

Also, I have one highly gifted and one advanced but not gifted.

My highly gifted kid spent much of early elementary on his own, until we moved here and was placed in AAP. He is a go with the flow kind of kid, so that combined with already mastering the curriculum made it easy for the teachers to leave him to hisown devices for most of the day.

My very smart kid is more of a firery personality. He gets lots of attention, lots of enrichment, lots of different teaching techniques. I think it is because he is more boisterous and the teachers are trying to keep him occupied and find what catches his interest to make it easier to teach the rest of the class.

Your daughter probably has a good sized group of academic peers in her level placement, and is probably and easy student to teach.

OP here. I actually don't believe her reading and word study groups are her academic peers. There are only 3 other kids in her group and I know for a fact that two of them have private tutors and get pulled out for reading simply to scrape by. The same homework my DD sails through alone, these girls complete with a 1:1 private tutor. One girl was almost held back last year until her parents threw a fit and hired the summer tutor. These are NOT my daughters academic peers.

I did speak to the teacher (and last year's teacher too.) She claims there is some assessment (but not related to previous word study grades) that determines the level. I have yet to be told how the assessment works. Both teachers seem unwilling to deviate from what this all-knowing assessment tells them. (Yet this assessment is brief enough that they solo administer it individually to 25 kids!)