Question about Highly Gifted Centers

[Anonymous]

Lots of assumptions there PP. Knew about the first acceleration but not the second until well into the first quarter when testing started coming up. We questioned the school citing py test scores but were told that the py teacher had reccomended it. We were still naive enough at that point to assume the school had DC best interests in mind. That was our only mistake.

My apologies. But, I'll be honest. I find your story heard to believe in this day and age but what choice do I have?

[Anonymous]

Which part sounds hard to believe PP? That there is poor communication? That sounds very realistic to my school. Also at my ES, fully 1/3 of the 5th grade is working 2 years ahead in math. Coincidentally, the approximate number of one class size. That is not because all of those parents insisted.

[Anonymous]

The part about your being a passive bystander while the school insisted your child be accelerated multiple times. I'm sure you were in collusion with the school on that score.

[Anonymous]

Nope..they needed 25+ kids to fill a class. My kid just happened to make the numbers work for them. They couldn't move kids out or the class or 4th graders taking 5th grade math would get too big.

[Anonymous]

Were you given an ultimatum or did you passively follow their recommendation?

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind that pre-curriculumn 2.0, school were encouraged to accelerate as many as possible. That is how over exceleration happened. Some of it came from parental interference but the schools were promoting it too.

[Anonymous]

Were you given an ultimatum or did you passively follow their recommendation?

Two part question. Simply answer with a yes or no for each part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Were you given an ultimatum or did you passively follow their recommendation?

Two part question. Simply answer with a yes or no for each part.

That doesn't cover all of the options; what if he wasn't told and they placed as they saw fit?

[Anonymous]

There was a meeting/discussion with school admin (so no we did not passively follow) but in the end we followed the school's recommendation. With hindsight I would pressured the school for the mid-year switch regardless..

[Anonymous]

Not the PP, but we also did not realize that our DC had been accelerated (3rd and 4th grade math in 2nd grade) last year. We found out later in the year when it was already in full swing. It was a great year for him and he was ready for the work. But, we certainly didn't push for it or ask for it - the school decided where he would fit.
However, the problem this year is that my DC (now in 3rd grade) has to do 3rd grade math along with all the other 3rd graders. He is bored and hates math this year. My issue is that when the SCHOOL accelerates the kids (with no outside pressure from the parents), they should figure out a better way to integrate a new curriculum that, essentially, decelerates them. I think it is terrible for the school to speed way up then slow way down - that is not a way to teach.

Mind you, I would feel differently if we had pushed for acceleration or we had drilled at home to push him ahead of what the school was offering. If we had done those thing, then we would have to accept that we were outliers and had created this problem ourselves. That isn't the case here. The school created the problem by accelerating him and then slowing him down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the PP, but we also did not realize that our DC had been accelerated (3rd and 4th grade math in 2nd grade) last year. We found out later in the year when it was already in full swing. It was a great year for him and he was ready for the work. But, we certainly didn't push for it or ask for it - the school decided where he would fit.
However, the problem this year is that my DC (now in 3rd grade) has to do 3rd grade math along with all the other 3rd graders. He is bored and hates math this year. My issue is that when the SCHOOL accelerates the kids (with no outside pressure from the parents), they should figure out a better way to integrate a new curriculum that, essentially, decelerates them. I think it is terrible for the school to speed way up then slow way down - that is not a way to teach.

Mind you, I would feel differently if we had pushed for acceleration or we had drilled at home to push him ahead of what the school was offering. If we had done those thing, then we would have to accept that we were outliers and had created this problem ourselves. That isn't the case here. The school created the problem by accelerating him and then slowing him down.

The same happened to us (and I guess to all the Mont Co second graders who were in 3rd grade math last year. And it was quite a lot of them, about 50 kids at Rosemary Hills alone.)

[Anonymous]

When do they mail decision letters? And what scores are considered? Just the scores from the admission screening?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the PP, but we also did not realize that our DC had been accelerated (3rd and 4th grade math in 2nd grade) last year. We found out later in the year when it was already in full swing. It was a great year for him and he was ready for the work. But, we certainly didn't push for it or ask for it - the school decided where he would fit.
However, the problem this year is that my DC (now in 3rd grade) has to do 3rd grade math along with all the other 3rd graders. He is bored and hates math this year. My issue is that when the SCHOOL accelerates the kids (with no outside pressure from the parents), they should figure out a better way to integrate a new curriculum that, essentially, decelerates them. I think it is terrible for the school to speed way up then slow way down - that is not a way to teach.

Mind you, I would feel differently if we had pushed for acceleration or we had drilled at home to push him ahead of what the school was offering. If we had done those thing, then we would have to accept that we were outliers and had created this problem ourselves. That isn't the case here. The school created the problem by accelerating him and then slowing him down.

The same happened to us (and I guess to all the Mont Co second graders who were in 3rd grade math last year. And it was quite a lot of them, about 50 kids at Rosemary Hills alone.)

My child also came from the Rosemary Hills cohort. We were not informed when he was accelerated. We did not find out until November at the P/T conference. We likely wouldn't have even found out then if I hadn't asked specifically which class he was in (which I only knew to do because his older sister had been accelerated and it seemed to me that the material he was bringing home didn't jibe with what I knew previously about his grade level math.) On the report cards it never said what level math they were doing, only that the child was "above grade level". A parent would not necessarily understand that the report card "above grade level" mark meant that the child was actually one whole year ahead of grade.

As far as I know, all the RHPS kids who were accelerated were then decelerated and made to repeat 3rd grade math, which even though it is now C2.0 math is largely the same as the previous math (practically identical in the first half of the year so far). I am aware of several parents who asked to have their child kept on the same one year ahead path and all were refused, without any reference to prior performance data or assessment of present knowledge/readiness.

[Anonymous]

I thought this thread is about highly gifted centers. no?

[Anonymous]

It has gotten a bit off track. But, in fairness, the parents who are "living with" the roll out of 2.0 in their home elementary schools are, many times, interested in the center as a way to escape 2.0. In addition, those same parents are very wary of if/how 2.0 would be rolled out at the center.

Those of us dealing with 2.0 and the bureaucratic double-talk that goes with it have become fairly cynical (therefore, the theory that any 2.0 rollout at the center would be better/less damaging is met with skepticism). For some, the center would lose its value if 2.0 guts it in the way it has done with the accelerated classrooms in the high achievement elementary schools.