When do elementary schools test kids for acceleration?

[Anonymous]

Does the testing happen early in the school year?
My DS is at private kindergarten right now, and will start public school (1st grade) this fall, and he is advanced in math and reading.
I wonder when he will be screened.
Should we advocate for screening/acceleration before school starts or should we wait until school starts (in which case he will be placed in the grade-level class)?
Advice from anyone who has had a similar situation would be appreciated.
Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Which district?

But generally, schools have heterogeneous classrooms in the early grades. The first few weeks of the year are spent assessing the kids ability levels in reading and math and after that they are split into flexible groupings, sometimes within a classroom and sometimes across classrooms. Ability grouping at the entire classroom level does not happen until later grades, and not at all in some districts. Some districts use a "pull out" model (where they leave their classroom for special services) or a "push in" model (where a specialist comes to their classroom and works with small numbers of kids).

[Anonymous]

for TAG classes, Prince George's County tests in 1st grade.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the info.
We are in MoCo.
So am I correct in assuming it generally go like this?

-Testings at the beginning of the school year
-Groupings/Pull-out/(Push-out) occurs.
-Then the class begins.

Where does advocacy from the parents come in?
Does it even make a difference?
It seems like only the results of the testings matter, which all kids are supposed to take anyways.

[Anonymous]

Where does advocacy from the parents come in?
Does it even make a difference?

I'm not sure what you mean. If you have exit info from the current school as regards reading and math levels, I would defintiely include that with your child's registration information. And I would then give a copy to the teacher again in the fall. But in general, the schools seem to want to rely on their own testing by their own teachers and specialists.

What types of things would you be advocating for? At the beginning of the year, the kids are doing work (of course) but it's a bit generic at first while they sort things out in terms of groupings. So advocating before that grouping happens wouldn't mean a whole lot I think. i wuold just make sure that the teacher is aware of past testing results since I have heard of cases of kids getting impoperly grouped, for various reasons, and it can be a bit of a paint to fixonce the groupings have started.

The PP was referring the GT testing, which occurs at different grades in different districts.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I was the PP who referred to TAG (or G/T) testing. I thought that's what you were asking about -- I believe in Montgomery County the testing occurs in 2nd or 3rd grade.

But if you are asking just about general grouping for instruction in the first grade classroom.... personally I'd advise sitting and waiting. Teachers like to be the ones to notice your child is "advanced" -- they don't generally like it when parents show up claiming their kids is advanced in some areas. If your child hasn't been identified for advanced work by about October or the first conference, that's when I'd bring it up. Ask the teacher what his or her instructional goals are for your child, and ask him or her to show you how your child hasn't yet mastered them.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for additional advice. This is very helpful. I didn't think to submit additional info with the registration.
We have independent testing results (IQ and achievement tests) to show, so I will make sure they are aware of his level.

Thanks a lot!

[Anonymous]

As a former teacher, I think the child would have to be really advanced to be accelerated (like working 2+ grade levels above standards). Most districts will say that they will meet the child's needs in the classroom through differentiation. Then there is also the social/maturity aspect to take into consideration. GL!

[Anonymous]

OP again.
Thanks PP for the info.
It's helpful to know at what point one can expect differentiation.

[Anonymous]

One can expect differentiation at any point.

My son's been in DCPS and in a DC charter school, I work in another -- all of them have differentiation from the beginning of PreK, it just doesn't take the form of separate classrooms or removing the child from the classroom for part of the day. It happens in the context of their room.

[Anonymous]

In MoCo it works like this --

In early grades (K-2) there is no formal "gifted and talented" testing. Kids are assessed in math and reading for skills already mastered (not "talent") and placed in homogenous math classes and heterogeneous reading/language arts classes. In the math classes, all kids are generally working at the same level, i.e. an entire class of first graders will either be working on first grade math, and another first grade math class will be working on "first grade math with 2nd grade acceleration", which means they will be exposed to the 2nd grade elements and may be given an opportunity to skip 2nd grade if they do well at that class. This can, of course, vary depending how big the cohort is; so for example if there are only 6 kids in all of the first grade who can do 2nd grade math, then there won't be a separate class, but some kind of differentiation w/i the class or pull-outs, etc.

Within the reading classes, the kids are usually split into smaller reading groups that correspond more closely to individual reading levels, although for very advanced readers in the early grades (say more than a grade or two ahead), even the small group may not correspond very well to the advanced reader's level.

At the end of second grade, every MoCo student undergoes the "global screening." This is the formal identification of "gifted and talented" children. The screening has several parts -- 1) cognitive testing (raven matrices and 2 subtests of the InView Cognitive assessment in analogies and quantitative reasoning, 2) parent feedback survey, 3) teacher survey, 4) reading level (must be at least 1 year ahead of grade) and 5) math level (must be at least 1 year ahead of grade. A child does not have to meet all 5 of these criteria to receive the "gifted and talented" label. (For some reason, I think it's 3 out of 5 must be met, but I can't find a cite for that at the moment.

If your child enters MoCo after second grade, you should ask for him/her to be given the "global screening" tests.

What does the "gifted and talented" label mean? What does it get you? Many argue about this. Some parents find it useful in advocating for more advanced work for their child. Others find the label useless in the face of an obstinate principal. In theory, MoCo is supposed to provide work commensurate with a student's achievement and talents, and parents who have disagreements with the principal and/or teacher's view of this can go over their heads to the MoCo Department of Accelerated and Enriched Instruction or the Community Superintendent's office. In school, the G&T label should identify a kid for accelerated math (i.e. skipping a math grade or getting a combo like I previously mentioned) and participation in the William and Mary reading program. I should emphasize, that currently "getting the G&T label" is not a prerequisite to having a child put in advanced classes and at the end of the day, if the parent wishes an advanced class for their child, the parent's wishes are supposed to be respected. That is to say, lack of a G&T label, in theory, is not supposed to shut kids out of higher level programming offered in the in-boundary home school.

Personally, I wouldn't advise "sitting and waiting" if you believe your child needs advanced work. My experience, moving into MoCo when DC was in third grade, was that my DC was placed in an on grade math class when DC should've been accelerated. I brought this up in the first few weeks and asked how DC scored on math 3 vs. math 4 assessment. Skills-wise it was a toss up. But, I know my child, and after I provided my own view and further cognitive testing and previous report card/comments from her prior school, the MoCo school agreed with me and pushed DC ahead a grade in math. DC made straight A's all that year. This year, school has come to DC to ask if DC wants to skip another year of math. (Yes! is DC's answer.) If you can provide an honest assessment with some data or comments from others to back yourself up, then I don't think you will be looked at as a "pain-in-the-ass" parent by the school, for the most part. (Frankly, I don't give a damn if the school "likes" it when I advocate for appropriate instruction for my child.) I definitely wouldn't wait until the first conference, which is generally not for a couple of months at least, and is far too late for a child to switch classes, make new friends, and catch up with other kids, especially in math.

All of this "gifted and talented" discussion is quite different from access to the "Highly Gifted Centers" which run for 4th and 5th grade in certain centralized schools within cluster pairings. Children must apply to these in the beginning of 3rd grade. There is more testing (test unknown), more parent and teacher recs, more data on how many grades ahead child is in reading and math. Generally, kids must be at least one year ahead in math and 2 years above grade level in reading to gain entrance to these programs, although some who are super-high in one area but on grade level in the other may also get in. These programs are for kids whose "needs can not be met in the local school classroom." There are more qualified students than there are seats in these programs, unfortunately.

The application process continues in middle and high school with other competitive, by-application programs such as those at Takoma and Eastern Middle Schools, and Blair and Rockville HS, among others. By this time, many high schools have quite broad AP and IB offerings, so being in a magnet high school may not be as necessary, and advanced kids may wish to take advantage of the opportunity to take community college or university classes if they have placed out of the high school offerings. Schools are bigger also, and so cohorts of kids at any given level of academics are also bigger, making it easier to group kids with similar interests/instructional needs.

"Acceleration" in terms of full-grade skips is something I am not very familiar with, and my impression is that MoCo has a preference for serving advanced kids w/i the grade level, rather than advancing a kid an entire grade(s). This kind of full grade skip may be easier to do in the early years (k/1st) or at key transition points. Others can speak to this better than I.

HTH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for additional advice. This is very helpful. I didn't think to submit additional info with the registration.
We have independent testing results (IQ and achievement tests) to show, so I will make sure they are aware of his level.

Thanks a lot!

We had some independent testing done on our child and decided to share the relevant achievement test results with the school but not the IQ. As we thought about it, handing them the IQ results seemed a bit aggressive, as if we were saying, "see, our kid is destined for greatness! You better appreciate what a treasure you've got here!" On the other hand, the achievement test results were more immediately useful to the school, because they could be used for placement. So the school could see, "OK, X is slightly above in this area, that will work fine with our typical pull-out, but X is away ahead in this area--what are we going to do about it?"

In all our advocacy, we tried to be matter-of-fact and not pushy, just offering some information that we had that could be helpful. So, you could make a list of books he reads over the summer, or write down the sort of math he is doing, then give it to the teacher at the start of the year with the achievement test results, saying, "Since Y wasn't here last year, we wanted to give you a sense of him." I'd avoid personally demanding special treatment or acceleration early on, particularly since you don't know whether he'll be joining a huge cohort of kids doing just what he's doing, or whether he'll be outside the norm. After the first 6 weeks or so of assessments you'll be able to get a sense of his placement in reading and math and whether the teacher has a good sense of what he needs to be working on.

[Anonymous]

This is the OP.
21:58-- Thanks so much for thorough very valuable info. This was very helpful.
22:27-- I appreciate the advice--I know a lot will depend on the teacher and the school, but I will try to keep it cool and provide information that will help them with the placement. I have been keeping track of all the things DS has done so far, so I will include the info as well.

Now I feel much better about the prospect.
Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'd avoid personally demanding special treatment or acceleration early on, particularly since you don't know whether he'll be joining a huge cohort of kids doing just what he's doing, or whether he'll be outside the norm. After the first 6 weeks or so of assessments you'll be able to get a sense of his placement in reading and math and whether the teacher has a good sense of what he needs to be working on.

I still say 6 weeks is too late.

If you are coming to a new school, you should ask about the range of skills in the grade your child is entering. Just ask. How many 1st grade sections are there? How many first grade classes are working on second grade math? Keep asking until you get to the level you believe your child is at. You can check this by pulling the grade level curricula from the MCPS website and checking off the skills you think your child has. And IQ data can be useful. Many parents have paid for this testing already and it is reasonable assumption that a kid w/ a 95%ile IQ is probably capable of being pushed ahead a grade in math, especially if there are indicators that he/she has already learned some of the above grade skills. Not all parents have paid for achievement testing, and as I remember when investigating it, achievement testing by an outside professional is quite a bit more expensive. Placement testing should be happening the first or two of school, so by that time all the data is available to make a decision.

And anyway, what difference does it make whether there is a huge cohort doing what your child is doing or whether the kid is outside the norm? Either way, the child deserves a chance to learn at his/her level.

I find all this pussyfooting around sort of a waste. And equating asking for learning to occur at the level your child is at is reasonable in and of itself. I think it's wrong to imply that asking for something "special" makes the parents the types of pains in the ass that are saying "see our child is destined for greatness!" It is possible to respectfully ask for appropriate placement without being allowed to be made into some kind of PIA parent. IMO, worrying too much about what the school will think about you as a parent, places the focus in the wrong place -- the comfort of the administrators -- rather than the needs of the child.

[Anonymous]

OP again.
Advise well-noted.
I'm new to all of this, so I appreciate any advice from different perspectives.
Do you think I can request to meet with the teacher as well as the principal before the school year begins?
When do school teachers begin preparing for the new school year?
Should I contact the school before this school year ends, or toward the end of the summer, or should I wait until school begins?
Someone suggested earlier that I send additional info along with the registration, which could happen any time between now and the end of the summer.
But I don't know when I or they will find out which teacher is going to be my son's teacher.