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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Not all children are marked on their report cards as receiving acceleration, not all children earned over 90% on their Inview, not all children are earning all P's...  I know it will be surprising to many who read this forum, many children already find the curriculum challenging enough and do not need the accelerated pace.  Teachers are able to distinguish between students that need a faster pace and students who are fine in an on grade level class.[/quote]

I disagree. Our school, with a high FARMS and ESOL rate, does not offer acceleration. I've discussed with many other parents, and none of the kids are doing division in third grade or any of that. There's no way to prove readiness for additional work within that culture. Advocating for more is very frowned upon by teachers and administration. [/quote]

So you think that, because the school does not offer acceleration, the teachers are unable to distinguish between students who could handle a faster place and students who are fine in an on-grade-level class?[/quote]

Let's say I don't find 3rd grade math to be very rigorous. He can do more on his own, but that is not a factor in the eval.[/quote]

NP. Your concern makes sense, but I would look at it this way. I don't think a student has to ALREADY be doing advanced work in order to qualify to receive advanced work, because at some point the child would have had to qualify for acceleration based on the regular work first. I think it is entirely possible to show readiness for advanced work while still a student in a standard class. If your DC is not being appropriately challenged/engaged by the math at his school, that probably means several of the following are true of him:
- he likely received a high score on the Inview test
- he likely produces consistently high quality work on classroom-based math tasks
- he likely grasps concepts more quickly than many in the class, and can complete tasks reasonably accurately after only one or two explanations from the teacher, or with a few minutes of careful modeling of new math concepts and tasks
- he likely received mostly or all Ps in math each quarter last year and this year
- he is likely to exhibit an intuitive understanding of math or a deeper interest in math, based on things like the questions he asks or the explanations he provides for how he solved problems

These are all examples of things a teacher may notice about a student who might be suited for the compacted math track, and if your son is exhibiting similar traits of being ready for more challenge his teacher will probably see this and flag him for evaluation for the compacted math program. If you are concerned that this is not the case, maybe you could just ask your son's teacher whether or not he is being considered, and if he is not provide examples of the reasons you feel he is a suitable candidate. Best of luck to you and your son in obtaining the math placement that would be best for him.[/quote]

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