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Move them up. If the teachers feel they are ready, they are probably ready. It would better to have the child challenged and learning than bored and mischievous.
Also, this is what my kid's school does, sort of. Every semester each child is individually assessed, and if they are ready to move to the next level, they get promoted, regardless of age.
I'm surprised the school offered to skip your child a grade. It isn't done anymore. What usually happens is "enrichment" for what that's worth, or if the school has a gifted and talented program, that's where a smart kid will end up.
I'm surprised the school offered to skip your child a grade.
Didn't you even read the OP's post? He didn't say his child was offered to skip a grade.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AndreaII
It isn't done anymore.
Schools will definitely move children up one grade during elementary school. One grade level isn't a huge social leap.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AndreaII
What usually happens is "enrichment" for what that's worth, or if the school has a gifted and talented program, that's where a smart kid will end up.
By middle school, the extremely intelligent children receive a custom education that's above the enrichment and gifted program. The child will be kept in the same grade for social purposes, but driven to the high school for the high level math courses, etc. It's truly an individual education plan --- one on one teaching. It's a rare child who comes near needing this type of specialized education. An extremely large district might encounter this type of child once a generation---if that often.
If your child was offered to skip a grade, what would you do? Would you force him to? Would you force him not to? Would you ask him first?
The school wanted me to skip 2nd grade when I was little. I'd been ahead of my classmates, and first grade had been a misery, with the teachers not knowing how to deal with me. They put me in a corner with headphones and some kind of pre-recorded curriculum and kept me separate from the other students, because I had no patience for their slower learning pace. My behavior was disruptive and I got sent to the principal's office once for ripping a kid's assignment out of his hands and finishing it myself, because he was the last one not done and I was tired of waiting on him. Socially, I got along fine with my classmates and had lots of friends and remember being liked and liking others.
But my mother refused to allow them to advance me. Her rationale was that all the smart people she'd ever known were miserably unhappy. She wanted me to be average...or at least as average as I could be.
I don't recall having an opinion on it at the time, but later...later I wished she'd allowed it. Still...it does no good to speculate on what might have been. How can we know? My mom made the decision she thought was right for me and had her reasons for doing so. As the parent, that was her perogative.
Didn't you even read the OP's post? He didn't say his child was offered to skip a grade.
Schools will definitely move children up one grade during elementary school. One grade level isn't a huge social leap.
By middle school, the extremely intelligent children receive a custom education that's above the enrichment and gifted program. The child will be kept in the same grade for social purposes, but driven to the high school for the high level math courses, etc. It's truly an individual education plan --- one on one teaching. It's a rare child who comes near needing this type of specialized education. An extremely large district might encounter this type of child once a generation---if that often.
Sounds like you think you know a lot.
The OP's post sounded as though something was in the offing regarding a child skipping a grade. And, no, on LI, NY, districts haven't skipped a child in years. Not since the 70's. Maybe in other parts of the country such as the Midwest, but not in NY.
Regarding the rest of your post, you don't know what you're talking about. It sounds as if you're making it up. Once in a generation? How did you come up with that one? Extremely rare? Where do you live? In a podunk USA town with a population of 12,000 and an average IQ of 100, where an IQ of 125 is a big deal?
I've had plenty of experience with smart kids and our school system. Have two of them myself. Both of my kids have IQ's that are very high. They are grown now. My son tested out at 142 when he was 2 months short of 8 years old, and my daughter tested out at 136 when she was 7.25 years old. Both were invited to be in our school district's self-contained gifted and talented program for 4 years. Both went on to what you call a customized education.
Our IG program (gifted and talented) consisted of 2 classes per grade from third grade through sixth, with approximately 60 kids per grade. Not exactly one child per generation.
There never was a one-to-one teacher ratio setup. Not in IG, or junior high, or high school. Never heard of such a thing. Maybe when there's a district where there's one unfortunate smart kid who feels like a geek compared to all his/her other average/slow thinking students they're surrounded by, that's when one on one needs to take place. Perhaps that's what you mean by one in a generation.
My kids had plenty of company IQ-wise in our district. And if you don't believe it, look up Intel winners and Merit scholarship winners for the Three Village Central School District. I'm sure you'll find many more accolades for the district there won by numerous high-IQ kids.
My kids grew up in a University town filled with lots of professors, doctors, scientists, physicists, etc. And Brookhaven labs were 20 minutes away with their huge pool of scientists living with their smart kids in our district. My kids had plenty of competition. A large university with a large teaching population who had kids in our district, and all of those kids inherited their parents' smarts and their talents. A very large pool of "extremely intelligent", to quote you, children.
So, yeah, I do know what I'm talking about. Here in NY skipping isn't done. Period. But maybe in another part of the country where "extremely intelligent" kids are a rarity and once in a generation because the gene pool isn't that bright, skipping is done out of necessity.
Regarding the rest of your post, you don't know what you're talking about. It sounds as if you're making it up. Once in a generation? How did you come up with that one? Extremely rare? Where do you live? In a podunk USA town with a population of 12,000 and an average IQ of 100, where an IQ of 125 is a big deal?
No. I'm talking about a child who is doing calculus in 6th grade --- the TRULY gifted children. There's one my daughter's grade.
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Originally Posted by AndreaII
Our IG program (gifted and talented) consisted of 2 classes per grade from third grade through sixth, with approximately 60 kids per grade. Not exactly one child per generation.
That's just the gifted program. Our district has way more than 60 per grade in that. I'm talking about something far superior that is truly custom designed, one on one instruction.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AndreaII
There never was a one-to-one teacher ratio setup. Not in IG, or junior high, or high school. Never heard of such a thing.
Either your district has never encountered one of these very rare children or your district isn't meeting the child's needs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AndreaII
Maybe when there's a district where there's one unfortunate smart kid who feels like a geek compared to all his/her other average/slow thinking students they're surrounded by, that's when one on one needs to take place. Perhaps that's what you mean by one in a generation.
I'm talking about the TRUE genius who feels slowed down by gifted students. They are very rare! I went to school with one---she graduated at 13. My daughter has one in her grade, but the school district chose to keep her at her grade level and take her to the high school for specific classes that couldn't be provided for her in the lower grade level schools. That way she was able to stay at the same social level and be challenged at the same time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AndreaII
So, yeah, I do know what I'm talking about. Here in NY skipping isn't done. Period. But maybe in another part of the country where "extremely intelligent" kids are a rarity and once in a generation because the gene pool isn't that bright, skipping is done out of necessity.
Your area of the country isn't more special than anywhere else. The 60 children in your gifted programs aren't all doing calculus in 6th grade.
I'm talking about Einsteins. I don't care how many children of professors live there. Those professors, doctors, scientists, and physicists aren't Einsteins either.
Hah! I went to CMU too (but not at 14). That place is no joke, even for 18 year olds!
I'm very aware! I was amazed at the suicide rate. It's not something you hear about in the news.
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Originally Posted by NYCAnalyst
As a clarification, I was offered to skip one grade. I meant to say that I just "graduated" 4th grade and was offered to skip 5th entirely...
That makes more sense. I still think that you were better off to stay where you were.
Afterall, you were afraid of the bigger kids. That alone is an indication that it wasn't the right grade for you at that time in your life.
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Originally Posted by NYCAnalyst
BTW, I live in NYC and went to Catholic School my whole life (until college). Maybe the public schools don't do this but the Catholic Schools do...
It is more common in the private schools, but our public school districts have been known to do it on rare occassions.
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