Looking for teachers point of view

I answered you on the other forum where you posted this. Conversations actually are easier to follow if you post only once. :-)

Janis

I know that Freak The Almighty was the first book assigned to a 6th grade public school class locally, if that helps any.

Nancy

Please see my post on the parenting forum.

It’s Freak the Mighty :-)

Sorry about getting the name of the book wrong. Actually all I was looking for is what would you do as a teacher if you received a student in your class who skipped a grade not due to skill but age? How much of an impact do you think it would have on your classroom?

Lisa

Getting the student in my class — just one more headache along with all the*many* others who are misplaced.
Many many years ago back in the dark ages, we had what are now called criterion-referenced tests and you had to demonstrate certain skills to move on to the next grade. So the teacher in Grade 5 could confidently teach multiplication and fractions and area and volume, knowing that the students had shown mastery of basic facts and shapes and so on before they got there. Those days are long, long gone.
The re-introduction of state tests is meant to bring back some level of common expectations, but as far as I have seen things are still pretty variable.
In most places nowadays kids are promoted on some combination of age and economic status and skin tone (rich white kids are rarely repeated no matter how low their academic standards, while poor kids and minorities are often repeated, even up to an official provincial standard I have read to repeat native children as a matter of course). In a fairly typical Grade 5 class, reading and math levels may range from Grade 2 to 10. Usually around a quarter to a third of any given class, four to ten students, are behind grade level in some notable ways. A student who is one year behind will hardly stand out at all, and two years behind will still often fit in to one of the usual reading groups; math being cumulative is a bit more iffy but there are still usually others in the same boat.
Do work on the math, but especially work on the social expectations and the expectations of maturity in behaviour.

If you have hesitations, delay and have him skip the 8th grade. Was your son unhappy in the 5th grade? If not, why have him jump ahead now?

I don’t understand why your school insists he must skip a grade at some point - decisions should be made on the best interests of the child - but to skip a grade now to ‘adjust’ his high school entering age seems ‘out of whack’ to me. I would only have him skip a grade now if doing that were in his best interest NOW -not later. To me having him skip a grade now increases the risks for him particularly if his social skills are not commensurate with his peers.

Good luck.

The reason the decision was made it was best to skip the 6th grade and not the 8th is the set up of schools here. The schools are k-5, a 6th grade center, a 7th-8th grade center, and then hs. If he skipped 8th and not 6th he would go to a different school 3 years in a row. The 6th grade center does not change classes. The thought process is if he does 7th and 8th grade at the MS then he will get more use to the routine expected at HS. At the beginning of the year he will only go out for PE and Art but they hope to get him out more as the year goes on. They have several levels at the MS of special ed. His academic skills on group testing tested at the 3-5th grade level, when looked at individually through observation and school work his skills seem higher. He can read and understand the newspaper and was able to read his textbook on his own last year. The cross-cat class he will be in have students that function anywhere between the 4th and 6th grade, since his band of scores was 3-5th, they thought this the best placement. He will get speech/language therapy, ocial worker services, and the Autism teacher will consult with his teachers on an as needed basis.

Lisa

then this teacher’s feeling would be to do it. Of course you will feel uneasy but given the situation as you’re explaining it, it makes good sense to skip him now.

Good luck.

This teacher agrees — perhaps try to predict stresses… be creative with mental health days if that’s what’s called for, and be proactive about looking for social situations that could perhaps be steered into a different direction *if* they’re caught early and perhaps a setting is changed or a child is talked to (whether it’s landing on a bully quickly, or suggesting to a kiddo with some leadership skills that they be an ally)

Gosh, how could anyone agree with this?!!! This is a lawsuit waiting to happen! There is ZERO justification to make a child on an IEP SKIP A GRADE when they are already functioning below grade level!!! This is a violation of FEDERAL law and needs to be challenged. I’d try to find out who some of the other effected children are and get some parents together and contact a special ed. attorney.

Janis

The agreement is with sixth over eighth grade… not that the school’s doing the right thing.
However: it’s not that clearly a “lawsuit waiting to happen” except that of course, anybody can sue, any time.
There is no law that says a child cannot be in a higher grade than their skills or that special ed students can only skip grades under certain conditiosn. IEPS generally dont’ say “the student needs to be in X grade.” They say “he’ll learn to do this, by having that happen.” The school is probably maintaining that the best way they can do this is by having these students at the schools they’re sending them to.
Now, a local advocate with knowledge of local politics & due process suits could know differently — could be that there are sane & sensible people making those kinds of decisions and judgements. However, it’s a sad mistake to assume that if you can only tell the right Authority, that Things Will Be Set Right — an assumption to be gotten over about as quickly as believing that The Teachers Are The Experts and Want and KNow What’s Best For Your CHild :-(

Sue, my post wasn’t really directed at you specifically. But a child’s placement must be based on least restrictive environment. By skipping a grade, they are removing him from the social peer group he has been with all the way through school, not to mention forcing him into a more restrictive special class due to the fact they are skipping him UP a grade making the regular class instruction less accessible to him. If this is not a violation of the intent of the federal law, then I don’t know what is.

The other ludicrous thing about this whole thing is that some parents today keep thier kids in preschool an extra year and start them in school a year later. Are all those kids going to suddenly be forced to skip a grade? Something clearly doesn’t add up with this picture.

Janis

You’re opening a can of works with the “least restrictive environment” argument. It can quite reasonably be argued that being with age peers is less restrictive than being kept with kids two years younger. And it can quite reasonably be argued that the variety of class choices and ability to move around in the middle school is less restrictive than being kept in an elementary school classroom. I wouldn’t go for that one.

I’d take the oppostite tack — get a letter from the psychologist that this student is immature for his age due to his LD and is most suitably placed with a class chronologically younger than he is. Then take this to the state department of education, special ed supervisor, and ask for an exemption from the age laws for a special case.

And if people’s hands are tied, well if a year is to be skipped your school is at least thinking about his experiences and planning ahead so this year may be the lesser of the evils. Help him with his academics and make sure his IEP has remediation to catch him up.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I decided it was best to get things started right away for the new school year so I signed the papers for the move. I talked to some local higher ups who were in the know and they indicated it would be a mighty fight and I might wind up loosing in the long run. I thought it best in my sons interest to not cause difficulties at school. My son got to meet his teacher and she has read the file I gave her and we spoke at lenght and she seems eager to work with my son. 5th grade was a bad year for him, the other kids picking on him not only due to his “oddities” but also his size. Since he wants to make friends but just don’t know how they thought a fresh start might be good for him. His social worker services were increased, he was assigned a “buddy”, will get one to one tutoring by school support personnell, and attempts will be made to get him out into the mainstream as much as he can handle. My son is actually looking forward to the change since as he puts it I didn’t have many friends any way. I will continue to work with him over the summer and keep a close eye on what the school does to be sure they keep the promises they made. I valued all your opinions thanks again.

Lisa