LeAnn: My son has been in gifted classes since 2nd grade. At the end of 5th grade and EP was created for the transition to middle school. the EP specifically stated he would go into gifted classes. Last week school started and he was not placed in gifted. the excuse given was my child did not have FSA scores which were used as a secondary filter since there were more gifted children than seats. This means my gifted child has been mainstreamed and not receiving the education he deserves and and is entitled to. The school and county admin has basically told me too bad for you…maybe next year. I can not afford an attorney to fight this.What other options do I have?
If school is starting in the next few days, I suggest your first step be to contact the teachers of the gifted classes and ask for the syllabus and the opportunity to borrow the textbook. Also ask each teacher to email you the assignments. While you are working on your advocacy, you want to make sure your child is not falling behind, so that when you get him a seat in the class, he will be comfortable and caught up.
What I once had to do was agree to teach my son the material at home for the first five weeks, and have him sit, at the 5-week point, the quizzes and exams that had been given so far in the class.
Why? Because when the five-week progress reports are sent out, a certain percentage of students tend to drop back to the non-accelerated class at that point. And then there would be a seat in the class for him. They forced me to agree that he would only be accepted in the class if he scored very high on the first five weeks’ worth of quizzes and exams.
It was a painful way to gain entry into the advanced math class my son craved. (I hope you don’t get backed into that corner.) But it worked and it was worth it.