I have made a discovery about myself today.
Few things put me in a worse mood than someone telling me that my child is not the genius I think he is.
Today was the second time this has ever happened. The first time was last fall; Noah was in first grade at his new school and his teacher, much to my delight, recognized his abilities and recommended that he be tested for A.L.P. (advanced learning program; like the gifted program). A few weeks later we got the results. He hadn't even come close to passing the test. Not even remotely close to borderline. Well, I thought, the test must be flawed. Or the directions weren't explained to him. Or he doesn't know how to fill in the bubbles right. Or it wasn't a #2 pencil. A friend of mine with an A.L.P. kid at another school helped me feel better by telling me that her son had also not passed the test in first grade, but had in second. Even still, I was in a terrible mood for a couple of days (but didn't take it out on Noah. I love him the same no matter what. I was just mad at the system).
Fast forward to this morning... I sent a note to school for Noah's teacher to inform her of his upcoming absence while we're out of town, and while I was at it I casually asked when A.L.P. testing is for this year, and also, why haven't I heard anything about Advanced Math? Advanced Math starts in 2nd grade at this school, and that was one other thing that helped me feel better about last year's A.L.P. results: at least I know he'll be in Advanced Math next year, even if he never gets into A.L.P.
She sent a note back home that I just read:
"All students in 2nd grade were already tested for advanced math and although a few students in my class got in, Noah was not one of them."
Excuse me? Has she met Noah? Allow me to introduce him to you: he was constantly pointing out his favorite number [7] at 18 months, and he figured out on his own how to count to 100 as soon as he could talk. He's always loved math & I've never had to help him with his homework; he cruises thought it, and he makes up math problems like 4,389+3,275 to do just for fun. So already I'm formulating excuses. I'm pretty sure their testing was a couple pages of math-facts timed-tests that he brought home last week, that he'd done on the second or third day of school. I must confess that we did not do any math over the summer, so he was a little rusty on them. Last year he cruised through all those math timed tests. Why would they have the advanced math testing on the second or third day of school when clearly the kids are rusty from summer vacation?
Should I be as bothered by this as I clearly am, or should I be content with the knowledge that he's technically in "advanced everything" because he's at a school whose entire curriculum is "accelerated" and ahead of the "regular schools?" Should I be an annoying parent & press the issue, insisting that he be re-tested? Have I been wrong this entire time in dubbing him a genius? (don't worry, I don't really call him that.) Should I lower my academic expectations for all of my children from here on out? Come on, what gives??
So I'm trying to figure out what do to from here. For starters I need to do something to get myself in a better mood! Blogging helps but chocolate would be better. But don't worry, I'm not taking it out on Noah. I love that kid the same no matter what.
5 comments:
After you calm down, ask for a meeting with the teacher. You need more explanation and you need a chance to give more.
The kid IS NOT, nor ever has been rusty in math!
Hello, first word is number 7, adds and subtracts before he can speak??!!
i agree. it may be a test-anxiety thing or something else that is no indication of his intelligence or ability.
explore the issue, and if he honestly isn't ready for advanced classes yet, don't give up. he might be ready in a year or two.
and advanced classes, of course, are no indication of future success.
Yeah. That is annoying. Maybe you can give the teacher the link to this blog so that she can see the video of Noah at 18 months pointing out the "7" shadow. She can also read about "7 Day" that Noah was so excited about. That has to count for something! Or maybe just slash her tires. That would feel the best.
I would be totally annoyed too. I agree, set up a meeting with the teacher so you can explain your side and she can explain her side. If Noah is not ready for advanced classes, try again next year. Maybe he isn't quite ready. At my school they don't do advanced math till 6th grade and when I was in elementary school I purposely didn't do well on the test because I didn't want to be in the advanced math. I am not saying that is what Noah did, hello he is in second grade, but just be patient. I hope that helps! Definately eat the chocolate!
Update: Noah's teacher & I have exchanged a few emails since this post; he'll be tested in December for ALP and if he does well on the math part, he can join advanced math at that point (even if he doesn't get into ALP). I'm satisfied with this outcome and my mood has improved. BUT I still don't think they should do ANY kind of testing on the first and second day of school, which it turns out was when they did the "A-Math" testing! Maybe if I joined some kind of union I could get some say in this sort of thing?
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