Gifted Child

My 9yo DS started 4th grade this year.  I guess he was in some pull out classes or something since 2nd grade.  From what I understand they don't do that test for it here until 2nd grade and the pull out classes in 3rd grade but his first grade teacher suggested they test him early and he qualified.  I don't understand it at all really.  I got a letter saying he qualified for something to do with his advance level in first grade so it started in 2nd grade.  I am sure you are probably just going to tell me to ask them but I am wordering, what kind of tests have they done on your kids to know they are at an advanced level?  Whenever they have tested him for anything the last few years he has always tested advance...like 5th grade reading in 3rd grade, but how do they know it is a 5th grade level?  Everything I get just says he is advanced.  Other than his reading level his teacher told me about last year, I have no idea what level he is testing in for anything else.  Maybe they don't offer for him to skip grades which I wouldn't want him to do anyway.  I don't think he could handle it but at the same time I want to be sure he is not being held back as far as what he can do because they are not teaching him at the level he should have.

So I would think if they know he is at a 5th grade level in 3rd grade for reading, maybe his pull out class would teach him 5th grade work with him staying in the 3rd grade class otherwise??  I think what I am really trying to figure out here as I babble on is, if he gets advanced levels for all his testing in 3rd grade (and every otehr grade so far), maybe they are only testing him for THAT grade level and not above.  KWIM?  If they get all questions right for 3rd grade, do they then keep going on to 4th grade questions and 5th grade and so on until he sarts to do bad?  Is that how it is firgured out?  I know in first and second grade he was VERY board especially with the reading but with the pull out classes it helped.

Thanks!

These days schools test kids constantly, almost from Day One.  There's standards-based distirct testing to see whether the child has mastered what's been taught so far (usually about once a quarter).  There are DIBELS tests at least twice a year, measuring reading readiness in K and words per minute beginning in first.    Beginning about third grade, there are also state mastery tests and/or achievement tests like the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.  

My guess is that your child just scores extremely high on all the tests-- so there isn't a single test that determines whether he gets in or not.  

Test scores are notoriously inaccurate for advanced kids anyway.  Let's say your third-grader takes an achievement test and it shows he reads at the six-grade leve.  That doesn't necessarily mean he can read 6th-grade material (although he may well be able to).  It means he scored as well as the average sixth-grader would on a third-grade level test.  Not exactly the same thing.

If you want to know exactly what reading level your child is at, you are probably going to have to give the school a written request for formal reading evaluation.  This will probably involve spending a half-hour one-on-one with the reading teacher.  Another possibility is if your school does an out-of-level test like Measures of Academic Progress (MAPS).   MAPS is a computerized test where each child answers questions until he/she gets a certain percentage wrong.  Your then find out if your advanced third grader can do fourth-grade math or if he's really ready for high-school algebra.

You are lucky that your school has recognized your son's advancedness and does seems to be doing things for him.   But reality is that many schools make gifted services a low priority, and you will probably need to be on top of things as your son gets further and further ahead.