Waiver for Early Entry into Kindergarten
Friday June 5, 2009
The principal at our local elementary school did not support early entry into kindergarten for my son. In fact, he said that our school district never admitted children into school early. While some kids may appear to be more advanced than other kids, he assured me that based on his fifty years of experience in education, kids got dumber over the years. (Those were his exact words.)
I was not convinced that early entry into kindergarten would be anything but the best option for my son, so I called our superintendent's office and talked with the assistant superintendent. He told me that I could apply for a waiver to the cut-off date rule so that I could enroll my son in school early. He said he would send me a form and told me I would have to get my son tested but could not tell me where to go or give me the name of an acceptable test. All he said was that it had to be a standardized test.
It was not easy to find someone to do the testing, but after much searching, I did find someone. I got the results of the test, along with a report that recommended my son be allowed to start school in the fall. I sent the report, along with the waiver application to the assistant superintendent of our school district.
A few days later, I received a call from the man. He let me know that he got the material I had sent in. Then he asked me if the test my son took was a standardized test. When I told him it was, he used that to dismiss the results of my son's test. Standardized test scores were based on the general population, but our town was above average and therefore standardized tests didn't apply.
He then asked me how long I had lived in the community. I told him I had lived here all my life, to which he replied, "Then you know how bright our children are. Children who are considered bright in one town may not be bright in another, so your son may be bright in other towns, but he is like most of our children." In other words, your son doesn't need to start school early.
What do you think about this? Have you had similar experiences with this kind of logic?
I was not convinced that early entry into kindergarten would be anything but the best option for my son, so I called our superintendent's office and talked with the assistant superintendent. He told me that I could apply for a waiver to the cut-off date rule so that I could enroll my son in school early. He said he would send me a form and told me I would have to get my son tested but could not tell me where to go or give me the name of an acceptable test. All he said was that it had to be a standardized test.
It was not easy to find someone to do the testing, but after much searching, I did find someone. I got the results of the test, along with a report that recommended my son be allowed to start school in the fall. I sent the report, along with the waiver application to the assistant superintendent of our school district.
A few days later, I received a call from the man. He let me know that he got the material I had sent in. Then he asked me if the test my son took was a standardized test. When I told him it was, he used that to dismiss the results of my son's test. Standardized test scores were based on the general population, but our town was above average and therefore standardized tests didn't apply.
He then asked me how long I had lived in the community. I told him I had lived here all my life, to which he replied, "Then you know how bright our children are. Children who are considered bright in one town may not be bright in another, so your son may be bright in other towns, but he is like most of our children." In other words, your son doesn't need to start school early.
What do you think about this? Have you had similar experiences with this kind of logic?
Comments
I wish your situation were unusual. Unfortunately it is not. As someone who has worked with gifted children and their families for over thirty years, I have witnessed this kind of forced hoop jumping many times. The bottom line is that no matter what you brought in terms of evidence to support your son’s need for early entrance, your district would have found a reason to block your request. In this situation you need to realize that early entrance into a setting that does not support or understand children like your son, may not have been in your son’s best interest. You may also want to see if there is a partent group for gifted children in the district. If there isn’t one now, you may want to start one.
Thanks for your reply, Cathy. I’m well past the whole kindergarten issue as my son is going to turn 20 this month! However, your advice is excellent and I’m sure many parents with young preschoolers will appreciate it. You are quite right about school settings. It’s important for parents to evaluate schools and school programs. And looking for parent groups or starting a parent group if one doesn’t already exist can provide needed support.
Thanks again, Cathy!
Have you heard of the book A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students? It’s a report done by some of the leading experts in gifted education (edited by Miraca Gross, Nicholas Colangelo and Susan Assouline). It absolutely destroys the common myths about acceleration being dangerous/non-social/ etc. It can be downloaded at http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/Nation_Deceived/. I bet your assistant superintendant could use a copy.
Thank you, Cathy and Kristin. That assistant superintendent is long gone. My son is now 20 years old. A Nation Deceived is an excellent book and I sure wish it had been out 16 years ago! I did actually start a parent group. That’s a whole other story!