That is great news. I am happy to hear that it worked out for you. I am quickly learning that parents of gifted children truly need to be advocates for their children. I hope you will continue to be active in advocating for the rights and special needs of "gifted" children. My best to you all.

We are in the Panhandle of Florida. Our son was accelerated to 5th grade, started today.

Where in Florida are you? Our son just took the WISC IV and received a 150 so we are now researching schools and learning our way around the "Florida gifted" system. Have you contacted FLAG (Florida Gifted Association)? Each region has a rep. Perhaps they can help. There is also a school in Sarasota for the highly gifted >130 called Pine View. It is nationally recognized but I don't know anything about it personally (yet). IMO, many of the Florida gifted programs, at least in MDCPS, are rife with fraud and abuse but there are some good programs out there.

Healthy11: thank you for the link to the gifted parent community. I just joined.

As a parent and teacher, I don't advise skipping grades. I am wondering if your son has outside interests, music, drama, sports. What does he love? The gifted child has needs that unfortunately, our schools cannot always adequately address. He needs to be well-rounded to prepare for college. Does he love science? he could be involved in something like our Tech museum of San Jose. This particular museum offers many educational opportunities, classes, etc. Music and drama are wonderful outlets for those bored children. Two of my own children participated in our own children's musical theater for several years. They made friends with interests like their own. Perhaps your city has a children's theater, a junior symphony program. Each child, no matter how gifted must be able to channel those other interests. It sounds as thoug he is already socially mature. If he is bored in fourth grade, he will probably be bored in fifth grade. I remember one summer I sent one child to an eight week summer program which stressed science and literature. We had to provide test scores which showed he was at least in the 90th perrcentile. He loved it! Please look for other interests which will peak his imagination and further that brilliant brain!

Thank you for your response ParentTeacher. The Principal claims only one other child has been advanced in this way.
Fortunately the District ESE director has pulled our son's school records and she agrees that he is a candidate for advancement. She does have to talk with the School District Superintendant though, as the Principal works for the Superintendant, proper chain of command and all.
As for the 'Iowa Acceleration Scale' the ESE Director said she didn't think we needed any more proof of his ability, in her opinion they had enough to demonstrate his readiness.

There are certainly skills and achievement tests that he could take that would demonstrate his skill level - if you must, go to any private educational psychologist. Who did his IQ testing?
I'm sure it's not the lack of a test - there are scads of tests - that stops the district from entertaining your request. Districts fear the onslaught of similar requests from other parents so they try to stonewall your request. School districts are places that like everything and everyone in their place.

My advice would be to ask around - has this ever happened before and have they ever given in before? That's a powerful piece of information if you can go in and say "What about Sally Smith? You allowed her to advance? Why her and not my son?"

Usually his teacher will keep mum on this - teachers don't like to get in trouble with the district that employs them but - do you have any sense of what his teacher thinks about the idea?

I'd also suggest - keep up the pressure pleasantly. Call your state board of ed and ask if there's a state regulation against it. There's not but every phone call you can make and every piece of paper you can gather strengthens your cause because - the only chance you have here is if you can wear the district down.

Unless you can find a time that in the past they did this, then you have to wear them down and it usually isn't easy. Go to www.hoagies.org or something close to that - a site for the parents of gifted children and get their support, advice and experience. Get your son tested with an achievement/skills test - of course they exist. Get a private psychologist to attest to the fact that they see your son as very capable of doing 5th grade work now.
Go in and observe in the 5th grade teachers' rooms - by law they have to allow that if you request to do so. (get your background checks and clearances so they can't prevent you on that basis) Be pleasant and warm and thank the teachers for allowing you to do so. Then you can also say "I saw nothing in the 5th grade classrooms that my son isn't already capable of doing now." More important, it shows them that you're willing to invest time and energy in this and you're not going to go away.

And - last but not least - recognize that you may not be able to make this happen this year but if you keep up the pressure, it's possible that you can make it happen more easily at the end of the year when the 5th graders move on to Middle School. If your school ends at 5th, the district would be more inclined to allow a rising 4th grader to jump to 6th at the end of the year than to allow a new 4th grader to jump to 5th mid-year.

Keep your eye on the prize. Good luck.

Unfortunately, I am not aware of many states besides PA that provide formal IEP's for gifted students. I would venture to guess that's another reason you don't have any signed paperwork from your school for the meeting that took place. At this point, I would follow up with the FL Dept. of Ed recommendations if you don't feel that your son's current placement is appropriate. A more expensive option might also be to move your son to a private gifted school, such as those accredited by www.nais.org

Yes I do believe that was the one. Thank you

If the principal is refusing to advance your son, I would suggest you follow the Dept. of Ed's advice to have the comprehensive testing completed. Find out from the Dept. of Ed what the requirements are to be accelerated. It may be that the principal just doesn't know the correct steps to take and is refusing your request for that reason.

By the way, was it the Iowa Acceleration Scale that was suggested to you? Though I have not used the IAS, I understand it is an excellent tool to help predict a child's success with a grade advancement.

IN what we thought was an EP meeting, (Principal, Vice Principal, Guidance, Teacher, and another school person where there with my wife and myself) we asked for him to be skipped, they refused, we asked for him to be moved to a different teacher in 4th grade, flat refusal. We have been advised by the Florida Department of Education to request a test from Iowa that is a comprehensive test of our son's abilities which would be a great indicator of his readiness for 5th grade. Whether they would do it or not is another matter. I say above, 'thought an EP' because none of us ever signed any paperwork as proof we even had the meeting....another madddening bit of information.

Those are different issues than you first raised. Have you written a letter to the principal requesting that your son be skipped?

We live in Florida. Our son is in their 'Gifted' program already. They are adding two teachers, Math and Reading, that are going to 'work' with the students that scored 4 and 5 on the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test for 45 minutes a week to 'help' keep them up there.
I can see why as our school had 47% of 3rd graders last year score 3 on the FCAT, 27% scored 4, and our son was among the 13% that scored 5 on the Math portion.
I really do not see that this standardized testing is doing much to help schooling. It helps them teach the kids the test contents, but what about all the information not being taught because it isn't on the Standardized test?

Hi, and Welcome to Greatschools. Do you mind if I ask what state you live in? In most places, my understanding is that there really aren't formal tests or guidelines to address grade skipping, it's really more up to the principals in each school to decide if a particular student can be advanced ahead. Sometimes there are school districtwide standards. Does your son's school offer a gifted program? Some schools use achievement testing to decide which students are selected to participate in it, and other schools may have "unofficial" criteria that say if a student consistently scores above X% (like 98%) in certain areas like reading and math, they might be capable of advancing. I'd recommend that you send a written letter to your school principal stating that since there is no test your son is required to take, you are requesting that your son be moved to 5th grade. Let them come back to you with a response. I also invite you to join Greatschools Gifted Group at community.greatschools.net/groups/11537