Indian vs US elementary education

[cyberabadi]

Despite Push, Success at Charter Schools Is Mixed

[anwesha]

I have heard from other parents in our area, cases where teacher recommends accelerated placement for following year which means kid will skip a grade in a given subject. For ex - Kid will be working on 4th grade curriculum in Math/English lang/social studies in 3rd grade.
As always parents consent is required for the placement.

Are there any parents on board who have gone through this? Wondering how they would manage stepping up certain subjects while rest of the subject are taught on level. Would this do harm than good on the kid?
Thanks,

[M V]

#72, At the elementary school level, in our area, this happens more in Math and Language Arts. It is a good thing for the kid, as they get to do enhanced stuff without having to be in a higher grade. If they do the grade level stuff, they might get bored and begin to lose interest in school and learning. The effectiveness of such placement depends on how the accelerated teaching is handled. Does the teacher simultaneously handle 3rd and 4th level teaching - if so, how good is she at this multiplexing. Sometimes, all the kids in a grade are divided into groups, and each teacher in the grade teaches a different group - the kids go to a different classroom for that subject.

I don't understand the concern around all subjects not being at the same level. In fact, how deeply a subject is covered often depends on the teacher and her interests. Some do Math in depth, some focus more on Science and so on. They do follow the basic curriculum, but there is also a lot of leeway in how they teach and how much. That is why, it is sometimes a good idea to not know what the teachers in other classrooms of your child's grade are teaching in class : )

I see no harm whatsoever in such placement.

[anwesha]

#72, At the elementary school level, in our area, this happens more in Math and Language Arts. It is a good thing for the kid, as they get to do enhanced stuff without having to be in a higher grade. If they do the grade level stuff, they might get bored and begin to lose interest in school and learning. The effectiveness of such placement depends on how the accelerated teaching is handled. Does the teacher simultaneously handle 3rd and 4th level teaching - if so, how good is she at this multiplexing. Sometimes, all the kids in a grade are divided into groups, and each teacher in the grade teaches a different group - the kids go to a different classroom for that subject.

I don't understand the concern around all subjects not being at the same level. In fact, how deeply a subject is covered often depends on the teacher and her interests. Some do Math in depth, some focus more on Science and so on. They do follow the basic curriculum, but there is also a lot of leeway in how they teach and how much. That is why, it is sometimes a good idea to not know what the teachers in other classrooms of your child's grade are teaching in class : )

I see no harm whatsoever in such placement.

Honestly, I do not know much about teaching methodology here. AFAIK, for this kind of placement the teacher handles both levels in the same class. How the teacher handles multiple levels, I don?t know : (

Will the kid become over-confident and start taking it easy? Hence the question of harm rose in my mind.

[desi_mom]

I have heard from other parents in our area, cases where teacher recommends accelerated placement for following year which means kid will skip a grade in a given subject. For ex - Kid will be working on 4th grade curriculum in Math/English lang/social studies in 3rd grade.
As always parents consent is required for the placement.

Are there any parents on board who have gone through this? Wondering how they would manage stepping up certain subjects while rest of the subject are taught on level. Would this do harm than good on the kid?
Thanks,

My kid just goes to the gifted program which is kind of advanced to the grade level. That's it. One of my friend's son who is in 6th goes to 8th grade for couple of subjects. I don't think it is a big deal as far as the kid can manage it without
feeling stressed. Anyways, many of the indian kids take lot of AP progams in High School.

[OurGen-X]

Honestly, I do not know much about teaching methodology here. AFAIK, for this kind of placement the teacher handles both levels in the same class. How the teacher handles multiple levels, I don?t know : (

Will the kid become over-confident and start taking it easy? Hence the question of harm rose in my mind.

I concur with the above.

In my mind, there is a reason that kids have peers of all abilities in order for them to shine, compete or learn from. I don't get this whole concept of "skipping grade-levels" for any reason. I'd rather my child study her own grade level and excel at it than exclude her from the rest of her peers where she would be either competing with older kids and/or miss out an stuff that her own grade kids learn as a group.

My daughter, having been born towards almost the end of the cut-off date for school admission, is the the youngest in her grade but being a bright kid, she excels in all levels mainly because of the time and effort we spend with her at home. Right from kindergarten, I've made it a point to get her started on the next-grade's topics starting around 2 or 3 months into the school year. That way, her knowledge has been ahead of kids in her grade level but at the same time, her exposure is with them while in the classroom. This has helped her to complete her classwork and tests with ease and although her teacher recommended her to be tested for the gifted programme, we chose not to do so since that would only be too much pressure on her especially when she is the youngest at her own grade level.

Besides, all kids get only one chance at being a kid and there are so many things that kids need to learn/experience outside the classroom. There's no point in rushing them to grow up and when they finally do grow up, they should not regret or feel deprived of not having done things that they see other kids do in terms of playing and having fun and experiencing the joys of childhood. That's just not fair.

My 2 cents.

[M V]

#76, OG, the accelerated or enhanced program that Anwesha is talking about is exactly what you've described in the middle paragraph of your post - challenging kids to their fullest potential in their regular grade or classroom. This is not skipping a grade. The slightly ahead kids remain in the same grade, but work given to them is at a slightly higher level. Skipping a grade is generally discouraged, and definitely school won't send a letter home suggesting that. Often, parents (misguided, IMO) who want their kid to skip a grade, have to work hard to persuade school to allow that.

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On a related note, I wonder what parents here think of redshirting (enrolling child a year later in Kindergarten even if child eligible according to the state's cut off date for KG admission). I've heard it is more common in the mid-west and a bit in east-coast than in the west coast. Couple of my friends did it for their kids (boys), and are happy with the results now with kid in 2 or 3rd grade.

Some parents whose kids just miss the cut-off date (Dec 2) by a few days, enroll their kid in private school for KG, and then move them to public school in 1st or 2nd grade, as then public school is not very particular about birth date, and go more by testing the kid.

[farfromhome]

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On a related note, I wonder what parents here think of redshirting (enrolling child a year later in Kindergarten even if child eligible according to the state's cut off date for KG admission). I've heard it is more common in the mid-west and a bit in east-coast than in the west coast. Couple of my friends did it for their kids (boys), and are happy with the results now with kid in 2 or 3rd grade.

Some parents whose kids just miss the cut-off date (Dec 2) by a few days, enroll their kid in private school for KG, and then move them to public school in 1st or 2nd grade, as then public school is not very particular about birth date, and go more by testing the kid.

MV: We might try this for our kid once we r2i. I would want him to do the KinderGarten or 1st Grade again in India (depending on when we r2i) so that it might help him to settle easier. Also, his concentration skills need a lot of improvement (hence the not so good grades currently in KinderGarten). Can't really blame the kid. Have to blame his allergies :(

[cyberabadi]

International Program Catches On in U.S. Schools

[mom2gurls]

This is great, after realizing that we would need an international school..I started researching to see what school were near us and were surprised to find that there are some school that offer the program and fantastic school districts that we would consider moving to when we come back. And most of them...at least where I searched were in public school systems, in great districts...which means FREE. Cant beat that.

In case anyone who wanting to know if there is one near you, (In case your r2i plan is in the distant future)...here you go.

http://www.ibo.org/