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Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Advanced Kids: What To Do?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My oldest sister, Gina, was always a smarty-pants — a bookworm’s bookworm, if there ever was one. She was such a solid reader when she was young that the kindergarten teacher sent her to first grade after only two weeks. Thanks to starting grade school early and having a mid-September birthday, she reached college by the time she was 16.
My colleague Kristina Torres had an interesting story the other day about DeKalb County considering a formal policy on how and when to move students ahead. If my sister — now a mom of three little smarties — could take it all back, she said she would have stayed with her peers.
For Gina, being the youngest and shiest in class made grade school an unhappy experience. But, she admits, she probably would have been bored to tears with all those kids still learning how to read.
So what do you do with a child whose skills are above grade level: Keep them with their peers and give them all the advanced work they can handle or just move them ahead and hope they’ll adjust?
