How much can a child learn? in the right environment how far can they soar? I am asking this question about Sarah. Currently in Catholic school and by all measured accounts in doing great. Almost straight As, friendly and liked by her teachers although she may be a bit energetic and inquisitive for some. This is the beginning of this journey into the best way to educate Sarah.
A Little background...Sarah is 10 years old, in the fourth grade and attends a local catholic school. I have been generally happy with the school. The community is close, the principal is great and the teachers are loving and caring. This year as I was going about my way between school and piano lessons and swim team and a variety of other activities that fill our day. Everything is being managed and the house is relatively neat so Life is Good.
One day I had some kids over the house for a play date. When they asked to play a game, I was delighted. We got Scattegories from the game cabinet...Great, they can learn and play. I sat down to help because we have played before and sometimes Sarah needs help reading the cards or understanding the context. We had two kids over a fourth grader and a first grader. To my surprise the first grader could pretty much read most of the cards. The visiting fourth grader..no problem at all. Sarah ..not so much. How could this be. She is a straight A Student with the occasional B in Reading. Surely she is at grade level...Are these neighbor kids just geniuses.
I requested a conference with her teacher and the firestorm began.
How is Sarah doing?
great!
I noticed she doesn't seem to be reading that well.
We put her in small group and she is doing fine.
She gets mostly As. is she getting the same work as the rest of the class?
absolutely..the exact same work.
Are you sure because she seems behind to me yet she is getting good grades. Are her grades based on the exact same work.
Yes the exact same work.
Okay then maybe I am overreacting.
Well this is when it gets interesting..As it turns out Sarah is not getting the same work..Not even close. Sarah Had ADHD which qualifies her for an extra time accommodation. The same work..extra time on Tests. Apparently the school interpreted the accommodation as same time, less test questions. So for the entire year she has been given significantly less vocabulary words, language arts assignments and so on. I was unaware but I don't think it would have made a difference because the teacher assures me this is not he case. When I finally proved this on one test..she conceded on the one instance and gave her the complete test.
I began to think..How much have we missed..20 % 30 %....Will I have to catch up to get her ready for 5th grade. Unfortunately I don't know the answers because I can't get the whole story from the school.
So, my quest begins..How much can Sarah Learn? Where is the right place for her? Will she be tracked in the school at such a young age?
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