Recently I moved to the area and went to register and have my child assessed for grade one. I have been home schooling my daughter since she was 3, and had turmoiled much about putting her into school. I felt it was the best decision to get her in with other children and let her experience the joys of school as I had.
She’s considered a gifted child and has been home schooling with a grade one curriculum for a year now. An assessment allowing her into grade one was all that was left.
And that’s where we were struck with this road block. You see, our daughter is only 5 years old and will not be 6 until February. I called the assessor and learned that she would not even test for grade one unless she reached the age requirements. There were no exceptions. What is ironic is if she was a slower learner, she would have no problem getting the education help she needed, but as a gifted child she is restricted and denied the education level support she requires.
I was told that at grade two she could be enrolled in a heightened program but that she would have to be recommended for that by her grade one teacher. To me that seems a little too late, and really doesn’t solve the problem of allowing her to continue to learn at her own pace. It also seems to go against WAC 180-39-020 and WAC 180-39-025 of the state education policies.
How do the public schools justify this for “No child left behind”? Do they not expect to have some children wanting to learn more? I cannot believe the public school administration in Snohomish would knowingly squash a child’s learning drive only because they deem it age inappropriate.
Lorna Glick
Everett
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