K progress

[SpeechMom]

I'll be meeting with ds's teacher and other team members to discuss his K progress, but I have 2 key issues that I need imput on. First (to help me interpret his CogAT scores), would you consider a child who was 6:6 in December to be significantly older than other kindergarteners? If so, then we need to be looking at his grade scores, if not, then we need to look at his age scores. Second, when you evaluate the progress of your students, do you take into consideration that the child has repeated a grade? In other words, do you think "he's done this before, so he should be excelling rather than just making average progress"?

I want to do everthing we can to make sure ds excels, but I also want to make sure we're not putting unrealistic expectations on him. I haven't seen his mid year report card yet, so I don't have all the info on his performance in the classroom.

[MaryL]

If your ds was in my class, and was 6:6 in December, he would be older than the majority of my class. (Most of my children turn 6 from October to June.) I would be looking at his grade scores. When I have a student who is repeating Kindergarten, I expect the student to do the best they can do. I do not assume that they will "excel"... the purpose of repeating Kindergarten is to give a student time to mature (either academically, socially, or emotionally, etc). The child should work to his own potential, and not be expected to be at the top of the class just because he is repeating the grade. Does that make sense?

[Judy]

Kindergarten is the only time in your child's life that schools will really be looking at his age, beyond that he will always be judged for his progress.

I would focus on his grade scores because they're telling you what level he's truly at in regards to his education.

I had my oldest son repeat kindergarten because I saw clearly how frustrated he was and I knew that the extra year would give him the boost he'd need to succeed.

The best thing you can do for your child is to really look for what's best for him. Be realistic with your goals for him, and be sure that you make his teacher comfortable so that she will be upfront with you. Forget that he is repeating this grade and focus on where he is now and how his progress has been through the year.

[SpeechMom]

Thanks ladies - we're meeting next Friday - I'll let you know what we work out.