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Yet you do acknowledge your child basically was accelerated, right - through a private school option for G&T students, homeschooling, and then a gifted program that offered an accelerated curriculum to get her through elementary. Sounds like you were able to set a good path for her. Admittedly that combination is not available to a lot of highly or profoundly gifted students - especially the first two. So grade skipping remains their best option sometimes.
Yes, I acknowledged that in my post. We are extremely fortunate to have these resources in our area, and others may not have these options.
I skipped a grade in elementary school. High school was a public magnet-school, specializing in STEM. The concomitant “nerd factor” greatly helped with the social awkwardness and physical lagging, which I submit is especially challenging for males. In a regular high school, I might have been the sobbing denizen of the inside of lockers. Being small for my age, and a year younger, and with an irascible tongue, social-life was to say the least fraught with challenges – even in the comparatively serene environment where most kids are better at chess than at football.
The divide accelerated throughout life. In high school, I attended various classes with the higher grades (where the students were themselves “advanced”). Then, there I was in college, 17 years old or whatnot, taking classes with graduate students… many of whom were already buying houses, starting families and talking about their 401K plans (this was at a time when tuition wasn’t quite so nosebleed expensive, and besides, most grad students were on fellowship). Long story short, I graduated from college while still technically a teenager – a few months shy of my 20th birthday. This resulted in myriad social problems, philosophical problems, existential problems…
How did this happen? I’m a first-generation immigrant (born abroad), from Europe. My father would regularly aver, that “When I was a boy your age, I was already learning calculus, and on to my third foreign language! What do they teach you here in your American schools? Well, if you can’t get a good education, you might as well at least finish it quickly”. Not being rebellious, I didn’t disagree. And so it went.
In hindsight, no, skipping a grade does not invariably bespeak doom and suffering. It should not be universally proscribed. But it can be perilous, especially for the mental-type, where the child is precocious and smart academically, but is socially and emotionally at a deficit, even for his age group – let alone an older one.
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Originally Posted by phetaroi
Students at the higher level of giftedness can probably skip a class or grade, but even with them I doubt that it doesn't cause some problems. Certain concepts, particularly in mathematics, are scaffolded, and missing them can cause a weak foundation.
The very same question was raised, "back in my day", by the administration of our high school. It was back then a comparatively new school, with an emphasis on accelerating math-education. Atop of this, numerous students, without skipping a grade, were another 1-2 years ahead of the mainstream. What of those latter students? Were they missing key concepts, in headlong rush towards every more abstruse math, with symbols that their parents couldn't understand, if said parents were to glance at their child's homework? Doubtless in some cases there was a shaky foundation, but there was also a vigorously competitive culture. Many students were active in math competitions, which reinforced the hierarchy of concepts. It was considered shameful to score less than 100 in what was then called the AHSME.
What did however happen with some frequency, is that many years later - in graduate school - students were less prepared to tackle the truly advanced math (that is, what's on the math PhD qualifier exam). This is because a succession of comparatively easy experience in class, left them unprepared for the hair-pulling rigor of study necessary at the highest levels.
What a fascinating child and kudos to you for your guidance and helping her maximize her talents. I am curious as to her career goals.
Thank you. She's not sure of career yet - she is only 15 and a sophomore (since she didn't grade skip, she has more time to explore/figure out her path ) - but she hopes to do a double degree in a STEM field and music (string performance).
She loves math, chemistry, physics, so maybe a degree in chemical, mechanical, or biomed engineering, applied math/physics, possibly medicine - she'll further explore these fields during upcoming summer internships/camps, and through upcoming independent research at her school.
Though she doesn't want to be a professional musician, she wants to double major in music so she can continue studying with the top professors of her instrument (and in order to do that she thinks she needs a conservatory program). So she has made some connections (through her orchestras, competitions, clinics, etc.) with music dept./professors at various conservatories. E.g. She's talked to reps re: double degree STEM/music programs at John Hopkins/Peabody Music, Harvard/New England Conservatory, and various other programs, and she's long-term planning for music auditions at these schools. Interestingly, music majors have a high acceptance rate at medical schools if she chooses that route...
Anyhow, she has a lot more to learn before she decides..
1) Does the school\area have the resources to educate your kid? Smaller towns with less access to accelerated academics would make grade skipping more attractive.
2) Gender and other interests. One year physical development behind is rough for kids if they are active in sports. Can be other social ramifications.
3) Individual personality.
Frankly, the main advantage is where the kid is bored to death in school and the school doesn't have the resources to challenge them at their current grade level.
Otherwise, in my opinion there are a number of possible downsides.
P.S. The public schools in my area are large and excellent, there was no need to consider grade skipping with either of my kids, the older ended up a national merit finalist.
O...
Please, send us your published research so we can review. Having read voraciously on this limited topic, I would love to be sure I have included yours. Seriously. There are lots of pros and cons and taking a step outside the norm for any unusual child is not to be taken lightly. So please provide your published research. In a PM, if you prefer.
What is your practical experience regarding this topic?
Very affluent ones sometimes do, or are able and willing to hire them specifically for specific students. Not the norm, though. I taught for many years for a private school whose entire reason for existence was the reality that the vast majority of public schools cannot and will not retain the number of staff needed to work appropriately with those with profound special needs (both disabilities, giftedness, and both concurrently).
Exactly. The poster has very frequently mentioned "profoundly gifted" students. Even in our large GT Center program, it was exceedingly rare for us to have that level of giftedness. So no, we wouldn't have someone on staff who was that well-trained to deal with a level of giftedness seen in less than 1/10th of 1% of the population.
The problem is that the reason acceleration is "challenging" is not because the material is harder, but because students have skipped much of the lead up material, meaning they have to mentally play catch up; i.e. learning the 6th grade math curriculum vs the 4th grade math curriculum is not particularly harder, but without the repetition and 5th grade scaffold it seems challenging at least for awhile.
The reality is these kids should be given different curricula all together. Instead of whatever is in the 4th or 6th or whatever grade curriculum, they should be exploring things at a deeper level. Instead of basic geometry "measure this angle"; the truly gifted should be studying how angles are used in building or how patterns in nature follow certain angles and biomicry of that design. Just jumping ahead to the 6th grade material in geometry (measure volume) isn't really feeding the needs of those who are truly gifted.
Completely agree with this... Just skipping ahead in standard curriculum (or accelerating the standard material) does not meet the needs of all students, and it can create gaps in knowledge. There are different ways of thinking, and a depth of exploration into the subject matter that needs to be addressed.
In our schools, the gifted classes use a completely different curriculum. I wish I could explain it here, but it's a proprietary curriculum (I think I heard it was developed by Stanford or MIT, but I'll ask my D) - and you can't find it on Amazon, or any homeschooler sites... E.g. The math is very theoretical and uses a new set of symbols/logic language that I've never seen before (and I took college calculus!). There aren't even books taken home (I think they're locked up in the school vault!) - just journals and worksheets with the mysterious symbols can go home. FWIW, my brilliant spouse (engineer with advanced degrees from a top school) finds it difficult to comprehend (though maybe there are some mathematicians here who can understand it). But my D completely understands the methods and now finds things like calculus, thermodynamic calculations, and differential equations a breeze...
My now adult daughter skipped. Or rather, did grades 3 and 4 in one year. She was in a split class, started with the 3s and finished with the 4s. Her classroom teacher that year was an experienced gifted teacher, but our district offered very limited options for gifted kids. So she pushed my husband and I to do it. And she was right to do so. We lived on an island, with limited resources and nowhere for a kid like mine to go other than the public schools she was in.
My daughter was not your typical small awkward nerdy kid. She was the tallest in her class, very athletic, and socially/emotionally adept. Even after she skipped she was still one of the tallest kids. Her teacher said to me a couple of years later "Imagine if we hadn't skipped her..." Yikes, yeah. Spending one more year in school would have done nothing for her. She was more than ready to be done with high school at 17.
So there's a positive story about skipping. Not any one plan is the best for every kid. I know it's more common for gifted kids to have social/emotional difficulties than it isn't, from my reading, but that doesn't mean it's true of every gifted kid.
When I was about to start 5th grade, the school district decided to have me skip it and go directly to 6th grade. One other student skipped 5th grade as well, and several others skipped single subjects. I got a great teacher, and it worked out fine for me, academically, socially, and athletically, and fine for the others also. However, the following year, when I had now completed 6th and was about to start 7th grade, the school district decided to discontinue the practice of skipping. So all of us were returned to our original classes, which meant we had to repeat 6th grade, including the exact same subjects with the exact same books and the exact same assignments.
I was 12 years old, and I was crushed. I learned a lot of terrible lessons from this, about how working hard wasn't valued and how schools and teachers weren't to be trusted. I went from being an inquisitive, eager student who loved school to one who was who sarcastic, did the minimum required, and played hooky at every opportunity. It took years for me to get back on track.
So yeah, here's yet another tale of grade skipping disaster.
When I was about to start 5th grade, the school district decided to have me skip it and go directly to 6th grade. One other student skipped 5th grade as well, and several others skipped single subjects. I got a great teacher, and it worked out fine for me, academically, socially, and athletically, and fine for the others also. However, the following year, when I had now completed 6th and was about to start 7th grade, the school district decided to discontinue the practice of skipping. So all of us were returned to our original classes, which meant we had to repeat 6th grade, including the exact same subjects with the exact same books and the exact same assignments.
I was 12 years old, and I was crushed. I learned a lot of terrible lessons from this, about how working hard wasn't valued and how schools and teachers weren't to be trusted. I went from being an inquisitive, eager student who loved school to one who was who sarcastic, did the minimum required, and played hooky at every opportunity. It took years for me to get back on track.
So yeah, here's yet another tale of grade skipping disaster.
That is unbelievably awful! I can't believe a school somehow thought that was a good idea, and even got away with it. And no parents contested it? If a school tried to pull that with one of my kids, I would be a major problem for them.
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) - but she hopes to do a double degree in a STEM field and music (string performance). 
