Good question Kiwik, I did ask her teacher that exact question about how she compared with the rest of the class on that math test and she said she was the very lowest score in the class. A handful of the students scored in the 70s and the rest all scored 80 or above. So she really is sticking out when it comes to math. With reading not so much, she said 8 students scored the same as her or lower. So although she is probably still in the lower half, it is nowhere near as bad as the math is. And yes those scores are percents NOT percentiles, as that would obviously make a great difference! As to your question of would I still retain her if she were 6 months older, probably not! Because then she would be in the right grade with peers her age and would not be the youngest! To me that would mean that math is really a struggle for her and I would have to look into an evaluation for a possible math disability. But I can't erase the fact that she should be in K, and age makes a big difference when it comes to understanding math concepts. I think once she is presented with the same material at an older age, that things will probably just "click" I could be wrong,but then at that point I know i have given it the benefit of the doubt

So I have to make a very crucial decision about my 6yo regarding retention in first grade and would really appreciate some mommy to mommy advice. Just a little background on my daughters particular situation...... * Bday wise- She should have been in K this year, not 1st -I chose to move her on to 1st grade because she had completed K at a private school with different age requirements than the public school and was doing fine academically, so there really was no reason for her to repeat K at the time. * Halfway through the year, she was really struggling with her reading tests and math and the teacher was somewhat concerned. I almost pulled her out at that point and put her back in a K class, but teacher did not agree, as she thought it would be too disruptive, so we didn't. * Age-wise- she is obviously the youngest in her class. Would be going to 2nd grade at 6 years old and then turning 7 in Sept. In our district all kids are already 7 going into 2nd grade. * She is aware of her age difference and the fact that she should be in K and has been actually expressing lately that she wants to repeat 1st grade! * She is also in a dual language program (half day English/half day Spanish) with 2 different teachers. The program is challenging in and of itself and the children actually have to be at a certain level to be in the program (she has always met the minimum criteria). They are pretty much all above average kids and I can see that compared to the other 1st grade classes, their work has been more challenging. So, now fast forward to the present...... Just met with the teachers today and bottom line is that they BOTH recommend moving on to 2nd grade. They are also recommending her to stay in the dual language program (which she again met the minimum criteria for). She also shared her end of year test scores with me and she had a 76%(percent) in reading and a 65% in math. This is basically a test that covers what they should have learned all year. But by these scores I truly don't feel like she has mastered 1st grade curriculum. The teachers reasons for moving on......they feel she is mature and at the same level of the other kids. They are concerned that it will hurt her socially to repeat 1st and not move on with her friends and they feel that although she will have to work hard, that she can hold her own if she were to move on to 2nd. So overall, they basically don't think retention will really benefit her all that much, as I don't think they truly feel she is behind! In the public schools, especially in the primary years, their main focus is reading! My hesitations with moving her on........SEVERAL. She's not in the right grade age-wise and she is begging me to hold her back because she wants to be the oldest, rather than the youngest! I'm thinking long-term, when she goes to middle/high school this could have a much bigger impactl. I'm also scared that the difficulties with math (that are so developmental IMO) will only get worst. That she will always be expected to behave and perform a whole year older than what she should be. That she always feels like she's one step behind, trying to catch up, when in reality she is a very bright little girl. And that it's either now or never for me to retain her! You get my point! If she were to stay in 1st next year..... She would have a totally different curriculum in the spanish part of her day. Basically, they were using a K spanish curriculum this year since it was the 1st year of the dual language program and they felt the kids needed this foundation. So next year, she will be getting the 1st grade spanish reading curriculum. So at the very least she will be challenged in that area. The english part of the day, however, will remain for the most part the same, but the teacher assured she would differentiate instruction for her in reading. If she were to go to 2nd next year..... She would be doing a 2nd grade spanish reading curriculum. So in essence, she would be going from a K spanish curriculum (this year)to a 2nd grade curriculum. That alone does not make sense to me and I fear I just may be putting too much on her plate. So now I don't know what to do, listen to her teachers, listen to my child, or listen to my gut? The school is giving me the final say on things because of the age factor no matter what and the teacher said that the final decision was mine and that she would support me no matter what I decide. I am very back and forth on this and tend to over think things a lot! So I know it's a very long post but just wanted to get some opinions based on all the new information, scores, etc. Just some additional info I forgot to add (since there's so many details) Her RIGBY reading level is at a level 19, and 16 is minimum criteria to be promoted to 2nd. I think this is mainly why the teacher thinks she should move on. They really technically do not have a valid reason to retain her. She feels that I should just tutor her over the summer in her weak areas of math so she catches up in that area. But the way I see it, she could a B/C average student if she moves on, with a probably a lot of work/tutoring or an A/B student if she were in the right grade. But I'm not sure if this is really a tutoring over the summer thing, as the teacher suggested. I think certain things are just developmental and the brain just gets it when you are ready to get it. As to why she wants to do 1st again? I think it's a combination of things. Well, she says she wants to be the oldest to be the leader and she says that 2nd grade is going to be too hard! I think it also has to do with her LOVING her teacher and wanting to stay with her because it feels reassuring to her, she is also a very shy little girl and this teacher has actually really helped her blossom this year. I did actually ask her how she would feel about all her friends moving on to 2nd grade? and she said she didn't care about that and that she would just make new friends. I do worry very much though about how this will truly affect her. So should I retain or have faith (and a whole lot of tutoring) and push on?

Yes, the plan that her teacher and I have come up with is to differentiate instruction for her as much as possible in 1st, particularly with math. And I am simply just taking off the pressure of mastering the 1st grade math skills right now! The K teacher also gave me the K math book and that is what I plan on doing with her at home. The teacher said she would also pull her one on one and work on some of those K skills as it fits appropriate. For example, she is now working on comparing #s 1-100, but in K they are comparing 1-20. So when the lessons are generally on the same skills, she will pull her and work on it at the lower level. So she can get a solid foundation with what she missed in K. I actually had a talk with my daughter and discussed switching to K and it explained to her everything and how we had that option still now! (of course I explained at a 6 year old level). I explained to her that the reason why some things were hard for her in math was because children her age, were in K where she would be learning things she would understand much easier. I told her that since she had done K at her other school, that both the school and mommy were confused and made a mistake and that it is totally not her fault. I asked what she thought about switching to K now, and she said that it's ok and she rather stay where she is because she loves her friends and her teacher. She said 'no big deal mommy can't I just do 1st again next year and then I'll just be in the right grade" She said "she thought it would be weird to switch now to K" (her words). I think all in all, it was a pretty mature conversation for a 6 year old IMO. I think she gets it totally and will emotionally and socially OK- I need to trust my mommy instinct- at least this time around!!

Ok- so as a follow up to my last post regarding my 6 year old daughter (who is chronologlcally in the wrong grade)....... met with teacher for 2 separate conferences and have come to the conclusion that more than likely it is best for her to repeat 1st for several reasons. 1) we realized that the reason why she is struggling terribly in math is because she missed more than 50% of the concepts that are taught in K math common core curriculum. Bottom line, she was never exposed to any of this at the private school. IT's like having a child do division when they can't multiply! 2) that although she is reading on grade level, that she may not have the effort or motivation to do well on reading comprehension tests and this may be because of lack of maturity! The teacher actually gave her a one-on-one reading comprehension assessment because she thought maybe comprehension was just an issue, and she got every single question correct ( both the explicit and implicit questions, which she said are usually very difficulty for 1st graders) So after all that, she said that she does feel she would benefit greatly from just doing 1st grade again and that she would bet she would just thrive if given that extra year! I asked her about putting her back in K at this point, and she said she thought it would not be a good idea and that in her opinion it would be worst than just telling her she would do 1st again because of her age. She said she is just now coming out of her shell and has become very close to this one little girl ( she is very shy) and that she would have to start all over. So what is your opinion? I guess the biggest difference would be if she went back to K, there would be no retention on her record. But doing what's best for her is way more important to me! So move her to K now, or stay put and do 1st again?

She can add and subtract and they actually do math drills every week , in which they have to complete a certain amount in a 1 minute period. She usually passes these, with the exception of maybe once. So if it's something concrete like 8 + 3 she's got it! She also rarely uses her fingers and uses counting on methods (8, 9,10,11). But then it's the less concrete things that she has difficulty with! Like which number is bigger 27 or 43, she will look at the ones place and say 27 is bigger. Trust me, I have tried visuals, 100 charts, games, etc. She knows how to count to 100, but may at times get confused when she has to say go from 59 to 60 in order to keep going. She also has a hard time when using base ten blocks and ones to write the numbers. When I teach her with visuals she gets it more. For example, after working with her for a week on a particular chapter (maybe 10-15 minutes per day) By the end of the week she scored a 92% on her math test. But the biggest problem right now with her is that she is completely turned off to math! She throws herself on the floor, does not want to do the math HW or writes anything down! I truly think I should just back off for now with anything math related! I don't even think a math tutor at this point would be a good idea, because I really don't want to keep making math a negative thing.

I understand about trucking along, and I won't make any decisions until the end of the year, as things may just click! But I do see the definite struggles with math! The teachers says she is not shutting down in class, but with math HW (even today) she is definitely shutting down with me at home. She just does not get it! And she is starting to fight me when I try to go over things with her. I try to make it fun and today she didn't even want to do that! I don't know if I am blowing things out of proportion and I certainly don't want to jump to conclusions, but the thought of a learning disability in math has even crossed my mind. With her struggling so much in math, even though she is doing Ok in reading, how can I move her on to 2nd like that. A small part of me wonders if it could just be a developmental thing with her and if she had that extra year, maybe, just maybe it would click. Even if she would be higher in reading. So what, that's great, it would give her a strength and something to feel great about, even if math didn't come as easy. I mean what is developmental and "normal" for a 6 year old. For example, the struggle now is greater and less than with 2 digits. She just does not get it!

Just to answer some of the questions that came up on others posts.........the dual language program just started at my school and is currently being implemented in the K and 1st grade classes, it will be continued up to 5th at our elementary school. So basically my daughters first grade class from this year will move on to 2nd and so forth. As for middle school there are options as well, it wouldn't necessarily be called dual language per se, as it wouldn't be the way it will have been done at the elementary (50/50). But they would have the second language opportunity still for a portion of the day (not sure exactly how that would work though). So I guess it would be a long term thing, unless of course she would want out of it. But I don't see why she would, she hasn't expressed that she doesn't like the spanish, and we do speak spanish at home. Her first language was spanish, although she is currently stronger in English right now. So if I put her back in K (which is honestly what I am least inclined to do, because I think it would be way too disruptive for her) I could put her in the Kindergarten dual language program. The teacher's opinion at this point, is that she does not see her stressed out in the classroom and that she does not feel she is doing that poorly that it would warrant taking her out mid year. That the impact of starting a new class, with a new teacher, new friends, etc. might be worst and might send her a message of failure being put back a grade. She is still progressing, just finding it hard to keep up, particularly in math. If I retain her in 1st, I could also keep her in that dual language program, and have her 1st again with the same teachers. Also, I had a long conversation with the principal about my situation and she felt very badly about the whole thing and said she felt partly responsible because they should have made me put her in K since the bottom line is that those are the AGE RULES for our district. I have of course, told her it was no one's fault and that at the time we all agreed that this was the best thing for her! So she told me that if I chose to retain her, she would not mark it as a retention in the school system, so that it would not affect her in the future and she would never come up in the system as a retained student. Honestly, I don't know how much I should I even be concerned about that small detail, but I guess it is nice that they suggested that and are concerned about how it might impact her down the road!

Oh! Didn't even notice the mamapedia links that come out highlighted until you mentioned it. What happened is that I first started asking for advice on this on the mamapedia website and have continued the thread on there as well, as many are asking what the outcome was after my teacher conference yesterday. I first typed up my follow up on that website, so I just cut and paste and then put it on here so I wouldn't have to retype the whole thing out again. I have NO idea why it is doing that, but it just automatically did that. Sorry about the confusion with that!

So, I decided to write this as a follow up, as I really now have even more questions than before since meeting with the teacher. So, it seems that wether she is on level for 1st grade is really not so much the question! But the pace of the class and the fact that there are so many academically high kids in there. So let me explain, because it is a bit complicated and I never explained any of this before! My daughter is basically in a 1st grade dual language class, where they spend half the day in English and half the day in Spanish. And everything (reading,writing, math, science, etc.) is being taught in spanish and english throughout the day! This is her first year in this program. And the students for this program were very carefully selected and had to meet a certain criteria. They needed to be at a rigby 8 (which is bascially like a mid 1st grade level) in order to be able to participate. She was exactly at a level 8 in August. So the teacher is telling me that what she thinks the problem really is, is more the pace of the class and the instruction itself, that is advanced. In other words, my very young 6 year old, that should be in Kindergarten is practically in a 1st grade gifted classroom. So for example, she has harder spelling words than the other 1st grade classes. With math, she told me that it is the same curriculum, but that she just goes at a faster pace. So for example, where as a regular 1st grade class may take 3 weeks to go over a chapter, she may be doing it in 2 weeks. So, she has told me that she needs to see where she is going to be from here until the end of the year, but that as of now she does not think that she would recommend her to go on to the dual language program for 2nd next year based on her difficulties keeping up now. So I think this kind of answers a lot of questions for me, but at the same time I am more confused then ever. Obviously, would I have put her in the K dual language program (which again, by her age is where she should have been) vs.1st, although the pace is probably the same, the material itself is not as difficult obviously. So after meeting with the teacher and hearing her out, I think there are several things compounding the situation here a) that she is very young and possibly wasn't developmentally ready to handle some aspects of 1st grade, b) That she sees that she is at the bottom of her class in comparison to her abilities and therefore it is hurting her self esteem, self confidence etc. and c) that since she is being instructed in 2 languages, that in itself can be challenging enough. So basically by the end of the year, I would have to decide to move her on to a regular 2nd grade class where the pace would be slower or just let her do 1st again (with her same aged peers) and stay in the dual language program. I would hate to give up the opportunity of the dual language program as this for so many reasons, is such a great thing! However, is it really reasonable to retain her, when they are telling me that she is technically on grade level. On top of everything, the spanish teacher told me that she is doing really well with the reading in spanish and that when she assessed them today, she was one of her highest readers in spanish! I am so confused! and I honestly I just want to do the right thing for her!

I agree with many of your comments! And of course if she were at least average in all areas and happy socially, I wouldn't make her do 1st again either! But I have to tend to disagree with your comment that age will not magically help a student "get something". That is totally not true! Developmentally, because of age, there are just things that children can and cannot do! This is the whole rationale behind parents that "redshirt their kids in Kindergarten" and I can tell you that at least 70-80% of the 1st graders that are struggling at my school are the young ones (summer b-days) . There are children in her class that are a whole year older than her and you're going to tell me that doesn't make a difference! And I think that is a lot of the problem with her! IF she's not getting that 47 is smaller than 72, I strongly feel that it is because developmentally she is just not there! And when she does get it, I can just FEEL it that I am pushing her to do something, she's possibly not ready for! I don't know how else to explain it! Even with the comprehension, she can read it, but not well enough to comprehend it independently! Sure, she has great comprehension when I read to her! The issue is independently! Now, do I think that what they are expecting them to do is insane for all 1st graders in general ( and not just my daughter) YES! I do! I think that having to read independently a one page long story with higher order thinking comprehension questions is way over most 1st graders at this time of year! MAYBE...... by the end of the year, but definitely not now! But unfortunately I can't change the system and I can't homeschool her! And I have to do what is best for her! It's not about having her at the top of the class! Is about having her feel confident in her abilities! Now, that could change from here to the end of the year....time will tell.

Yes and the decision is a very hard one! so would you put back in K now or let her finish up ( that way I could see how it goes from here to then) and then if she's not where she needs to be overall, then have her do 1st again?

OK- let me clarify and I will probably get a much clearer picture once I meet with her teacher (which is tomorrow). Her performance is inconsistent- on some reading assessments, she is performing on level while on others she is at a K level. Her writing skills according to the teacher are below level. And with math, she is not getting the concepts at all and when she comes home, I need to basically be the one responsible for teaching her all over again! She does get it after working 1 on 1 with me, but with sooooooo much support that it's just becoming WAY too much and it is starting to become frustrating! Trust me if I stepped back and did not study as much as I did with her, she would not pass the math test at the end of the week! I tried it as an experiment once- and she indeed did not pass it! there are just a lot of concepts that are IMO over her head right now! The other part of it (which I will address with the teacher tomorrow b/c it does not make any sense to me) is that if she is ON reading level according to this one test they gave her, then why is she consistently not able to pass any of reading comprehension assessments on a weekly basis! I agree with the fact that her basic reading skills are on level, but IMO in order to pass that comprehension test they are giving her, she would need to be at a higher level! Which brings me to the point of why are they even giving these tests to these kids, to set them up for failure??? The tests come home weekly and she is already trying to hide them from me when the come home because she knows she didn't do well! I see the CURRICULUM hurting my child's self esteem and attitude towards school! I can't change the curriculum though!

No unfortunately I cannot afford to homeschool her! I actually work at the school she attends. SO that would not be an option for me! My only options are either to put her back in K right now ( which I don't think I would consider AT ALL since she is not struggling significantly), have her repeat 1st next year (and just tell her it's because of the age factor) or move her on to 2nd and hope she just evens out! But my heart feels like the latter would be sooooo risky!! that I don't know If I could afford to make a mistake twice! Where then it would impact her EVEN more!

My daughter turned 6 Sept. 12 of 1st grade, actually after our school's cutoff. So technically, she should not even be in 1st grade, but K. However, she did K at 4-5 at a private school and since she had officially completed K, was able to move on to 1st. NOW I am totally regretting my decision! She is technically on grade level in reading, but is still not able to be successful with the reading comprehension tests or a lot of work that she has to do independently. In math, she is struggling even more! And I just fear that it will keep catching up with her if I don't try to correct what I did wrong! If I could turn back time and put her in K, I would in a heartbeat! But I can't do that anymore and to do that half way through the year - would be so detrimental! So, would you continue moving her on and pray that eventually developmentally things would "click" or would you definitely have her repeat 1st next year? And if you would have repeat? Do you think the ramifications would be TOO much in 1st grade? Has anyone had to do this and how did their child react? I know K would have been the ideal grade to have done this, since it was a new school- now it makes things so much more complicated and I feel so guilty for making this HUGE mistake for my very young child!!! :0

I unfortunately do not have the option of homeschooling as I work full time and happen to work at the school! Like I said I feel very guilty because would I have chosen to have her do K vs. 1st she would never have to suffer the repercussions of retention. Now, she will she her friends going on to 2nd and not her! Before, so what if she repeated K, she was going to an entirely DIFFERENT school!!! I love the way you put it maize!! And I was thinking that it was exactly how I would explain to her! Does anyone think that the retention would really impact her that much if given that age explanation? she is already VERY aware that she does not belong in 1st by her age! As kids in her own classroom have said this to her when she was still 5 in the beginning of 1st!