Should My Child Move up a Grade?

By Debra Collins, Family Therapist

Question:

My daughter is in first grade. She complains daily about being bored. She is a great reader, spells way beyond first-grade level and the same goes for math. She is a December baby and missed starting kindergarten by two days. I was OK with this at the time, thinking she would be more prepared for the challenge if she was older. Now I'm not sure that was a good call.

I have worked with her teacher and the principal to get her harder homework and more of a challenge on a daily basis. I do not think it is working. I have thought about moving her up a grade but I'm not sure how that would be for her, being the youngest and especially a few years from now.

Any suggestions?

Answer:

Grade acceleration, or "skipping," is as difficult a concern for parents as retention but often does not get as much attention. I am curious to know "what is not working" about the solution her teacher and principal devised to address your concerns. If it is based only on the fact that your daughter is complaining about "being bored," than that probably is not sufficient to guide your decision. Children of all skill levels use the "I'm bored" phrase because they don't know how else to explain what they are having difficulty with. Sometimes, "bored" means they are having trouble with interpersonal skills, not academics.

You may want to consult with your principal and teacher about their acceleration policy. Find out how your daughter is performing academically across all subject levels. Some schools won't consider acceleration if a child is not performing at the 95th percentile or greater in all subject areas. Ask if your school provides comprehensive psycho-educational testing by a school psychologist. If not, you may want to seek out a licensed psychologist in your area who provides academic, psychological and developmental tests, to see how your daughter might cope with "skipping," and to see if it is even an appropriate option.

Once you have determined where your daughter is developmentally, socially, and educationally, you will have more information to guide your decision. Knowing what types of enrichment programs your school offers can help guide you as well. Some programs allow the child to stay in her grade, but she may receive additional challenges with other classes or activities. With clarification as to your child's specific needs, you can go about assessing not only the acceleration issue, but also what schools in your area best support her strengths.

Debra Collins is a licensed marriage and family therapist. Debra has worked in both primary and middle schools as a school counselor. She gives workshops to teachers and students, and offers parenting classes in the San Francisco Bay Area. Debra is also a clinical supervisor for a mental health clinic serving schools in the area. To learn more, visit her Web site.

Advice from our experts is not a substitute for professional diagnosis or treatment from a health-care provider or learning expert familiar with your unique situation. We recommend consulting a qualified professional if you have concerns about your child's condition.

Is My Child Too Social?

Comments from GreatSchools.net readers

05/20/2009:

"Thank you for the article! Last year my son's kindergarten teacher wanted to move him up a grade and we did not think it was the right choice at the time. We were very concerned about the social aspects. This year when his 1st grade teacher had mentioned if we thought about skipping a grade, we knew it was something we needed to research. My son does not complain about being bored, but breezes through all his work and rarely makes mistakes. He is performing well above average in all subjects, which is a wonderful thing, and he loves reading and math! He has an older brother and would rather do his brother's 3rd grade homework, so when he asks me for challenging work, I Google websites for math sheets and puzzles. We are blessed that his teacher has provided the necessary resources. His teacher suggested on having an SST (Student Study Team) meeting, so we have gone through all the channels; including the psychological testing, and we are glad to hear that we are on t! he right track. We have also involved our son in the decision making process (never underestimate a child's decision). :-) A very important note: With our permission, my son's 1st grade teacher has been sending him to a second grade class for math and a higher reading class as well, and my son has now established some friendships with 2nd graders. He wasn't sure at the beginning if this is something he wanted to do, so his 1st grade teacher sent him on a couple of errands to deliver a note to the second grade math teacher, and asked him if he had seen any friends in the 2nd grade class...he said that he did recognize a few faces and was ready to give 2nd grade math a try. He is very happy to be part of the second grade math class. I've explained to my son, that if he skips a grade next year, he will not be in the same room with his 1st grade buddies. His response was that he will be able to play with them during recess, lunch time, and invite them over for play dates. One afternoon while driving home, I had asked him how his day went and he said that he 'LOVED his second grade math class, because it's not too eas! y and not too hard!' I think we found our answer...Wish us luck! "

01/28/2009:

"I am the proud father of a 5 year old, kindergarten, girl. Over the past couple of years, my wife and I have noticed that she was learning at an accelerated rate. Socially she always seems drawn to the older kids, but sometimes she still just wants to be 5. Now halfway through kindergarten, her school teacher and principal have approached us about grade skipping. We have moved her to 1st grade math, and she is doing well in all areas. The K teacher (who was a 2nd grade teacher for several years) has been pushing her academically for several months, and her latest round of testing puts her in the 95 percentile for exiting 1st grade math, and her reading and comprehension (in non-fiction) are at a middle 2nd grade level. The plan forward is to have her evaluated by the district Psychologist, and measure her on the Iowa Acceleration Scale. Our concerns are not that she will be unable to handle the work (now or ever). It is the social issues that may arise later in her teen years when she is, sometimes, 2 years younger than her classmates. I suppose this wasn't feedback, or necessaraly a question. Just the concerns of a father looking for some professional and social guidence. We think we are taking all of the right steps, but you just never know. Thank you for your time."

08/5/2008:

"I am the mother of a 6year old who will be entering the 1st grade,as other parents I considered grade accelleration,My child will be entering the 1st grade reading level 4 books and beginning multiplication,he ,like not even many adults can,say his abc backwards(fast)by teaching himself because I do not know where he heard it.He has been in 3 schools. He learned most of the kindergarten curricullum when he was in pre k 3 so he only heard boring repetition for k4 and kindergarten. I was trying to get him to get into second grade instead of first but when he took a stanford test in private school,he did not do too well in science. I thought about it & started to think when i was in elementary. Most children who were more outgoing and friendly were the older,smarter kids,the younger ones were most of the time left out .Eventhough my son is very smart,his high self esteem is due to this.He knows he can do it. If he skips a grade his high self esteem might go down.God only kno! ws why he gave him an october birthday. I'll just leave him alone to succeed on his own. "

07/2/2008:

"I'm starting 9th grade this fall, & i completely believe i should be moved up to 10th. I'm a December baby, so i'm old for my grade anyway. I excel in all of my subjects, & feel like i'm not living up to my full potential. Maybe you should try your daughter out in a grade ahead, & hold her back if she isn't doing well. I think you & your daughter will regret that in latter years if you don't try it."

04/24/2008:

"My son is in Pre-K and we are thinking about advancing him to 1st grade next year. We have talked to the principal and super and they have done tests on him. He is higher than the 95% and right in the middle of the 1st grade level of academics already. They are concerned about him adjusting to 'all day' school since he only goes for 1/2 a day now. Won't he have to adjust to this soon enough anyway. He is 5 years old and of corse being a little boy, sitting is not his favorite skill, but he will do things if he is told to do them. Especially if the rest of the class is doing it too. They have never had a problem with his participation skills. What do you think would be the best solution? His teacher now asks questions to the class and says 'OK, everyone, but ????(my son) what is the answer?' He doesn't like this because he wants to answer and he feels like he is being left out. What would be a solution for this?"

04/11/2008:

"my child started 1st grade in mexico bt when we moved back to nebraska they put him back in kindergarten only because of his age wat can i do?"

03/24/2008:

"Our daughter too was born in late December and she read early and has always been more mature than her other counterparts. She started 1st grade in Fall 2007 and after just 1 1/2 months her teacher placed our daughter in the 2nd grade for reading since she was far beyond the other 1st graders. By Novemeber we felt it was a good idea to move her to 2nd grader for all subjects. I met with the principal, and both 1st and 2nd grade teachers. It was apparent to us all that our daughter should move to 2nd grader for all subjects. She has done great in 2nd grade, it helped she already knew the 2nd grade class and so it was an easy move. Her 2nd grade teacher is great and accomodated our daughter. Acouple test scores in math have been abit behind the class but our daughter has caught up and is doing work to grade level with the rest of her 2nd grade class. Her teacher gave us a report card last week stating she has seen great growth in her progress. Our daughter is an only child, has always been very outgoing and sociable and still is very sociable and outgoing and has many friends both in 1st and 2nd grade and afew in 3rd grade. A couple people at the school have told me that our daughter might find it hard to socialize when she is the younger student while in middle school, but we know our daughter and she does not have any problems playing and speaking with anyone, young or old. She is exposed to both younger and older children and does well. Why does someone feel the need to express this concern when they do not know our daughter as we do? If we thought socialization or academic success would be a concern or a problem down the road we would not have agreed to have her moved up a grade."

06/25/2007:

"My daughter has a 4.5 reading level and reads 132 wpm. Her teacher says that she is the perfect student. She used to love school but she is now complaining about school. I am wondering if she is getting bored and might need to be challenged."

08/28/2006:

"My daughter also has a Dec birthday and after 2 years of preschool, went to a parochial kindergarten to be let in early. Public schools then tested her for admission into 1st grade and agreed she shouldn't go and repeat K just because of her age. She is now entering 5th grade and has no problems at all. She has consistently been at the top of her class and in the gifted and talented programs. Math is her weakness but we do supplement her at home and she is at grade level skills in that area. Socially she fits in with the kids also. I would say if they are younger - kindergarten age, not as much of an impact. Driving age - 16, others want their kids to match that milestone. I was also young for my grade, it was a bit difficult, but nothing traumatizing. Social, skill level, maturity and personality all are factors I would recommend to consider."

08/22/2006:

"All 3 of my daughters are smart. I could of had all 3 of them skipped but I didn't. I waited until my youngest daughter to do it. I saw the outcome of not skipping my oldest two and they turned out fine. But since I had an opportunity to skip my youngest, I did it. I did it with her because the owner of the pre-school I had her attending suggested it, after she noticed my daughter always helping the other kids with their homework whenever she was finish with her own. She had just turned 4 yeaars old. She was skipped to Kindergarten where she didn't have any problems adjusting. She's always been a child yearning to learn. Her biggest accomplishment to her was when she learned how to read. Even though she passed Kindergarten I discovered later when she was in the first grade, she wasn't reading as well as she should of been. Luckily, she had teachers who took the time out to work with her, both in the lst and 2nd grade, where she learned to master the skill. The last time she was tested, she was reading above her normal level by 2 grades. Now, she just turned 8 years old and she's going into the 4th grade. Every year, I ask her if she wants to be put back in her right grade but she tells me no. She's still good at reading and she's good in math, but she doesn't enjoy writing and her spelling could be better if she'd take the time out and start using a dictionary, but I'm not pushing her. Eventually she was going to come across something she wasn't that great at or didn't like. All I can do is encourage her and help her to try and do better. So far, I haven't regretted my decision to have her skipped. She knows anytime it gets to overwhelming for her, she can ask to be put back into her original grade."

08/21/2006:

"My son was moved up a grade with scores 95%. He was watched from kinder - 4th grade and moved up a grade from kinder. He remained in the upper % until we moved. In 4th, after our move we moved him back with his age. This caused problems, repeating (board, talking, finishing work with complaints). We moved him back up a grade. Problems came when he went to 7th grade middle school as the youngest boy. Things were better in the 8th but the pack mentality grew. He is a larger boy and loves sports. The coordination was not at the same level as his peers, the interest were not the same as many of the boys were even held back and two years older than he. At this age, the social differences is magnified. We struggled through these years with concerns as to hold him back when it was time to enter high-school where he would be 13 and classed with boys average 14 - 19. He has matured; however, the social concerns of boys persist. He insisted that he would not be as affecte! d but has grown up with his class and did not want to be held back. Difficult decision. If I could go back, I would not move him up a grade but keep him with his age, I would find tutors or special projects to enhance his learning progression, and foster his relationships with peers his own age as well as those he developed in his academic progression."

08/15/2006:

"I am going through a similar thing with my daughter who is in the 3rd grade this year. 'I'm bored!' was all I got out of her for most of last year. We have the same concerns as you for skipping a grade level. We decided to wait until the testing they do in Oct has been comleted (last years testing had our daughter reading at a 6th grade level) and see from there. I am more worried about her socially then academically, but I also want what is best for her in the long haul. I think the advice handed out here is good advice. Last year we simply worked at challenging her more. The testing talked about here would be a great help and I will now seek out the same type of testing in my area to help with my decision.Good luck to you and your child."

Ask the Experts

Should My Child Move up a Grade?

Question:

Answer:

Related Articles

Post a comment on this article

Comments from GreatSchools.net readers

More in academic skills