My gifted daughter is getting very average grades

[Serap]

My grade 2, 7 year old daughter is in the 99.6 percentile in cognitive ability - an IQ of 143. She is rich in vocabulary and language especially.

She was tested reading at a grade 6 level by a psychologist just last month.

What I cannot understand is why she only got a “C” in reading on her report card??? I have a parent teacher interview tomorrow and I’ve already emailed her teacher about it.

How can this be???

 

[Zzyzx_Road]

Being intelligent and expressing that intelligence in a manner compatible with a teacher’s expectations in a classroom setting can be two very different things as you are about to discover. Frequent occurrence in my family, I can tell you that. Don’t automatically jump all over this teacher until you’ve sat down with an open mind and really listened to what the teacher is saying about your child. Sometimes the issue is with the teacher, sometimes the issue is with the curriculum … and sometimes the child is not as perfect as his/her parent makes him/her out to be.

 

[Xantippe]

Serap posted an almost identical post several weeks (?) ago and I suspect this might be an accidental repost of some kind.

Serap?

 

[technatrix]

My first thought is that she might just be bored. If she’s reading 2nd grade level material from a 6th grade reading level, it might not present enough of a challenge to keep her attention. Additionally, intelligence doesn’t equal effort. Maybe she’s just slacking. It’s easy for smart kids to decide that they can get away with doing the bare minimum to skate by because they’re smart and it doesn’t matter.

 

[JamalChristophr]

Many, many possibilities.

Did you ask your daughter.?

Maybe your daughter has some “issues” of a situational or emotional nature.

Maybe the books are lousy in your daughter’s opinion.

There are 100 more things I could present, but…

Hopefully the teacher can help.

 

[ChurchSuffering]

Serap posted an almost identical post several weeks (?) ago and I suspect this might be an accidental repost of some kind.

Serap?

This is the same thread…

 

[chevalier]

As a former gifted child — one of the ‘reactive’ type that initially appear to have some sort of genius traits that they lose eventually as they grow up and become closer to average — I had difficulty following established rules, especially unreasonable ones. I didn’t like unreasonable or unfair patterns in any way, shape or form. My grades were cut for presentation rather than content of results and solutions, too, for example not being bothered to do a full write-up for a maths task or to ‘invent’ more stages in my reasoning than there really occurred. I particularly hated superfluous writing, like multiple lines of one operation per line as apposed to taking it a few steps at a time or just calculating the score in my head in a matter of seconds.

No matter the subject, the methods of teaching and testing were the problem, and I really disliked them. They seemed unfair to me, and put me off, and made me hate the subject. For example near the end of highschool, as an older adolescent, I still counted faster than my teachers, but my maths grades dropped below average in my class (that is until I beat everybody else in mock finals… still got a D, i.e. bare pass for the entire year), the damage was irreparable.

Also, giften children sometimes come with autistic or similar traits, or in any case, it may be hard for them to adjust to follow the school’s and the teachers’ rules.

(I remember normal Fs, like from a failed test, being awarded for bad conduct, for example. That had the potential to throw a gifted student’s grades way down, just like those of a student who had trouble conforming to established forms.)

My first thought is that she might just be bored. If she’s reading 2nd grade level material from a 6th grade reading level, it might not present enough of a challenge to keep her attention. Additionally, intelligence doesn’t equal effort. Maybe she’s just slacking. It’s easy for smart kids to decide that they can get away with doing the bare minimum to skate by because they’re smart and it doesn’t matter.

Or that.

 

[SayehMahtabi]

This is going to sound very boastful, but I mean it only to give context: my standardized test scores have always been extremely high. We’re talking (more recently) perfect GRE scores with no preparation, SAT scores from middle school that were above 50th percentile for competitive university admissions, etc.

I remember being your daughter’s age. The teacher would tell us to read something, and I would finish in half the time it took for the rest of the class. While I sat there, I might take out a book or draw or what have you; my teacher couldn’t stand this, and insisted that I hadn’t really finished and that I should “read it again.”

The reading would inevitably be followed by (from my perspective) useless questions like: What did Bobby get for his birthday? What color was it? And on and on… It was busy work all the time.

There are lots of possible explanations for what’s going on, but it could just be that your daughter doesn’t find the work interesting. Obviously you should try to improve the situation, but don’t forget to see things from her perspective too.

 

[ProdglArchitect]

As a former gifted child — one of the ‘reactive’ type that initially appear to have some sort of genius traits that they lose eventually as they grow up and become closer to average — I had difficulty following established rules, especially unreasonable ones. I didn’t like unreasonable or unfair patterns in any way, shape or form. My grades were cut for presentation rather than content of results and solutions, too, for example not being bothered to do a full write-up for a maths task or to ‘invent’ more stages in my reasoning than there really occurred. I particularly hated superfluous writing, like multiple lines of one operation per line as apposed to taking it a few steps at a time or just calculating the score in my head in a matter of seconds.

No matter the subject, the methods of teaching and testing were the problem, and I really disliked them. They seemed unfair to me, and put me off, and made me hate the subject. For example near the end of highschool, as an older adolescent, I still counted faster than my teachers, but my maths grades dropped below average in my class (that is until I beat everybody else in mock finals… still got a D, i.e. bare pass for the entire year), the damage was irreparable.

.

As another child who was labeled as gifted, this pretty much sums up my viewpoint as well. I remember getting into more than one debate with my teachers when they insisted I do things their way when I had come up with a way that suited me better and still allowed me to arrive at the correct answer. I also remember outright refusing to do more than one activity that didn’t appeal to me (especially in the mandatory speech giving class…) When I reached the age where they had advanced learning classes, I remember enjoying those more because they were more challenging. I remember particularly enjoying a section we did in 8th grade where we delved into statistical analysis, and how easy it is to manipulate statistics.

If reading is the issue, try getting her harder books. I couldn’t read well until second grade, either because I didn’t try, or because I had legitimate issues (I can’t recall). As soon as I got my hands on a abridged versions of the Hound of the Baskervilles and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I became and avid reader. It wasn’t long until I was devouring the full versions. Daoyle remains one of my favorite authors to this day. Perhaps look for more advanced books for your child. By the end of second grade I was at a fifth grade level, and by the end of third I think I was around seventh. It sounds like your child is advancing even faster. If the teacher is trying to make her read something at a second grade level, or something that doesn’t interest her at all, chances are you’re going to be told that she refused to do that activity. If that’s the case, there’s a good chance she feels insulted by being told she had to read something that is, in her eyes, childish, simple and boring.

I also agree with posters who talked about boredom. I have ADHD and generally couldn’t care less about what was going on in class. Through most of Jr. High and Highschool, I spent almost every class programming games on my calculator. There’s a good chance, with an IQ of that level, that your child finds what’s going on in class to be horrifically boring, and can’t concentrate on it as a result.

 

[Serap]

Serap posted an almost identical post several weeks (?) ago and I suspect this might be an accidental repost of some kind.

Serap?

No it’s related to the discrepancy in her report card from last night and her psych-ed test in December.

I don’t understand how a person who reads at a Grade 6 level gets a C in reading in Grade 2. It makes no logical sense to me.

I’m completely puzzled by it.

 

[KendraDZ1902]

My first thought is that she might just be bored. If she’s reading 2nd grade level material from a 6th grade reading level, it might not present enough of a challenge to keep her attention. Additionally, intelligence doesn’t equal effort. Maybe she’s just slacking. It’s easy for smart kids to decide that they can get away with doing the bare minimum to skate by because they’re smart and it doesn’t matter.

This.

I wasn’t exceptional in school, but I wasn’t slow either. I did have to study, but I always made As and Bs and graduated HS with an advanced diploma. My brother, on the other hand, was what the school called “gifted.” School was absolutely boring to him, especially in elementary school.
He would never do homework or study and was a B student. In high school he slept in class and even taught a chapter of chemistry to his chemistry class for bonus points.

Your daughter may not find work challenging enough, so she may not be doing it. Talk to her about this and do not go into this conference mad at the teacher.

 

[Xantippe]

No it’s related to the discrepancy in her report card from last night and her psych-ed test in December.

I don’t understand how a person who reads at a Grade 6 level gets a C in reading in Grade 2. It makes no logical sense to me.

I’m completely puzzled by it.

I think I’d ask the teacher that very question.

Also, ask what the reading grade is based on. One of the many possibilities is that your daughter has not been turning in work. Also, have a look at her finished work for reading. Make sure you’re giving her backpack and folders a good looking-over–you may find some surprises in there.

 

[OraLabora]

No it’s related to the discrepancy in her report card from last night and her psych-ed test in December.

I don’t understand how a person who reads at a Grade 6 level gets a C in reading in Grade 2. It makes no logical sense to me.

I’m completely puzzled by it.

I think the meeting with the teacher might be required before you can make any sense of it. It could end up being anything from boredom, to “she needs glasses”, to a speech impediment when nervous reading in front fo the class (assuming we mean reading aloud here, and not comprehension), to distraction. Or unfairness on the part of the teacher (it happens).

Let us now what comes out of the teacher meeting, and perhaps we’ll have better info on which to offer advice

 

[Serap]

As another child who was labeled as gifted, this pretty much sums up my viewpoint as well. I remember getting into more than one debate with my teachers when they insisted I do things their way when I had come up with a way that suited me better and still allowed me to arrive at the correct answer. I also remember outright refusing to do more than one activity that didn’t appeal to me (especially in the mandatory speech giving class…) When I reached the age where they had advanced learning classes, I remember enjoying those more because they were more challenging. I remember particularly enjoying a section we did in 8th grade where we delved into statistical analysis, and how easy it is to manipulate statistics.

If reading is the issue, try getting her harder books. I couldn’t read well until second grade, either because I didn’t try, or because I had legitimate issues (I can’t recall). As soon as I got my hands on a abridged versions of the Hound of the Baskervilles and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I became and avid reader. It wasn’t long until I was devouring the full versions. Daoyle remains one of my favorite authors to this day. Perhaps look for more advanced books for your child. By the end of second grade I was at a fifth grade level, and by the end of third I think I was around seventh. It sounds like your child is advancing even faster. If the teacher is trying to make her read something at a second grade level, or something that doesn’t interest her at all, chances are you’re going to be told that she refused to do that activity. If that’s the case, there’s a good chance she feels insulted by being told she had to read something that is, in her eyes, childish, simple and boring.

I also agree with posters who talked about boredom. I have ADHD and generally couldn’t care less about what was going on in class. Through most of Jr. High and Highschool, I spent almost every class programming games on my calculator. There’s a good chance, with an IQ of that level, that your child finds what’s going on in class to be horrifically boring, and can’t concentrate on it as a result.

The problem is that my daughter was tested in a private a pysch-ed assessment and was reading at a grade 6 level.

BUT…she got a C in math on her report card last night.

How can that be???

so frustrating!

Thanks for your help

I don’t know why there is such a big disconnect in her grades and how she did in her pysch-ed assessment. so weird.

 

[Serap]

I think I’d ask the teacher that very question.

Also, ask what the reading grade is based on. One of the many possibilities is that your daughter has not been turning in work. Also, have a look at her finished work for reading. Make sure you’re giving her backpack and folders a good looking-over–you may find some surprises in there.

I sent my daughter’s teacher the following email today and I have an appt with her tomorrow night:

*Olivia,

I will have one question in particular with regards to Elisa’s report card. I’d like to know how she was tested at a “C” level in reading. This is confusing for me because at her psycho-educational assessment, it was deemed that Elisa’s reading level and comprehension was at a Grade 6 level.

There is a definite disconnect here and I’d like to understand better.

Thanks so much Olivia. I’ll see you tomorrow night *

 

[Serap]

I think the meeting with the teacher might be required before you can make any sense of it. It could end up being anything from boredom, to “she needs glasses”, to a speech impediment when nervous reading in front fo the class (assuming we mean reading aloud here, and not comprehension), to distraction. Or unfairness on the part of the teacher (it happens).

Let us now what comes out of the teacher meeting, and perhaps we’ll have better info on which to offer advice

That’s what I’m thinking…it could have been nerves. Maybe she was nervous? Maybe she was tired? Maybe she had a cold?

 

[ProdglArchitect]

The problem is that my daughter was tested in a private a pysch-ed assessment and was reading at a grade 6 level.

BUT…she got a C in math on her report card last night.

How can that be???

so frustrating!

Thanks for your help

I don’t know why there is such a big disconnect in her grades and how she did in her pysch-ed assessment. so weird.

Keep in mind that understanding the material is different from being able to test well on it. There are plenty of people who understand a subject inside and out, but when they’re given a test over it they bomb. It could also be another case of her just being too bored to do the work. This was a prevalent issue for me when I was younger, and I had to grow out of it, which took quite a bit of work on my parents’s end. My younger brother was even worse about this than I was, as he is similar to me, but far more intelligent.

Those assessments are actively seeking to identify a child’s level, whereas schoolwork is only trying to gauge how well a student understands a single subject. This means that, while the assessment gradually ramps up in difficulty, the single-subject assignments has a fairly constant difficult. If it’s not challenging, she may not bother putting much effort into it.

 

[PattiDay]

First, I would suggest you don’t go in with guns blazing. Let the teacher explain the reason for the grade she gave your daughter. The first thing that comes to mind is that perhaps your daughter exhibits boredom in the class that looks like a lack of participation to the teacher. Whatever it is, the teacher should be open to hearing what information you have. Are you prepared to share with the teacher the information you received from the psychologist? If so, I’d take that information and a couple of the books your daughter is reading at home as examples of her abilities and interests. Again, don’t come off as defensive and angry, but as a concerned parent who will work with the teacher.

 

[PaulinVA]

I don’t think there is a positive correlation between IQ and school performance.

It’s that simple.

 

[pensmama87]

It could be social, too. Kids can learn remarkably early to pretend to be average so they fit in better. If a big part of a grade is participation and demonstrating knowledge in front of her peers, she may be flubbing on purpose.

She may also need more challenging reading material. I don’t know what the curriculum is like where you are, but I skipped grade 2 (living in Ontario at the time) at the school’s suggestion because I was so bored with the material that I was making trouble in the classroom. I was reading at about the same level your daughter is.

As a child of parents, especially a father, who were very intent on making sure I was a top performer in school, I would suggest that you be very cautious in how you link your knowledge of your daughter’s intelligence to expectations of academic performance. The child who may be very happy and anxious to please you now could get burned out from that early, and find a very useful rebellion tool once she hits the middle school years.