[FoRK] to skip or not to skip

[Ken Meltsner]

Skipping, even radically (several grades), is a lot less damaging than
being stuck with a  bunch of stupid classmates.  Warning:  the
educational establishment views acceleration/skipping as evil and to
be avoided at almost all costs.  As parents of two gifted kids, we
definitely lean towards the acceleration approach if there are no
appropriate gifted programs.

Miraca Gross did quite a bit of work on this subject; it's summarized at:

http://www.geniusdenied.com/articles/Record.aspx?NavID=13_16,13_16&rid=11274

(among other places).

I think the important issue is to distinguish between the moderately
gifted ("smart") and the "severely gifted" -- who are often less than
functional in a normal classroom.

There are a lot of other web resources on gifted education, but my
bookmarks are way out of date.

My sons both went/go to the Magellan School run by the Wisconsin
Center for Gifted Learners:

http://my.execpc.com/~wcgl/

They're often willing to help, I believe, or to refer you to resources
closer to you.

Ken Meltsner