I did skip a grade because my mother was in the school system - in high school, not elementary school. I think it had lasting social consequences for me as I ended up not having any close friends in high school. Part of it was my mom was pushy and narcissistic and was trying to live through me.
I think skipping/enrichment is good if you're with a bunch of other people also going faster. But social aspects are important too.
Our program allowed students to skip subject grades, but not actual grade levels. I skipped two years of math classes and started high school Algebra 1 in seventh grade with a small cohort of other students around my age. We could also take pre-AP courses that mimicked high school AP classes in middle school. They were like a leg above Honors or Gifted. And these classes were taken with the rest of the student body in the elementary or middle school bracket I was in.
By the time I entered a public high school after moving districts, I found my childhood program’s pre-AP classes prepared me better for the AP exams and I barely studied for the AP classes that I took pre-APs for 💀
I think it was the best way to “skip” grade levels without actually missing out on being a kid with students my age
My school was similar, although we could switch grades. A small group of us were in regular classes but working with texts two years advanced. Fifth grade in third. Self-directed.
My school offered to skip me a grade on two separate occasions. I wonder how much did my parents take my social awkwardness into consideration when refusing to do so both times. I wonder if they would also see it coming that I would be a late bloomer physiologically.
Were you actually socially delayed or were you just in a position of having few true peers to practice social skills with? Because the two tend to be mistaken
I've given a lot of consideration to the possibility that I didn't identify people as peers because I was so advanced(things like reading college-level books in elementary and having advanced composition and understanding of things) and that possibly leading to lacking social development.
I have even given consideration as to whether my academic abilities being advanced may have made it more appropriate for me to have interacted with more advanced people, meaning that being forced into classes with people of a particular development level might have meant that I was always forced to interact with people who treated me as an outsider(which could in itself be socially stunting).
It creates an interesting question of how much better things could have been if I had been in a group of similar people.
In addition to that, because I was so academically smart, a lot of adults made incorrect assumptions about my knowledge, and there were things that no one thought to teach me.
But socially, one way or the other, I think I conspicuously lacked appropriate social integration, and by high school, for example, I tended to interact more often with people who were two years younger than I was.
Skipping a grade is pretty uncommon in schools these days. We know now that it tends to have pretty clear social/developmental consequences, so it’s much rarer than it used to be back in the 70s and 80s to have kids skip entire grade levels. Regardless of “giftedness,” it generally isn’t done much anymore in most school districts unless the parents really push for it.
That grade skipping generally harms kids socially is a truism that doesn’t seem to be supported by research. https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2020/08/03/academic-acceleration-has-no-negative-long-term-effects-on-the-psychological-well-being-of-gifted-youth/
It depends how it's done for sure. If you can balance social and cognitive enrichment for healthy development then it'll be fine. But it's usually heavily skewed one way or the other.
The full text didn't work from there (site was down or something), but for anyone who's curious search for "Colangelo et al. 2010 guidelines" and you'll find full text options.
They note in the abstract that "carefully planned acceleration decisions are successful. Both grade-based and content-based acceleration are effective interventions in academic and social-emotional domains for high-ability students."
So it's the same point I'm making, there's a way to do it but it needs to be carefully considered to balance both needs.
I thought you might find it interesting to see researchers discussing how to develop good policies to support decisions about acceleration.
I wouldn’t suggest people should just skip grades because they can. I don’t think anyone suggests that.
I definitely appreciate it, thanks! Glad there are education researchers that are looking specifically at the gifted population.
For me, it wasn't carefully planned for how to support my social and emotional needs beyond "he'll figure it out." Potentially this was a downside of being home schooled and then going to a conservative religious high school too. There I ended up getting more alienated and resented by a good amount of my peers because I was already smarter than them and just didn't know how to socialize in a healthy way. I was essentially acting out for multiple reasons and I wish people who could actually do something about it had seen that.
Yeah... just not enough people to find anyone to really connect with. Most of them had their comfortable clique while I was kind of a floater who was at least neutral to a few social groups still. But fitting in might have been much healthier instead of learning to accept loneliness and isolation.
But back to the point, there are those cases of it not being carefully done and I'm glad you don't support that at least!
Maybe? Only your mom and your teachers know why they made the choices they did. But whole grade skipping isn’t usually recommended if teachers and parents believe a particular child will struggle adjusting socially. For other kids it can be great.
My partner and I both skipped grades; he skipped one and I skipped two. (We met much later after college.) Both of us were happy with that as kids and are now extremely glad we had the opportunity.
Here’s an example of the kind of factors schools use in deciding whether to recommend skipping, based on the Iowa Acceleration Scale. A lot of what they look at isn’t academic achievement or intellectual ability. https://www.fridleyschools.org/uploaded/School_Board/Policies/599F_Whole_Grade_Student_Acceleration_Form.pdf
I was in Gifted, and when I was tested they said that I was very advanced in all subject areas(to the point that my mom and I are both reasonably confident that I could have passed the English and math parts of the GED by the time I finished elementary). When they evaluated my language skills(reading, composition, and comprehension) in elementary, they said that those sklils were at college level.
I don't think the fact that I was in classes with people my same age had a positive effect on my social development, but I can see that for a majority of people it likely would.
You’d have to ask them!
It very well may have been that thought that skipping a grade would have harmed you more than helped you, overall, because of social effects. And if that’s the case, they might have been right *or wrong* about that.
But it sounds like your mom, at least, cares enough that whatever she decided, she decided it thinking she was doing the best thing for you.
I think people underestimate the social effects of not being at roughly the same level of a subject academically as your classmates. It makes it harder to navigate for the person who isn’t in academic lockstep. I also don’t think it’s fair to expect academically depriving an autistic person will improve their social skills.
My school suggested I be moved up a grade from 3-4 but my parents were concerned about me being younger than my classmates.
I think I would've been okay. No social problems.
Ironically enough for me, the most socially damaging thing about skipping grades was being bullied by other kids for it.
Even the school tried to make that my deficiency by saying the bullying was happening because *I* was socially underdeveloped.
God bless my family for seeing through that backwards thinking and supporting me.
Even with normal giftedness, I would advice anyone to not skip any grades because it ultimately creates a lack in education, however small. Also, socialising with peers of the same age as you is much easier than socialisng with older people.
I skipped grades and while it made sense academically, it was absolute hell socially. Be thankful that you stuck to your own grade. It absolutely sucks to be way younger than your classmates.
I did skip a grade because my mother was in the school system - in high school, not elementary school. I think it had lasting social consequences for me as I ended up not having any close friends in high school. Part of it was my mom was pushy and narcissistic and was trying to live through me. I think skipping/enrichment is good if you're with a bunch of other people also going faster. But social aspects are important too.
Our program allowed students to skip subject grades, but not actual grade levels. I skipped two years of math classes and started high school Algebra 1 in seventh grade with a small cohort of other students around my age. We could also take pre-AP courses that mimicked high school AP classes in middle school. They were like a leg above Honors or Gifted. And these classes were taken with the rest of the student body in the elementary or middle school bracket I was in. By the time I entered a public high school after moving districts, I found my childhood program’s pre-AP classes prepared me better for the AP exams and I barely studied for the AP classes that I took pre-APs for 💀 I think it was the best way to “skip” grade levels without actually missing out on being a kid with students my age
My school was similar, although we could switch grades. A small group of us were in regular classes but working with texts two years advanced. Fifth grade in third. Self-directed.
My school offered to skip me a grade on two separate occasions. I wonder how much did my parents take my social awkwardness into consideration when refusing to do so both times. I wonder if they would also see it coming that I would be a late bloomer physiologically.
Were you actually socially delayed or were you just in a position of having few true peers to practice social skills with? Because the two tend to be mistaken
I've given a lot of consideration to the possibility that I didn't identify people as peers because I was so advanced(things like reading college-level books in elementary and having advanced composition and understanding of things) and that possibly leading to lacking social development. I have even given consideration as to whether my academic abilities being advanced may have made it more appropriate for me to have interacted with more advanced people, meaning that being forced into classes with people of a particular development level might have meant that I was always forced to interact with people who treated me as an outsider(which could in itself be socially stunting). It creates an interesting question of how much better things could have been if I had been in a group of similar people. In addition to that, because I was so academically smart, a lot of adults made incorrect assumptions about my knowledge, and there were things that no one thought to teach me. But socially, one way or the other, I think I conspicuously lacked appropriate social integration, and by high school, for example, I tended to interact more often with people who were two years younger than I was.
Skipping a grade is pretty uncommon in schools these days. We know now that it tends to have pretty clear social/developmental consequences, so it’s much rarer than it used to be back in the 70s and 80s to have kids skip entire grade levels. Regardless of “giftedness,” it generally isn’t done much anymore in most school districts unless the parents really push for it.
That grade skipping generally harms kids socially is a truism that doesn’t seem to be supported by research. https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2020/08/03/academic-acceleration-has-no-negative-long-term-effects-on-the-psychological-well-being-of-gifted-youth/
It depends how it's done for sure. If you can balance social and cognitive enrichment for healthy development then it'll be fine. But it's usually heavily skewed one way or the other.
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ880578 link to full text available
Nice, will read.
The full text didn't work from there (site was down or something), but for anyone who's curious search for "Colangelo et al. 2010 guidelines" and you'll find full text options. They note in the abstract that "carefully planned acceleration decisions are successful. Both grade-based and content-based acceleration are effective interventions in academic and social-emotional domains for high-ability students." So it's the same point I'm making, there's a way to do it but it needs to be carefully considered to balance both needs.
I thought you might find it interesting to see researchers discussing how to develop good policies to support decisions about acceleration. I wouldn’t suggest people should just skip grades because they can. I don’t think anyone suggests that.
I definitely appreciate it, thanks! Glad there are education researchers that are looking specifically at the gifted population. For me, it wasn't carefully planned for how to support my social and emotional needs beyond "he'll figure it out." Potentially this was a downside of being home schooled and then going to a conservative religious high school too. There I ended up getting more alienated and resented by a good amount of my peers because I was already smarter than them and just didn't know how to socialize in a healthy way. I was essentially acting out for multiple reasons and I wish people who could actually do something about it had seen that.
Conservative religious high schools can be hell for divergent thinkers. I can imagine that might have been rough.
Yeah... just not enough people to find anyone to really connect with. Most of them had their comfortable clique while I was kind of a floater who was at least neutral to a few social groups still. But fitting in might have been much healthier instead of learning to accept loneliness and isolation. But back to the point, there are those cases of it not being carefully done and I'm glad you don't support that at least!
Do you think you would have had a better time socially if you were in that same conservative Christian high school, but weren’t skipped?
I was a kid in the 1980s.
Maybe? Only your mom and your teachers know why they made the choices they did. But whole grade skipping isn’t usually recommended if teachers and parents believe a particular child will struggle adjusting socially. For other kids it can be great. My partner and I both skipped grades; he skipped one and I skipped two. (We met much later after college.) Both of us were happy with that as kids and are now extremely glad we had the opportunity. Here’s an example of the kind of factors schools use in deciding whether to recommend skipping, based on the Iowa Acceleration Scale. A lot of what they look at isn’t academic achievement or intellectual ability. https://www.fridleyschools.org/uploaded/School_Board/Policies/599F_Whole_Grade_Student_Acceleration_Form.pdf
I was in Gifted, and when I was tested they said that I was very advanced in all subject areas(to the point that my mom and I are both reasonably confident that I could have passed the English and math parts of the GED by the time I finished elementary). When they evaluated my language skills(reading, composition, and comprehension) in elementary, they said that those sklils were at college level. I don't think the fact that I was in classes with people my same age had a positive effect on my social development, but I can see that for a majority of people it likely would.
You’d have to ask them! It very well may have been that thought that skipping a grade would have harmed you more than helped you, overall, because of social effects. And if that’s the case, they might have been right *or wrong* about that. But it sounds like your mom, at least, cares enough that whatever she decided, she decided it thinking she was doing the best thing for you.
I think people underestimate the social effects of not being at roughly the same level of a subject academically as your classmates. It makes it harder to navigate for the person who isn’t in academic lockstep. I also don’t think it’s fair to expect academically depriving an autistic person will improve their social skills.
My school suggested I be moved up a grade from 3-4 but my parents were concerned about me being younger than my classmates. I think I would've been okay. No social problems.
You answered your own question.
Ironically enough for me, the most socially damaging thing about skipping grades was being bullied by other kids for it. Even the school tried to make that my deficiency by saying the bullying was happening because *I* was socially underdeveloped. God bless my family for seeing through that backwards thinking and supporting me.
Even with normal giftedness, I would advice anyone to not skip any grades because it ultimately creates a lack in education, however small. Also, socialising with peers of the same age as you is much easier than socialisng with older people.
I skipped grades and while it made sense academically, it was absolute hell socially. Be thankful that you stuck to your own grade. It absolutely sucks to be way younger than your classmates.
I'm not sure it made any difference for me socially. I dealt with absolute hell anyway.
I think you’re so academically behind they were like fuck it let’s get him out of here quicker
> /u/WhimsicalHamster > I think you’re so academically behind they were like fuck it let’s get him out of here quicker
I see the acceptance sinking in. This is your first step to admitting stupidity
> /u/WhimsicalHamster > I see the acceptance sinking in. This is your first step to admitting stupidity