Maximizing Your Child's Potential: Effective School Collaboration

Practical Tips

Collaborating effectively with your child’s school is essential to enhance their educational experience. By actively engaging with educators and understanding available resources, you can ensure your child receives the support they need to thrive.

Bettering Your Child’s Education

Staying Proactive

Meet with your child’s classroom teacher.

Find out your child’s strengths and areas that need to be strengthened.

Ask for copies of standardized testing so you can see where your child is functioning in reading comprehension, reading word call, reading vocabulary; math calculations and math reasoning; written language skills; possibility science and social studies.

Ask for cognitive or IQ testing if the school administers testing.

When you look at achievement scores, they may give you percentiles. If your child is functioning at the 97th percentile in reading comprehension, that lets you know that out of every 100 children tested nationally, only 3 out of every hundred scored better than your child.

Ask how your child is functioning in relationship to his/her classroom and school peers.

If your child’s scores are extremely high, ask if children are routinely screened for gifted, and, if so, when it occurs. Ask if you can request screening.

Ask Specific Questions

If you believe your child needs gifted services, ask what is provided in the school where your child attends.

If gifted screening or testing is not available, consider outside testing. The positive side is the testing results are yours, since you pay for the testing. The testing will most likely be comprehensive and give you specifics about strengths and weaknesses. You will get a cognitive score that allows you to know how your child processes information both verbally and non-verbally. You will be able to get recommendations on what your child needs most. The negative side is that testing can be costly, since you must pay a licensed psychologist.

If you find out through testing either at school or privately, that your child is gifted, ask the school what is next in the process.

Different states and schools provide different ways of serving: special education, pull-out, clustering, acceleration, push-in, and other methods. They may not serve at all.

If you consider moving your child from his or her current placement, check websites for state and local gifted guidelines and service models. Visit or contact private schools.

Be an Advocate

If your child is placed in gifted, and you don’t believe your child’s needs are being met, consider the following:

Schedule a meeting with your child’s classroom teacher. Do not go over the teacher’s head in requesting to meet with administrators. Respectfully let the teacher know your concerns. Teachers can be tremendous allies through successful communication.

If you don’t see results, ask to meet with the classroom teacher as well as your child’s gifted teacher. Maybe you all need to get on the same page. Be a team player. Share your concerns. Be kind and be a good listener. Ask what you can do to help.

If you still can’t get needs met, consider talking to the school principal, with the teacher and gifted teacher as part of the discussion. Again, be kind, and listen. Offer to help.

Next consider the gifted district coordinator for help if the campus was unable to help you.

Seek enrichment outside of the school if the school does not have what your child needs.

3 Takeaways

Initiate Open Communication: Schedule meetings with your child’s teacher to discuss their strengths and areas for improvement. Review standardized test results to understand their academic standing.

Understand Available Services: Inquire about programs for gifted students and the criteria for participation. If necessary, consider external assessments to gain a comprehensive understanding of your child’s abilities.

Advocate and Collaborate: Work closely with educators to ensure your child’s needs are met. If additional support is required, explore enrichment opportunities outside the school environment.

Pause To Ponder!

Proactive engagement with your child’s school fosters a supportive educational environment, ensuring their academic and personal growth.

How can you further support your child’s educational
journey in collaboration with their school?

Let us know if we can help you in your journey.

Maximizing Your Child’s Potential: Effective School Collaboration