8th grade Language Arts

[Mabelen]

My 8th grader has just started attending public school. She had been coming home saying it was too easy, easier than 7th grade! We just relocated and prior to our move she was in an independent school where she was challenged. We waited for school to start in earnest thinking the pace would pick up, but it did not. I had a conference with her teacher and had no satisfactory answers - this from a teacher who claims to have certification in gifted education! I already spoke with the counsellor and they will not change her to a different teacher who I know is giving more challenging work, so I have two choices, #1 Talk to the Principal (I don't know if this will do any good though) or #2 Forget about #1 and do it myself at home. I am more inclined to doing #2 but I need a good solid program because neither my dh nor I are native English speakers.

Another gripe I have is that she is having to take the California English Language Development Test (supposedly for students with a home language other than English for whom there is no previous testing) even though she has lived in English speaking countries all her life and has been schooled in English from Pre-K to 8th grade. Her reading lexile is that of an advanced 10th-12th grade level, and both her Maps Reading and Language Arts scores are above those of the average 8th grade Gifted Spring Norm scores!

I want her to be stretched and to be well prepared for English Honors in High School, does anybody have any advice?