Gifted Programs In Schools

In 2015, I wrote about my personal philosophy of the gifted learner. I stated in my paper that, “Giftedness is not a one, set definition. The definition of gifted must encompass intellect, ability, creative talent as well as emotional awareness. It cannot be micro-managed and be a “one size fits all” definition” (Dauber, 2015). People, who are gifted, need differentiation and opportunity to express, demonstrate and show their giftedness. Educators must be able to provide opportunities for the gifted learner to express his/her abilities and/or talents. Gifted students learn differently and require special educational experiences in order to grow academically and achieve their highest potential. Therefore, the education field must be able to understand not only the cognitive side of a gifted learner but the affective or social/emotional aspects too.

Education was built, along with many other things, to the average standard. It was designed with the average student in mind, never really adapted towards those who grasps concepts quickly, accelerate at rapid rates beyond their peers. As gifted, or exceptionally intelligence children make up around 6 to 10 percent of the students within America, roughly 3 to 5 million students (“Gifted Education in the U.S”). But as America is behind in the general education, it is bounds behind in gifted education. Teachers aren’t equipped to challenge the gifted students, or simply have no time to spend developing and nurturing the child’s talents. Schools don’t have programs to help the children develop at their quicken pace, and programs in place aren’t

One of the difficulties in identifying the needs of low-income students is the profound cultural barriers which exist that prevent their strengths and deficits from being identified. Children from low-income homes frequently have poorer vocabularies and a weaker basis of the type of knowledge that is frequently considered 'intelligence' on most forms of assessment. A low-income child's IQ may be high, even though he lacks a framework of accepted middle-class knowledge. "In January 2003, the National Academy of Sciences released a report on the seeming overrepresentation of minorities in special education and underrepresentation of those students in gifted education. The NRC reported that, nationwide, 7.47 percent of all white students and 9.9 percent of Asian students are placed in gifted programs. Meanwhile, 3.04 percent of African-American students, 3.57 percent of Hispanic students, and 4.86 percent of American Indian students are classified as gifted" (GT-minority identification, 2003, ERIC Clearinghouse). The discrepancy, the NAS believed, could not be solely explained by talent alone but was at least partially rooted in the methods of identifying students labeled as gifted. Biases in standardized and other tests identifying student strengths, combined with prejudices, however unintentional, amongst educators and administrators lead to under-identification of the gifted

Gifted students have a higher risk of dropping out of school due to a number of factors including a lack of challenge in academic areas, feeling disconnected to their fellow students and their teachers, potential drug and alcohol abuse and the lack of coping skills to deal with increased sensitivities. Additionally, gifted students are known to experience a lack of community or none acceptance at school, a high sensitivity not acknowledged in school, no help in learning coping skills for dealing with a major loss such as illness, death or changing schools, issues with authority but most importantly, they often do not have an advocate to help bring out meaningful change (Hansen and Torso, 2007). These factors have led to gifted students being underachievers, dropouts, or students who have developed an overall negative impression on school and learning in general.

Van Tassel-Baska, J. (2000). Theory and research on curriculum development for the gifted. In K.A. Heller, F.J. Monks, R. J. Sternberg & R.F. Subotnik (Eds.). International handbook of giftedness and talent (2nd ed., pp. 365–386). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

I evaluated the information in the document above based upon Moon’s (2013) nine measures to consider in comprehensive gifted education program. I think that FCCPS does a considerably good job addressing these nine guidelines. However, I believe they should consider more non-standardized materials and data while considering students for identification.

Adolescents face many developmental tasks: physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally. For example, puberty happens, intellectual interests expand, moral thinking happens, sense of identity is initiated, independence is worked towards, there is conflict with adults, and peer influence becomes an issue—to say the least. This particular read focuses on twelve west coast inner city students and the developmental and environmental tasks that impact their education. Professionals often use the word resilience, or suggest that students become resilient, without putting much thought into the difficulties that students must recover from.

Motivating gifted students can present a challenge for any teacher. Many children are coming to school with very little enthusiasm to learn, especially the gifted child. Although

Adams County public school system’s current program doesn’t seem to recognize any minority or poor students who could be considered gifted. Educators in this district and committee members seem to lack any motivation to include diverse learners in their program. The fact that Adams County only recognized three out of four hundred thirty-eight over a five-year span is appalling. I feel Adams County need some major changes to extend their idea of giftedness. It needs to start with intensive and in-depth teacher training along with community outreach and awareness programs to help educate parents about giftedness. For instance, parent could learn ways to better support their children and help identify their child’s areas of giftedness.

When an English Language Learner either goes to school for the first time or finds themselves at a new school, they are assessed. Many times these ELL students are put in the wrong classes or programs. This is a constant issue still today. "Disproportionality is considered one of the most complex issues in the field of special education. Disproportionality is defined as the “overrepresentation” and “under-representation” of a particular population or demographic group in special or gifted education programs relative to the presence of this group in the overall student population" (National Education Association, 2007, p. 6).

Knowledge. Gifted learners will experience collaborative learning in a non-competitive environment. I will establish self management skills so they can be independent

Such supports may include teaching of study skills, test taking skills, time-management skills, and organizational skills. Whether or not a student is gifted is often associated with their achievement and productivity. It used to be believed that there was no such thing as a gifted underachiever, but over time that has proven to be false. Gifted students may tend to underachieve when they are unmotivated or uninterested in school, are procrastinators, do not complete assignments or only do enough to get by. Gifted underachievers are not as likely to receive or be referred for gifted education or advanced placement classes.

Gifted students are mistakenly perceived as individuals with the intellectual capacity to excel in their endeavors whether it is academically, artistically, athletically, or musically; however, this is one of the most common myths educators believe. According to the National Association for Gifted Children (n.d.), gifted students are those who have outstanding abilities to reason and learn or who demonstrate exceptional proficiency in one or more areas such as mathematics, language, painting, dance, sports, and more. With this definition, the gifted youth likely are capable of achieving their goals on their own, but these kids have demands that must be met in order for them to succeed. Some teachers argue that gifted students do not require

National Association for Gifted Children website mission is to support those who enhance the growth and development of gifted and talented children through education, advocacy, community building, and research. They aim to help parents and families, K-12 education professionals including support service personnel, and members of the research and higher education community. We can find the Twice-Exceptional Special Interest Group, this group provides professionals a network where they can meet to discuss research, programs, curriculum and new developments for this special area of gifted education. I couldn’t find specific information for children from 0 to 8-year-old, but they give relevant information for parents who notice something exceptional

Ward, 2005); President Obama’s defunding of the Javits Act, as part of the federal budget in 2012 (Equity) (Stephens, 2011), and the passing of the TALENT Act under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015 (NAGC, n.d.). In short, the federal government’s support for gifted education has been inconsistent at best, and when compared to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which "guarantees all children between the ages of three and twenty-one with specifically identified disabilities a 'free appropriate public education' in the least restrictive environment in conformance with an Individualized Education Program” (Ward, 2005, p. 58) funding and support by federal government is severely lacking (Brown, 2008; Ward, 2005). Nevertheless, the TALENT Act (2015) is encouraging for gifted education as it promotes professional development to support high-ability students, seeks to recognize and respond to excellence gaps, makes student achievement data publicly available, and advocates for research and the distribution of research that supports best practices in gifted education (NAGC, n.d.). Likewise, the Javits Act continues to give hope to those who have been historically underrepresented in gifted education through the first of its two priorities, which is to support “Initiatives [that] develop and scale up models serving students who are underrepresented in gifted and talented programs” (USDOE, 2017).