National Association For Gifted Students

This author discusses the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001(NCLB) and it mandates that every student in K-12 public schools will reach basic proficiency in math and reading by 2014. The goals of the accountability component of NCLB place emphasis on closing the achievement gap for all public school students, regardless of their socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or disabilities. The Federal Government mandates annual testing of all students in grades three through eight on challenging state standards for mathematics and reading (Beisser 2014). The author noted that the federal mandate didn’t intend on leaving any students behind, but after the law was passed it became evident that the United States has provided more, time, attention, resources and policies in the direction of students who scored below achievement level in reading and mathematics.

Gifted education is very stressful for students in middle school, but if you start in elementary school with a gifted program it could be less stressful on your child. Gifted programs are good programs but there are things that could make your child feel pressured and they may want to leave the program. To get into the programs depending on the district you are in there could be discrimination to be accepted or recommended to test for it. This discrimination could be based on race, income, gender, or ethnicity, if you’re in a school district that lets you apply without being recommended then you won’t have to worry about this. Studies show that in Broward County they started with teachers recommended students and then changed their system to where any students could apply to the gifted programs and there was a major increase in low income, latino, and black students that were accepted.

Authors discuss the debate and research regarding the effect of the No Child Left Behind act (NCLB), and how it has changed schools. The article dives into the stresses that it has caused students, teachers, and parents. There are benefits to NCLB but there are also many negative impacts

A gifted learner is described as someone who has an exceptionally advanced degree of general intellectual ability (IQ) that requires enriched learning experiences, beyond what is normally implemented in the regular school system. Gifted education is what is created in order to satisfy the level of educational potential indicated in gifted learners. The gifted program is a way for gifted learners to maintain and enhance their intellectual abilities as they are in an environment that is rich with opportunities to grow (DDSB, 2013). To enter this program, the individual must be tested and must score above a 98% on both IQ tests. This program is offered during the adolescence life stage of an individual, as children are placed in gifted classes from grades 4 to 11, which is at ages 10-17. This program helps students to improve their cognitive, social, and emotional developments.

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.

The American public educational system is filled with an assortment of problems. Most students are graduating with less knowledge and capability than similar students in other industrialized countries. Classroom disruptions are surprisingly common, and in some classrooms, nearly continuous. The public education system is having difficulty adjusting to the no child left behind act. The No Child Left Behind(NCLB) is a landmark in education reform designed to improve student achievement and change the culture of American’s schools.

Growing up in the New York Public Schools system, I realized many similarities and differneces today. In 1993 all 50 states had formulated policies (legislation, regulations, rules, or guidelines) in support of gifted education. The study portrayed state policy as uneven and called for a re-examination of present policies in light of research, experience, and developments in education, psychology, organization, and related fields. Further support for this reexamination included the climate of school reform and restructuring, the changing environment of society and schooling, and the diverse ways that local districts interpret and implement state rules. These findings still resonate today. I graduated high school in 1994 and the gifted and

No Child Left Behind (hereafter NCLB) was one of the largest and most comprehensive reauthorizations of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, created to “to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education.” That this legislation was monumentally important for the American education system, few researchers would dare to disagree — but this is where most agreement ends. Over 70,000 articles have been written on this legislation and it is easy to drown in the myriad of researched opinions on its successes and failures; there are almost as many opinions as there are articles on this topic.

Gifted students should be provided advanced opportunities to be challenged, to experience both success and growth, to develop higher level study, creativity, and productivity. To develop their interests and talents their individual characteristics, needs, learning rates, motivations for learning, cognitive abilities, and interests must be taken into account. Differentiation can be included in the curriculum by incorporating acceleration, complexity, depth, challenge, and creativity. Students can also be given fewer tasks to master a standard, use multiple resources and higher-level skills, conduct research, develop products, make cross-disciplinary

You might think twice before sending a tennis coach to baseball’s spring training season; although there would be overlap in general kinesthetic and sports psychology knowledge, the nuances of the two sports are very different and require disparate sets of coaching skills. Just as a baseball team needs a coach who understands baseball, gifted students need guidance from well-trained, challenging teachers who understand their educational needs. Teacher training requirements for working with gifted students are determined at the state and local levels. Although gifted and talented students are in every school and classroom, few districts require that all classroom teachers receive training to address the educational needs of advanced learners.

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.

The NAGC’s standards state that teachers “must understand the characteristics and needs of the population for whom they are planning curriculum, instruction, assessment, programs, and services” (Brighton and Wiley, 2013, p. 194). Lackland is not meeting this criterion because their pullout teachers are not endorsed in gifted education and their general education teachers are unable to plan instruction that meets the needs of their gifted learners in the regular classroom setting.

I have once again served as Gifted Department Chair at Mason Creek. This position involves coordinating the identification and testing of students to be considered for the gifted program. It also involves working with our records clerk to ensure that our students are correctly counted during FTE. The Gifted Department Chair is also responsible for the effective use of the gifted budget to make sure that teachers of gifted students have the materials needed to best serve their students. In an effort to improve student growth in high-achieving students, this year, we have also placed an emphasis on making gifted classes different from non-gifted classes. This is an area of weakness in my school, and we are trying to correct this problem by looking at the needs of our high-achieving students differently. This year I have once again served as co-sponsor for our annual gifted field trip for our 7th and 8th-grade students. This involves working closely with my co-sponsor, our travel coordinator, our students, and parents to ensure the effective communication that is needed to make a successful trip. This year we are taking 75 students, and 22 parent chaperones to Washington,

In order to address how and why agenda setting of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) came about, it is important to begin with addressing the education situation of 1965. According to McGuire (2008), the Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

The topic of gifted and talented education is one that has always sparked debates among parents and teachers, and recent movements towards totally integrating classrooms have added to this debate. For many years now, "average" children, gifted and