Gifted Education Essay

The pros and cons of the inclusion of special education students in the public school system.

Some paperwork though is necessary to keep track of the students and their academic records. Parents have several options through Charter Schools. Exceptional students, kids with learning disabilities, ADHD, or emotional issues have many diversified options, which include full-time boarding schools, therapeutic wilderness programs, and design and technology based schools. Parents can send their child to the school that is best for the child, not just the school that is the most convenient.

Middle school is a period of transition for adolescents. Students are no longer the children were once were in elementary school; they are beginning to mature into the adults they will need to become. Gifted learners at the middle-school level face the same developmental and tasks tasks and challenges that their peers do. Yet, gifted learners also possess traits that are different from their peers, which often make them misunderstood or ignored. The need for teachers to identify these students and differentiate instruction in a way that addresses the needs of the gifted students in the classroom is becoming more crucial than ever.

Both children with and without exceptionalities learn with and from each other. Also, since both children with and without exceptionalities are expected to learn to write, read, and do math; higher expectations can be set and with good instruction children with exceptionalities can excel in these academic skills.

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).

All schools are required by law to assist the students that are diagnosed with ASD or AS; however, some may choose ineffective routes to do so. An example of this is how certain schools resort to cutting the pupil off from resources when they misbehave instead of using the opportunity to engrave a new lesson into the sponge like brain of the child. In some court cases involving an aspie or autistic, the gifted parents have been denied the right to be a parent and instead have their children ripped from them. Different court cases have gone different directions, but generally, in the end the ruling is not in favor of the gifted or disabled adult. While courts state that the children can have interactions with the removed parent, it is impossible due to the fact that these parents have

Because of school-wide issue such as, funding, space, and staff availability, this may be the maximum amount of time that they can physically provide for pullout enrichment for gifted students. This is common, and in these cases, it is important to “ensure that the curricular and instructional experiences within the general education classroom are appropriate for the advanced needs of gifted students” (Brighton and Wiley, 2013, p.192). We know from the Lackland description, that their students are not receiving these educational opportunities in their general education classrooms because many of the students are displaying a lack of

Part of the Russell County Middle School (RCMS) mission statement declares that we as an organization will help students accomplish what they are capable of. Procedures are in place to assist special education students and cater to gifted students, but some students seem to fall through the cracks. About five percent of the student population is retained each year and about one percent fail to capitalize on the opportunity to be promoted mid-year the following school year. A review of these students’ average data showed that absenteeism and discipline were issues, but that the students performed on or close to grade level on standardized tests.

Implementation of the Gifted and Talented program is headed by Stephanie Cantu. She requires rigorous standards to be met by teachers, students, and parents. If a parent fails to meet a deadline or sign paperwork their student will not qualify for testing that academic year. Testing will be done the following year if the next grade level teacher nominates that student. Students, if accepted into the Gifted and Talented program, will remain in the program unless their grades fail to meet expectations, they exit or request a furlough..

Based from the information provided by VanTassel-Baska, et. Al. (2009), gifted and talented students face the same issues as their regular peers but they have different way of viewing these issues and it affects them differently as well. The book discussed different issues that gifted learners face and recommendations on how to address these issues were also available for teachers, administrators and other school personnel. Also, Carol Strip Whitney (2011) in her book entitle Helping Gifted Learners Soar discussed stress as a factor that can distract

Throughout my high school career I was in a gifted program and it was helpful to an extent, the only classes I felt truly challenged in were advanced placement English and Dual Enrollment Anatomy. The program was helpful because it helped pay for many college preparation tests, that my parents were unable to afford. However, in Virginia, there are Standards of Learning tests. These tests have caused teachers to teach a different way, they now teach to a test. Because teachers focus more on the students who are falling behind, bright students tend to be left behind and do not reach their full potential. Due to the lack of focus on the brighter students, many bright students fail or even quit school because their needs are not being met by the school system. Bright students are not excelling due to the lack of attention received by teachers, the lack of challenge, and the lack of commerce.

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

I found it interesting 50% of public schools are rural. We are a city school district, yet we are considered a rural district in the Mooresville Graded School District. According to our reading in Colangelo’s Handbook of Gifted Education rural schools have many benefits for students including smaller class size, lower dropout rates and more community support. I believe when you have smaller school districts and schools you have more contact with your students and you are able to individualize and accommodate more when dealing with your students.

My experience the past two school year has disproven these two myths. Gifted students are not always high achieves and are not always welcomed addition to a classroom. They can have the same socially and emotional limiting problems and less than desirable characteristics as non-gifted peers. The bottom line is that gifted students are individuals with their own personalities and environmental influences. Their giftedness does not take these