Weekly Objectives

In this week you will...

  • investigate a variety of gifted program delivery models.
  • explain how a student’s level of need helps to determine his placement in an educational program.
  • analyze the practice of ability grouping to determine its appropriate use for gifted programming.
  • examine a variety of curriculum differentiation techniques that can be used to meet the needs of gifted students.
  • compare and contrast how the gifted classroom differs from the regular education classroom in regards to curriculum, instruction, assessment, conceptual orientation, grouping, and environment.

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Program Models and Curricular Options

“In the backdrop of the No Child Left Behind legislation and its requisite need for scientifically based research to support educational practices, the time has come to revisit an old friend (or foe depending upon one's personal persuasion): ability grouping. In the recent past, research on ability grouping has ground to an inexorable halt, mainly due to concerns raised in the 1980's by Jeannie Oakes and Robert Slavin over issues of equity and accusations of racism. The result has been the degradation of educational opportunities for students identified as gifted and talented and the lack of concern for students identified as needing extra assistance. Equity is a noble goal, but not at the expense of students who lie on either end of the normal curve, especially in these days of political rhetoric and a heightened concern for educational accountability. But ability grouping is neither the friend nor the foe that it has been labeled.”

From: Ability grouping is not just tracking anymore. Carol L. Tieso; Roeper Review, Vol. 26, 2003.

Gifted Education Programming

You have spent the last four weeks discovering and identifying gifted students. You have learned that they have unique needs, they have rights that are guaranteed by the federal government, and they are entitled to special services. According to the National Association for Gifted Children, “The development of appropriate gifted education programming requires comprehensive services based on sound philosophical, theoretical, and empirical support.”

For more information, visit Gifted Education Programming Criterion: Program Design (Table 3 of 7) from NAGC.

How does your school/school district measure up? Do you have a standardized program that is the same in all schools? Do you have gifted clusters or magnets in some schools and the children who qualify are bused when the program meets or attend full time instead of going to their home school? Do your students participate in a full time self-contained program or are they in a part time resource program? If the program is part time is it curriculum based or enrichment based? The questions go on and on.

This week we are going to examine the governmentally mandated requirements, some different types of program models, and what is offered to gifted students in your home district. We will also investigate a variety of differentiation strategies that can be used to help meet students' individual needs.