Gifted education

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Gifted education is a broad term for special practices, procedures and theories used in the education of children who have been identified as gifted or talented. Youths are usually identified as gifted by placing highly on certain standardized tests although this method is becoming antiquated and educators are shifting towards more broad means of identification.

Advocates of gifted education argue that gifted and/or talented youth are so perceptually and intellectually above the mean, it is appropriate to pace their lessons more aggressively, track them into honors, Advanced Placement, or International Baccalaureate courses, or otherwise provide educational enrichment.

They also claim that the needs of many gifted students are still neglected, as schools tend to place more emphasis on improving education for the mainstream. Some even say that too many resources are diverted from gifted education to the other end of the spectrum—disabled students—of special education (of which gifted education is a part). This may be an unintended consequence of the development of disability rights litigation, which some pundits argue has led to the disabled receiving escalating resources at the expense of needed growth for gifted programs. See special education.

Both gifted and disabled students are often dissatisfied with the education system, which, while it may suit the majority of students, doesn't suit their needs.

Gifted programs are often cut when budgets are tight, partly because they are seen as a luxury and partly because their unpopularity means supporters of such programs will not have many allies.

[edit] Forms of gifted education

They usually fall into the following categories:

[edit] Separate classes

Gifted students are educated in either a separate class or a separate school.

[edit] Montessori method

In the Montessori Method children are in classes of three age groups which gives them the opportunity to advance while they are still among children of their own age. The montessori method gives children a lot of freedom which is very useful to gifted children who often learn at up to twice the speed of the average child.

[edit] Acceleration

Pupils are advanced to a higher-level class which is covering material that is more suited to the pupils' abilities. Some colleges offer early entrance programs that give gifted younger students the opportunity to attend college early.

[edit] Pull-out

Students spend a portion of their time in a gifted class, with the rest of their time with their peers.

[edit] Enrichment

Students spend all class time with their peers, but receive extra material to challenge them.

[edit] Homeschooling

An umbrella term encompassing myriad educational options for gifted children: part-time schooling; school at home; classes, groups, mentors and tutors; and unschooling. In many states, the population of gifted students who are being homeschooled is rising quite rapidly, as school districts responding to budgetary issues and standards-based policies are cutting what limited gifted education program remain extant, and families seek educational opportunities that are tailored to each child's unique needs.

[edit] Summer school

This covers a variety of courses, such as CTY and CTYI that take place in the summer.

[edit] Hobby

Some sports like chess give an extra intellectual challenge after school hours.

[edit] History

Differences in intelligence have been known for recorded human history, but the development of early intelligence tests by Alfred Binet led to the Stanford-Binet IQ test which was developed by Lewis Terman, who began long-term studies of gifted children with a view to checking if the popular view "early to ripen, early to rot" was true. He showed this popular belief was false and many of the children (dubbed "Termans termites") were studied for decades.

In 1946 Mensa was founded, which has provided support for some gifted children.

[edit] Controversies

There are several controversies concerning gifted education.

[edit] Definition of giftedness

Many different educational authorities define giftedness differently — even if two authorities use the same IQ test to define giftedness, they may disagree on what gifted means - one may take top 2% of the population, another would take top 5% of the population. The theory of multiple intelligence would produce a different definition to the traditional IQ definition.

In Identifying Gifted Children: A Practical Guide, Susan K. Johnsen (2004) explains that gifted children all exhibit the potential for high performance in the areas included in the United States federal definition of gifted and talented students:

"The term 'gifted and talented' when used in respect to students, children, or youth means students, children, or youth who give evidence of high performance capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop such capabilities." (P.L. 103–382, Title XIV, p. 388)

This definition has been adopted in part or completely by the majority of the states in the United States. Most have some definition similar to that used in the State of Texas, whose definition states:

exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area;
possesses an unusual capacity for leadership; or
excels in a specific academic field." (74th legislature of the State of Texas, Chapter 29, Subchapter D, Section 29.121)

The major characteristics of these definitions are (a) the diversity of areas in which performance may be exhibited (e.g., intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership, academic), (b) the comparison with other groups (e.g., those in general education classrooms or of the same age, experience, or environment), and (c) the use of terms that imply a need for development of the gift (e.g., capability and potential).

[edit] Commonly Used Terms in Gifted Education

[1]

Differentiation: Modification of a gifted student’s curriculum to accommodate their specific needs. This may include changing the content or ability level of the material.

Affective Curriculum: A curriculum that is designed to teach gifted student’s about emotions, self-esteem, and social skills.

Heterogeneous Grouping: A strategy that enables the grouping of students of all ability levels to learn in the same classroom environment.

Homogenous Grouping: A strategy that enables the grouping of students by specific ability, interest, or subject area.

Individualized Education Plan (IEP): A written document that addresses the gifted student’s needs. It may include specific accommodations, materials or classroom instruction. IEP’s are generally used with Learning Disabled (LD) students. Many states are not required to have IEP’s for gifted students.

[edit] The theory of positive disintegration

Overexcitability has been a popular theme in many gifted circles over the past twenty years. Overexcitability is a component of developmental potential, a part of Dabrowski's theory of Positive Disintegration, a theory of personality development. The application of TPD to gifted education is one of several (other applications include psychotherapy, personality theory, philosophy of Man, etc.).

[edit] Appropriateness of forms of gifted education

This is the most hotly debated aspect of gifted education. Some people believe that gifted education resources lack availability and flexibility. They feel that in the alternate methods of gifted education, the gifted students "miss out" on having a "normal" childhood and educational experience. Others believe that gifted education allows gifted students to interact with peers that are on their level, be adequately challenged, and leaves them better equipped to take on the challenges of life.

[edit] Impact on school

Mara Sapon-Shevin has argued that gifted programs result in educational triage, with the gifted program taking a disproportionate amount of school resources, leaving other pupils with much reduced resources.

Her critics have countered that her research was into a school that was atypical of gifted education programs in general.

Gifted programs also often have problems with the singling out of the gifted students by regular students. Gifted programs that are in the same school but under a separate program can cause a problem with bullying, as a specific set of targets, already singled out for a reason that might fuel a bully's insecurity (above-average performance intellectually), are objects of abuse. Such a program can result in gifted students being discriminated against by other students. This obviously has negative effects on the students as well, perhaps not just limited to a dim view of 'normal' students.

[edit] Impact on pupils

While giftedness is seen as an academic advantage, psychologically, it can pose social challenges for the gifted individual. Especially in regard to children, social pressures cause cause children to want to "play down" their intelligence and blend in with other students. This is a behavior that is obviously discouraged by educators as they attempt to teach children to not only challenge themselves, but also embrace their gifts and talents. Children can flee or fight. "Playing down" is a strategy often used by girls, boys tend to attract attention and to disrupt the normal order of the class by giving the correct answers all the time, working ahead, asking for new things, etc. Usually mistaken for ADHD.

[edit] Over-Reliance on IQ

Some authors question the existence of "the g factor" and thus hold that the result of an IQ test is meaningless, thus rendering the notion of giftedness meaningless. The most famous example is The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould. In her book, Identifying Gifted Children: A Practical Guide, Susan K. Johnsen (2004) argues that schools should use a variety of measures of students capability and potential when identifying gifted children. These measures may include portfolios of student work, classroom observations, achievement measures, and intelligence scores. Most educational professionals accept that no single measure can be used in isolation to accurately identify a gifted child.

[edit] Arbitrariness of selection criteria

Even if the notion of IQ is a good one, the question of the cutoff point for giftedness is still important. As noted above, different authorities often define giftedness differently.

[edit] Gifted and talented programs

A list of gifted education programmes.

[edit] Canada

Alberta

G.A.T.E.

Ontario

British Colubmia

MACC (Multi Age Cluster Class)

[edit] United States

As of 2002, only 37 US states have laws requiring that some services be made available for the gifted. Of these, approximately 28 require that the services must be adequate to meet to the educational needs of every gifted student. There is one federal law with respect to gifted education. The Jacob K. Javits Gifted & Talented Student Education Act of 1988 was renewed as part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1994 and as part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Arizona

California

Colorado