More focus on gifted education

With the mandates of No Child Left Behind in place, some observers note it's become too easy to pay all the attention to the students who are lagging behind. Schools get more credit for bringing their performance up, while the high achievers usually do well without any extra assistance.

But that's not the same thing as actually helping top students to reach higher. And Florida state Rep. John Legg, vice chairman of the House K-12 Education Committee, wants to try to put a brighter light on the needs of those children.

So he's filed a bill (HB 297) that aims to provide better services to gifted and academically talented students. Among the highlights, the bill would:

• Make screening for gifted programs available to all students upon written request by a parent or teacher.
• Evaluate all students in the program at least every three years to determine whether the program is benefiting the students.
• Include gifted and academically talented instruction in the state-mandated teacher preparation program.
• Require school districts to identify its budget for gifted instruction. (The amount currently gets lumped in with special education.)

Legg, a teacher who runs a charter school in Port Richey, has been working with gifted advocates since early fall to get the kinks out of his bill. He still doesn't have a senator offering the measure on the other side of the Legislature.

Comments

[Can't tell a gift by it's wrapper]

Lee makes very good points. The phrase " including sound psychological philosophy and child development in our education policy" should be foremost with all education policy makers.

Gifted students often have behaviors that are a manisfestation of their giftedness. These behaviors are ignorantly reacted to by many educators and "school based "psychologists"". Therefore, instead of our "education system" teaching our gifted students the skills needed to tolerate their environment as they perceive it, our "education system" drives them away.

Perhaps there may be a reason, (not an excuse) why so many gifted students end up on the wrong end of zero tolerance policies.

[Lee]

The stipulations above are currently practiced in Pinellas County.

He's missing the boat if he doesn't mandate high school level gifted education support. 25% of those drop outs are gifted. They have no support past middle school...and often opt out of 'gifted' education after 6th grade.

Gifted education should go beyond the "more work, harder books to read" approach as is often the case.

Gifted education at the middle and high school level takes a gifted teacher...not a teacher who has passed gifted certification testing by the state...a teacher with an extraordinary IQ just like his/her students. A teacher willing to question policies, procedures, authority, etc. ...just like their students will.

Gifted high school students need a gifted teacher who has experienced their gifts and curses...and come out on the other side somewhat socially adjusted. In high school our gifted students need to learn to accept their non-gifted peers...and non-gifted teachers for that matter...and respect them for their gifts-even if it's not in the form of a high IQ.

Gifted is not about being a rule- follower, a hard worker and a homework turn-er in-er. Being gifted is often about acing tests, avoiding social norms, getting around rules (made by less intelligent people) and proving that society's rules don't apply to you...because you're gifted!

Ask a (real psychologist-not school based) psychologist, they might agree.

With all due respect to the law maker, we might want to tweak his rules by including sound psychological philosophy and child development in our education policy.