Historical and Current Trends in Gifted Education
Go with the flow—know the process
Educating our gifted population becomes a task requiring dedicated advocates who continue to innovatively provide diverse programming to empower these students to succeed. The cycle continuously repeats itself as the federal government issues its current policies and/or definitions and generally unfunded mandates which are passed on to the individual states for interpretation and their own policy development. Following the flow, the state mandates to the counties/school districts how they are to service the gifted population, what funds if any are to be allocated to gifted education, or how they are to carry out the mandate as creatively as they can – on the proverbial shoe string!
Imagine yourself in your classroom. You have a very diverse group of children in your class. Based on what you have learned so far, some of these children exhibit certain characteristics of giftedness – how are you going to share this information? What is the process? How or to whom does a classroom teacher refer a student? In some districts, the teacher generally refers the student to the ESE specialist for screening. In some districts, the ESE specialist starts the paperwork trail and in some schools the child is then referred to a child study (intervention) team and eventually, the paperwork is generated. After all the paperwork is signed, the child is screened and if the score is high enough, the name is submitted to the psychologist for an IQ test. Once the scores are in, a staffing is scheduled and the student is or is not placed into an appropriate educational program. Next week you will learn all the details about the screening and identification process.
Summing it all up
This week you have learned about the need for specific programs to educate our gifted learners. Throughout history, the fate of gifted education has often depended upon world events and/or political preference. Fortunately for the children of today, it is agreed that some services must be in place.
The programs are as varied as the interpretations of those who control the purse strings, mandate the requirements, and push their agendas to the top of the list. We, however, are the educators. Our job, our goal, is to assure that all learners are provided the best opportunity to learn and to be guided to reach their full potential.
Use the matrix and the assignment checklist as your guides for completing the week's assignments.