As school budgets tighten more school districts are cutting traditional gifted and talented programs, regular classroom teachers are having to serve the needs of gifted and talented students through instructional differentiation. Unfortunately, many regular classroom teachers lack differentiation training and are unfamiliar with the traits of gifted students. Thus, intellectually gifted students may not receive adequate classroom challenges unless parents and GT personnel advocate for their needs.
The Right to a Free and Appropriate Education
All students, regardless of ability, have the right to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE); however, many times intellectually gifted children are asked to sit through subjects they have already mastered. Worse yet, gifted students may be asked to finish assignments they have already mastered before receiving additional, more challenging work. When this occurs, school becomes a punishment rather than the educational process it was intended to be.
For this reason parents and GT coordinators must be prepared to advocate for gifted students who are served within the context of a heterogeneous classroom.
Advocating for Gifted Students
Advocacy requires patience and compromise as well as a clear understanding of mutually acceptable outcomes for both student and teacher. Advocates for gifted children will be more successful if they come to meetings prepared with specific, reasonable goals. In preparation of meetings, advocates should
- Review district and state laws and guidelines regarding gifted education. There may be programs in place that will benefit the child in question.
- Provide specific examples of the child's strengths. A portfolio of highly creative or out of level work is a good place to start. Test scores, art work and observations may also be helpful during the meeting.
- Take a look at the Iowa Acceleration Scale for an understanding of whether the student may or may not be a good candidate for a grade skip or radical subject acceleration.
- Review the required district and state learning objectives for the student's grade for the purpose of determining which of the standards the child may or may not have already mastered.
- Be prepared to suggest educational alternatives that may work within the existing school and classroom constructs. Are there mentorship programs available? Would the student benefit from a distance learning program? Are there alternative, more challenging reading lists for science and social studies units? Are there other students within the classroom who might likewise benefit from differentiated learning experiences?
- Understand student weaknesses that might be an issue. For instance, a mathematically advanced student with poor fine motor skills may need handwriting support in order to work at a higher grade level.
- Fully understand and be prepared to discuss the reasons that the status quo may not work for the individual student.
Be sure to set a timeline for the implementation of new teaching strategies or curriculum, and be sure to work with teachers and administrators to determine a way of measuring success.
Since the child's success depends upon cooperation between parents, teachers and administrators, advocates will want to avoid becoming adversarial. Ideally, differentiated classroom strategies will make life and learning better for the student and the teacher without diminishing the educational process for other students in the classroom.
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