Standards for Gifted Programming
A Framework for Improving Gifted Education
Managing the performance of gifted programs is critical to making sure that all gifted students reach their potential.
As America moves into the new century, educators have begun the sometimes arduous task of self-evaluation. It is clear from any number of different sources that the way we have been doing business for the past hundred years is no longer viable in terms of the changing global economy and the demands and expectations that will be placed on our gifted students as they take their places in the 21st century.
What is Different about Today’s Gifted Children?
Educators are coming to grips with the realities that we are being asked to prepare students for jobs that have not yet even been invented. We are training them on computer systems that will be obsolete by the time they finish high school. We are asking them to work in teams, where before we have always stressed individual competition and independent development. Our self-evaluation has left us with more questions than answers, and more unknowns than sure things except for one - our gifted children are a precious national resource that we must cherish and support right now if we can expect their leadership in the future.
Certainly one topic which has taken center stage when trying to formulate what course of action is best for all of our gifted students is that of program assessment in making progress towards fulfilling gifted program standards. Several concepts and designs are evident in this issue including criterion based standards, traditional and performance assessments, planning program outcomes, student identification and socio-emotional support, curriculum design and instructional plans, administration and evaluation, and of course staff development and training.
The NAGC Steps Up
The first step to be taken in the progression was the establishment of gifted program standards, and this is where the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) has taken a leadership role. These standards are based upon a number of issues, which were explored by an NAGC Task Force in 1998. In essence, this group was asked to consider what blocks of knowledge, what skills, and what attitudes were important in the gifted community so when a young man or woman accepts a diploma, he or she is in command of these outcomes and objectives.
The NAGC Task Force used the NCLB definition of gifted learners as a starting point to frame their standards, “Students, children, or youth who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who need services and activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities." (No Child Left Behind Act).
With this for a start, the Task Force created recognizable standards that cut across all of the disciplines to generate GATE, or Gifted and Talented Education programs that could truly help to support our gifted children.
Resources:
The National Association for Gifted Children standards brochure.
