A New Gifted Education Program - Term Paper Example

A Proposal for a New Gifted Education Program Name Institution 1. Introduction Students have divergent needs and abilities in the class environment. Some students will demonstrate normal characteristics and perform averagely in class while others will exhibit low growth and development with poor learning skills. Yet another category of students will exhibit exceptional abilities both in class and outside class environment. This last category defines gifted students. A student in first year of study who is able to read or solve mathematics problem meant for Year 5 of study will be a gifted student (Johnsen, 2004). Gifted students are those with exceptional cognitive, creative, and affective abilities compared to their peers of the same age and growing in a similar environment (Schwean and Saklofske, 1999). In class environment, these students will have performance standards that are rare among the peers of the same age receiving similar instructions with common socio-economic conditions (Deiner, 2009). Now, an effective education curriculum should provide challenges to the student to enable them achieve life objectives. The unique abilities in the gifted students make them vulnerable in a class environment calling for a differentiated approach towards teaching, parenting and counseling them (Schwean and Saklofske, 1999, p.405). Gifted students will have higher rates of learning and conceptualizing ideas compared to their fellows. When teaching gifted students alongside other average students, they may feel bored up with the learning pace: they may feel discouraged or wasted in some way. Maintaining their learning spirit requires development of a different program that matches their learning abilities. There is need for an effective mechanism to identify such exceptionally talented students based on common characteristics and then develop an academic program that will utilize their exceptional abilities. As such, our school has resolved to develop a good gifted education program to cater for the special needs of talented students. An affective gifted program will incorporate both the teachers and parent in the teaching and learning process (Besnoy, 2006). The design of the learning activities as well as methods of instructions that will be used requires cooperation among the teachers. There is also need to incorporate the parents into this program. This paper provides a detailed proposal for establishing an effective gifted education program for (our) high school students; Years 7 to 10 of study. The model of the gifted education program to be applied, the strategies that will be employed in identifying these students, the contribution of both parents and teachers, as well as the strategies employed in developing the curriculum are discussed. The proposal also provides the implementation strategy, the duration it takes before outcomes of the program can be realized, the mechanisms for evaluation of success, and the expected results. 2. Context and rationale Traditionally, many schools will group children of the same age in one class and provide instructions according to the designed curriculum to enable the student proceed to the next stage of learning. The education system in different parts of Australia, such as in South Australia State, follows the same trend (Henderson, 2007). Now, a typical class will be heterogeneous in that there will be students with varied abilities. A regular curriculum presents a student as ‘a learner of lessons and doer of exercise’ (Renzulli, 1982, p.150). The teaching method involves providing instructions to students following some text book or a predefined instructional material. Now, in the teaching and learning process, there will be slow learners (who need special attention), average learners (who can do well with the conventional teaching styles), as well as quick learners. This becomes a serious challenge to the teachers since they need to be concerned with the development of each student by utilizing appropriate educational provisions (Henderson, 2007). Consequently, teachers are obliged to take more time with the slow learning drilling on the areas that have been covered. On the other hand, gifted students will feel wasted when they are subject to the average learning environment. In order to ensure that every student attains his or her best, the talented students need to be subjected to an accelerated and challenging learning environment that matches their abilities (Henderson, 2007). The concept of gifted education is not new. The program has been practiced in countries such as China since the 1970s (Phillipson, 2007). Nonetheless, the management of learning institutions seems to have neglected the importance of such an intervention. Stanley and Baines (2002) observed that learning institutions were often less concerned with gifted education and that districts would rather pump a lot of resources to towards computers, ESL or sporting activities (p.12). The development of an effective educational program requires that the unique abilities of each and every student are identified and cultivated. The environment developed in schools should enable the students to establish their academic worth. The students who outperform their peers significantly should be subjected to differentiated learning experiences that are commensurate with their individual abilities (Schwean and Saklofske, 1999). The contents of the new experiences need to be adjusted according to the needs and capabilities identified in the gifted students. It is necessary to allow the students to work with their peers with similar abilities in some area of curriculum other than the regular classes. The rationale is to have all the students engaged with no study time wasted. It has been stated that one key responsibility of a school for gifted students is ‘to provide them with educational opportunities equal to their needs such that their academic development is commensurate with the natural ability and their healthy social and emotional development is facilitated’ (Henderson, 2007, p.62). The teachers who are to provide such additional instructions need to have good understanding of the needs of gifted students. These gifted students are very inquisitive, always requiring detailed explanations of a given concept. As such, the teachers need to be very knowledgeable in the contents that they deliver to their students (Henderson, 2007, p.61) 3. Program design 3.1. Gifted model underpinning the program The model that will be adopted for this program is the pull-out model. In this model, the students identified with exceptional abilities will be “pulled out” of the regular classes and given additional instructions that match their academic abilities. Our choice of this model was guided by some of the empirical evidences showing its success towards providing quality education to gifted students. Vaughn, Feldhusen, and Usher (1991) performed a meta-analysis to review various studies (that covered 30-year time period) carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of pull-out programs in developing gifted children. Various studies such as Renzulli (1972), Karnes and Wherry (1981), McQuilkin (1981), Maddux, Scheicher and Bass (1982), Reis and Renzulli (1982), Ebmeier, Dyche, Taylor and Hall (1985), Belcastro (1987), and Van Tassel-Baska (1987) were included in this meta-analysis. Even though there were some conflicting views, the studies generally indicated that pullout programs were successful in improving the academic achievement, critical thinking and creativity in the gifted children (Vaughn, Feldhusen, and Usher, 1991). The model has certain advantages. The proponents of the model hold that it is very easy to implement and evaluate (Vaughn, Feldhusen, and Usher, 1991, p.93). That is an asset as we are more interested in monitoring and evaluating the program against the intended goals. Similarly, teaching and developing an appropriate curriculum in the pullout program will require less teachers as compared to other models of gifted education (Vaughn, Feldhusen, and Usher, 1991). The model will enable our staff to continue with their delivery without much workload. However, there have been criticisms against the model. One such criticism is that given by Van Tassel-Baska (1987, cited in Vaughn, Feldhusen, and Usher, 1991) that pullout programs will limit the program to the contents that are outside the regular curriculum or those that will not interfere with the regular class work. Nonetheless, a careful design of our pullout program will counter such claims. The pulled out students will be grouped into a separate class of equal giftedness. Such grouping enables the students to learn at fast pace and handle more demanding problems (Henderson, 2007, p.63). 3.2. Identification of the gifted students A significant step towards the success of this program is proper identification of the gifted students to be included in the program. Gifted students will generally have some characteristics that can be identified as early as childhood, even before the first year of study. This explains why there is need to incorporate both the parents and teachers in the development and implementation of an effective gifted education program. Giftedness in children can be identified through their cognitive, creative, and affective traits (Schwean and Saklofske, 1999, p.408). These are traits exhibited by a child that are exceptional; abilities that are not present in other children of the same age and developing in similar environments. However, problems can occur during the identification of the gifted students. It has been noted that such students can be best identified by what they do not do well rather than what they excel in (Nexus Strategic Partnerships, 2007). Thus, the teachers need to only concentrate the on the areas of excellence but rather on areas of poor performance to provide insight towards giftedness. The gifted students will demonstrate good leadership skills, high levels of reasoning with constructive minds, and record excellent academic performance (Johnsen, 2004, p.2). The parents are required to share with the management such traits identified in their children. Similarly, the teachers will be mandated to identify such characteristics in the environment as well outside classroom. Besides, Ford (1998) had warned that very little concern had been shown by policy-makers and learning institutions towards inclusion of gifted students in these gifted programs. This may be attributed to the fact that the learning disabilities will make these students difficult to identify. We will be particularly concerned with the identification gifted students. Now, gifted children will demonstrate various exceptional cognitive abilities. Gifted children generally know and understand things that their peers do not understand or understand shallowly (Deiner, 2009, p.335). They will demonstrate high willingness and ability to conceptualize various phenomena- they are just interested in knowing why certain things are they way they are. The gifted children will attempt to establish the cause-effect relationship to explain such phenomena (Deiner, 2009). The children have interests in solving problems and applying the concepts learnt in managing other problems (Schwean and Saklofske, 1999). In the class environment, such gifted students will frequently ask questions and listen keenly to the answers provided (Deiner, 2009). The students have high passion for learning with proper language development. They have extraordinary memory capacity and can concentrate in class over a long period without losing attention. Such students have high energy levels and may be noticed through their restlessness in mind and body (Deiner, 2009). The gifted students will also try to be independent in their work and study (Schwean and Saklofske, 1999). They will be less active in group work and show interest in individualized assignments. Similarly, the gifted students will demonstrate high levels of creativity and inventiveness. They show varied interests and would always want to do things differently (Schwean and Saklofske, 1999). Such students will try to be resistant to external views that attempt to sway their thoughts. They exercise some independence in behavior and attitude and will always hold their individual perspectives on a given issue (Schwean and Saklofske, 1999). They deeply rely on self intuition. The students will also generally demonstrate high sense of humor (Deiner, 2009). The students will be bored up in a class environment that requires the development of students with different capabilities. Similarly, gifted students will demonstrate exceptional affective traits. They are deeply emotional in their behavior and thought. They will demonstrate high sense of self-awareness with high expectations of self and the others (Schwean and Saklofske, 1999). The students will generally be upset when things do not happen according to their expectations. The students will be highly sensitive to emotional issues such as death, anger and love at very tender ages (Deiner, 2009, p.335). As such, gifted students will require emotional support. They will demonstrate deep feelings for others who are in some kind of trouble. The above characteristics will not be obviously visible in all the gifted students. It is important to note that two categories of gifted students may be noticed in a class environment, namely the “obviously gifted” and the “suspected gifted” students (Schwean and Saklofske, 1999). The “obviously gifted” category contains students who readily portray the above traits typical of a gifted child. The students will demonstrate generally acceptable behaviors and are readily identified for inclusion into the gifted education programs (Schwean and Saklofske, 1999). On the other hand, “suspected gifted” students refers to those students portraying mixed characteristics. At one point, such students will demonstrate complex thinking abilities and in the next moment the student demonstrates some unacceptable behavior (Schwean and Saklofske, 1999). Such a student tends to hide his or her general capabilities as well as character. Besides, there are significant variations in the above characters exhibited by gifted students. Individual differences may yet be encountered among the students who are considered to be gifted. As such, some scholars such as Brounstein, Holohan, and Sawyer (1998, cited in Schwean and Saklofske, 1999) have indicated that gifted students can fall into three categories: academic oriented, socially oriented, and highly motivated students. 3.3. Teacher support and education The input of the teachers will be essential to ensure success of the program. The teachers will be the implementers of the program and thus they should be the first to buy the idea. Some teachers often have a feeling that they would better spend much time with the students with low ability as opposed to spending much time with gifted students; they regard the latter as a waste of time and resources (Henderson, 2007). Our teachers have to understand that both these two categories of learners are important; in fact, both are regarded as special needs students. Giftedness should be given equal consideration as a case of special needs just as intellectual disability or physical disability (Henderson, 2007). Some teachers may adopt a system of learning in which the high ability students are used to help their fellows to understand various concepts learnt in class. Now, the approach will help the less able students while the gifted student turned mentor will not gain much from it. This program is targeting students with demonstrable exceptional abilities and these students must first be identified among their peers. Teachers will be mandated to identify these gifted students through academic performance and other abilities such as reasoning or creativity. Teachers require pre-service and in-service training in gifted education to identify these students and give appropriate differentiated approach to instructions (Henderson, 2007, p.62). We have incorporated teacher training on gifted education in our staff development programs. The teachers will be required to identify the strength and weaknesses of a gifted child, especially for the gifted children who have learning disabilities. It would be helpful if the teachers engage students in trying to establish the latter’s strengths or weaknesses. They may seek the students’ feeling or opinion on the teaching style adopted for a given course or their evaluation of the general school curriculum. In order to register success in the program, the teachers will be required to be precisely keen in the area of instruction that they cover in the additional curriculum, lest they are challenged by the student. The teachers will have to identify the instructional approach that fits a particular gifted student. It will be useful to teach according to the needs of the students rather than applying the conventional teaching styles (Besnoy, 2006, p.21). Similarly, the efforts to meet all the needs of the gifted students may amount to heavy workload that may cause stress and fatigue (Nexus Strategic Partnerships, 2007). The teachers need to be prepared for these challenges. Besides, gifted students will require much input from the teachers at certain levels of learning (Nexus Strategic Partnerships, 2007). The teachers need to plan well their time while handling projects that contain such students. Just like many other programs, the success of the program will also be affected by the spirit of teamwork developed among the implementers. Actually, the success of such a program depends largely on key stakeholders namely the academic institutions, teachers, counselors, and parents as they help the gifted students to develop their identity (Howard, 2003). There is need for the teachers of the children enrolled in a gifted education program to collaborate with the each other (Besnoy, 2006, p.22). We have cultivated, and will continue to develop, the spirit of interdependence among our academic staff. Our academic program constitute related areas of study with others overlapping. Cooperation among teachers will promote easy alignment of the instructions across different classes. Similarly, it is necessary that teachers maintain good relations with the parents of students enrolled in this program. Both parties will have concern on the progress of the student and the overall success of the program. Teachers should regularly communicate with the parents of the gifted students. 3.4. Parental involvement in the program Parents are also necessary for the success of this gifted educational program. Some parents may be misled by the common belief that gifted students will generally excel in their academic work and eventually achieve their objectives (Henderson, 2007). Such parents will be against the idea of pumping in more resources towards the education of their gifted children. They will view that as a waste of resources, noting that their children will excel after all. Indeed, proper management of gifted students may be expensive and time consuming (Winebrenner, 2009, p.210). However, some researchers have established empirical evidences for cases of underachievement among gifted students (Henderson, 2007, p.61). Parents can help identify the children with exceptional abilities. Thus, an important strategy for this program will be the involvement of the parents in identification of such students. This will be enhanced through discussions with parents of children showing signs of giftedness. Then the school management will notify respective parents of the intended enrollment of their children in such a program. The parent needs to create an enabling environment at home for the gifted child’s learning (Besnoy, 2006, p.24). Obviously, there will be need for additional learning resources, some of which will be provided by the parents. There may be special cases of gifted students with learning disabilities. Parents play particularly significant role for gifted students with disabilities through development of these abilities while the students are at home (Besnoy, 2006, p.24). The parents can assist the students perform their assignment. Parents of children enrolled in gifted programs should not over-schedule their children owing to the complex task (Winebrenner, 2009, p.210). They should allow the child to engage in extracurricular activities to improve on their cognitive or motor skills. It is important to develop a policy that ensures cooperation of teachers, parents, the students, and the executive in order to manage the challenges such as failure of a student failing to do homework due to pullout program (Delisle and Lewis, 2003, p.130). We will communicate the enrolment of a given student into this program to all the concerned teachers for regular class work. Similarly, the parents need to communicate regularly with the teachers on new behaviors they discover in their children enrolled in this special program. In this way, the parents well help in evaluating the success of this educational intervention. 3.5. Curriculum strategies This gifted education program will involve additional instruction to students in three key subjects areas in the high school curriculum; Economics, Mathematics and English. We realize that the three subjects are very essential in the future career development of the students providing them with a wide choice of state-of-the-art courses at university and college levels. With a success recorded in this initial program, we intend to extend the program to cover other subject areas such as Sciences, History or Philosophy. The curriculum for each subject has been designed and distributed across the last three years of study in our school; that is Years 8-10. The gifted students will be meeting for a maximum of six hours per week, considering that they have to cover the current coursework as well. The gifted students enrolled in this program will have an option of either Economics and English or Mathematics and English; there is a lot of concern in the language development of these children. The units in Economics have been designed so that at the end of the three year course, the student shall have obtained an equivalent of a one-year certificate training in the same. Economic theory, principles of econometrics, Statistics for Economics, and Introduction to Economic Policy analysis are some concepts we intend to cover. Additionally, the program will afford the learner with an understanding into different areas of Economics so that they can make appropriate choice when they select to follow a profession in this line. The Mathematics additional course will entail systematic introduction into college mathematics, and will cover a wide range of mathematics and statistics areas. The students will be introduced to key concepts such as The Set, Linear Algebra, Calculus of Differentiation and Integration, Principles of vectors, Introduction to Mathematics for Engineers, Probability theory, Probability and Statistics, and some basics of computer programming. The program will not only enable the students to develop an early understanding of these concept but also to make appropriate decisions as to their areas of specialization should they proceed with a mathematics-related course. Colleges and universities with an understanding of our new system may allow for admission of these students to second year of study now that they have knowledge of the basic principles. Now, the additional instructions in English aim at improving language proficiency of the students. Admission into colleges, especially for students joining foreign universities in republics such as that of America or United Kingdom, will require the students to pass some language proficiency test. 4. Timeframe for implementation One of the objectives of the program is to enable the students to transition smoothly into university, make an appropriate career choice and excel in those areas. Thus, the implementation of the initial section of the program will take three years for the first cohort of students. We will then monitor the academic life of these students outside our institution for a maximum of four years. That amounts to a span of seven years in view of the first students enrolled in the program. However, this will be an ongoing program since other gifted students will be identified each academic year. The necessary adjustments will be made according to the successes or failures registered in the program. 5. Evaluation strategies The evaluation of this program will also be an ongoing process beginning just in the first year of its implementation up until the seven for a student who will pursue a 4-year course at university. One of the ways of evaluating the effectiveness of the program is by monitoring the performance of students in the regular class work. It has been mentioned that one characteristic of giftedness is a rare excellent academic performance of a child relative to the peers of the same age under the same learning environment (Deiner, 2009). The additional instructions should not interfere with regular class work. A drop in the level of academic performance of some child will signify failure in some aspect of the program, which shall be identified and rectified. Similarly, the program will be evaluated through the performance of students in the additional subject areas. In the development of the additional curriculum, the teachers may have overestimated the students’ ability by including very advanced concepts. The first three years will entail identification of what works and what does not relative to the students’ conceptualization of the new ideologies. This will enable the teachers to revise the curriculum accordingly; removal or addition of concepts to be covered. In this perspective, the input from the teachers on the effectiveness of the subject will be an important evaluation strategy. Reports from the parents on the behavior of the child will as well offer comprehension into the efficiency of the program. A suggestion by the parent of a child that he would want his child removed from the program will be an indication that this child is not performing outside the gifted program (Delisle and Lewis, 2003, p.130). The child may be overwhelmed by the additional coursework but conceal his or her tension while in school. This may then be reflected in their behaviors at home. Some students may as well share with their parents their feelings on the new program. We will really welcome the parents to share with us such reports from their children. Finally, the long-term goal of the program is the good choice of career and excellent academic performance of the child in post-secondary education. We will evaluate the program through the general academic achievements of various students, who were enrolled in the program, at their respective universities and colleges. That explains why we have to maintain good relations with proper communication mechanism with the parents of these children. 6. Expected results and responses Definitely, we are confident and have high expectations in this program towards improving the overall quality of education that we provide to our students. The gifted education programs have had positive feedbacks as witnessed in various institutions in countries such as China (Phillipson, 2007, p.229). We expect that the intended objectives will be met and our first cohort of students will record considerable success in the current and future academic endeavors and career development. We are confident that our teachers will work collectively towards the implementation of the program to achieve the desired results. We also anticipate that after sometime, we will be able to align our new program with the programs in the local colleges and universities so that after successfully completing a course in our school, a student can be absorbed at level 2 of study in the colleges. Now, we do understand and expect that there will be mixed reactions from the parents with regard to this program. It is highly anticipated that after careful consultation with the identified parents, we anticipate that a good proportion of them will understand and support the need for a differentiated learning experience for the gifted children. We also acknowledge the chances that a small proportion may reject a proposal to include their children in the program, in which case we will continue to advice accordingly. Similarly, owing to the benefits of the program and the fact that it will be known to nearly all parents in the school, we also anticipate that some of the parents of average students may also want their children to be absorbed in the program. Actually, the program may resemble pursuit of a double course. The parents may consider it a quicker way of having their children achieve career objectives and thus push for their absorption. In the same perspective, other students not recruited into the program may show interest in it and consider it discrimination when they are excluded. However, we have to remain very categorical here. The students and their parents should understand that it will be through the teachers’ discretion that we will identify the required gifted students. It has to be clear to all the stakeholders including the teachers that the students will benefit from the program if and only if their abilities match the requirements. 7. Conclusion We have to acknowledge the fact that the children we admit into our school have different abilities. There are students whose abilities will much the norms of learning process as established by the current curriculum. Similarly, there are students who will be below these norms as well as those above the normal standards. Both these students fall in the “special needs” category. There is need to create an environment in our school that enables all the students to realize their potentials. We are mandated to recognize and cultivate the unique abilities, especially for the gifted students. The students who show high academic performance need to be subjected to additional learning experiences to enable them utilize their abilities. Our development of this program is an endeavor to meet the special needs of gifted students identified in our school. We have made appropriate adjustments to ensure that the additional contents match the performance of these gifted students. We look forward to meeting the objectives of enabling students excel in their chosen areas of career development. We all need to develop positive attitude and develop the spirit of cooperation and teamwork towards realizing the success in the program. References Besnoy, K. (2006). Successful Strategies for Twice-exceptional Students. Waco, Texas: Prufrock Press, Inc. Deiner, P. (2009). 5th ed. Inclusive early childhood education. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning Delisle, J and Lewis, B. (2003). The Survival Guide for Teachers of Gifted Kids: How to Plan, Manage, and evaluate programs for gifted youth. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing, Inc. Ford, D. (1998). The underrepresentation of Minority students in Gifted Education. The Journal of Special Education, 32(1), 4-14. Henderson, L. (2007). Multi-level selective classes for gifted students. International Education Journal, 2007, 8(2), 60-67. Howard, T. (2003). “A Tug of War for Our Minds:” African American High School Students’ Perceptions of their Academic Identities and College Aspirations. The High School Journal – Oct/Nov 2003 Johnsen, S. (2004). Identifying Gifted Students: A Practical Guide. Waco, Texas: Prufrock Press, Inc. Nexus Strategic Partnerships, (2007). Commonwealth Education Partnerships, 2007. Phillipson, S. (2007). Learning Diversity in the Chinese Classroom: Contexts and Practice for students with special needs. Aberdeen: Hong Kong University Press Renzulli, J. 1982. What Makes a Problem Real: Stalking the Illusive Meaning of Qualitative Differences in Gifted Education. Gifted Child Quarterly, 26(4), 147-156 Schwean, V. and Saklofske, D. (eds). (1999). Handbook of Psychosocial Characteristics of Exceptional Children. New York: Kluwer Academic/ Plenum Publishers Stanley and Baines. (2002). Celebrating Mediocrity? How Schools Shortchange Gifted Students Roeper Review, Fall 2002. Vaughn, V., Feldhusen, J and Usher, J. (1991). Meta-Analyses and Review of Research on Pull-Out Programs in Gifted Education. Gifted Child Quarterly, 35(2), 92-98. Winebrenner, S. (2009). Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom: Strategies and Techniques every teacher can use to meet the academic needs of the gifted and talented. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing, Inc. Read More