Neglecting the Gifted and Talented
Doesn’t PLC give attention to struggling students and emphasis on intervention result in neglecting gifted and high-achieving children?
Educators who ask this question believe that focusing attention on needy, lazy, or low-performing kids deprives more gifted students of the resources and time essential to their development. The assumption behind this thinking is that education is a zero-sum game. Schools have finite resources and energy, and therefore, addressing the needs of a particular group of students means not addressing the needs of others. For some students to win, others must lose.
We reject that assumption. The PLC model is based on the premise that all students benefit when placed in a challenging and supportive environment. The staff of a PLC attempts to create a culture that stretches all students beyond their comfort zone and then provides the support to help them be successful in meeting the challenge. Students who have become comfortable in self-contained special education classes or remedial classes are called upon to meet the challenge of the standard curriculum. Students comfortable in the standard curriculum are called upon to stretch to meet the challenges of an accelerated curriculum. Students in the most rigorous curriculum are challenged to see how far they can go in extending their learning. In a PLC, every student is urged to pursue more challenging levels of learning, and at the same time, the school assures those students will receive the additional time and support they need to be successful.
In our new book, Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap, we examined student achievement in over 35 schools that had committed to providing struggling students with additional time and support in a timely, directive, and systematic way. Every one of those schools was highly successful in moving students who had traditionally struggled to proficient status on high-stakes assessments. Furthermore, each of the schools dramatically increased the percentage of students able to achieve at advanced levels. We found absolutely no evidence that being attentive to students who experienced difficulty diminished the achievement of traditionally high-performing students and abundant evidence in every case to refute that theory.
Adapted from Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Karhanek)
© Solution Tree Press 2010
Comments
jlangas
When you know you have a gt kid, but scores are 1 off and another test showed almost at 100% for non-verbal, how do you
go about appealing?
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JaneKS
I realize this is an old thread, but perhaps someone will stumble across it like I did!
I need to respectfully completely disagree with those who advocate for using more capable students as tutors within the classroom or as support to get lower students up to speed.
All gifted advocates warn against such a practice, and the message is being sent that it's more important to get everyone on the same page rather than continuing to allow ALL students to move forward in their learning.
G/T students are not student teachers or paraprofessionals. Asking them to serve in this capacity is wasting their learning opportunities and is not appropriate. It's the EASY thing to do, but it is not the RIGHT thing to do.
If teachers need ideas on how to provide for children who constantly finish before other students, please reference the works of Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Joe Renzulli, Susan Winebrenner, Diane Heacox, etc. Please do not ask them to be co-teachers.
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pparnell
That is an excellent idea of arranging extra study hours not only for those who fall behind but also those who are above the standards. One thing I have found is although you cannot provide extra work for them every lesson, give them some responsibility. Place them into a teacher/leader of a small group. Have them help the other students. In doing this it not only helps those students who need it but it also allows those talented students to carry a responsibility of truly knowing the subject matter enough to be able to help teach it to other students.
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zulfierken
If the PLCs try to change bell curve to a flat line, then gifted and talented students will be neglected. What I offer for this problem is, similar to recess hour and extra study for weak students, teachers can arrange extra study hours for talented students. Joining talented students from all classes and solving challenging problem with them in study hours will ensure the the further improvement of talented students. Moreover, those gifted students can be used to tutor weak students. They will understand better while helping to the weak students, and teachers will have more time to supervise all students.
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Rick and Becky DuFour
kristy & pamela,
We strongly advocate schools and teams designate blocks of time during the school day in which some students receive intervention on skills & concepts they have not yet mastered while other students in the same course/grade-level are engaged in extension/enrichment activities and classes. In a large elementary school with more than one classroom at each grade level, the team “differentiates” the instruction during the I/E block to ensure all students – even GT students – learning needs are being met. This is not left to each teacher to resolve, but rather becomes a team and school approach helping all students learn.
The schools and district highlighted under “Evidence of Effectiveness” have addressed this important issue in their schedules – you can explore their entries and e-mail the principal if you desire more specific information. The book, Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap: Whatever it Takes (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Karhanek, Solution Tree 2009) also devotes attention to this important question.
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Rick and Becky DuFour
j brent,
We strongly advocate schools and teams designate blocks of time during the school day in which some students receive intervention on skills & concepts they have not yet mastered while other students in the same course/grade-level are engaged in extension/enrichment activities and classes.
The schools and district highlighted under “Evidence of Effectiveness” have addressed this important issue in their schedules – you can explore their entries and e-mail the principal if you desire more specific information. The book, Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap: Whatever it Takes (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Karhanek, Solution Tree 2009) also devotes attention to this important question.
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Ahutchinson
As an inclusion high school special education teacher, it has been my experience that giving struggling students extra help and time when completing assignments have not had a negative effect on higher performing students. Actually, the effects have been quite positive. My higher performing students are able to benefit from repetition while providing lower performing students with peer assistance. When all students are involved in the dynamics of the classroom at all times, all students should be learning and none should be neglected.
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stewartcan
I agree that it is difficult to lend so much extra time to creating material for one GT in a class. My Kindergarten class has this one child and while I am able to offer him some activities that suit his level of smarts, I do not have the time to do it for every single lesson. This child becomes so difficult and disruptive during our morning board because he says he "knows everything". It can be so frustrating!
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lisams2
At our school letters went out to possible students that could be tested into the gifted program (LEP) next year. Many years ago both of my girls were tested but did not pass the drawing part. One daugher will graduate from Emory this year and the other will be attending The Citadel of SC next year go figure that. I understand the qualifications have changed and many more students are able to test in. Many of he students that received letter need to be in a more advanced thinking class. Our 4 woman team had the lower students and the 2 woman team had the higher group. It's hard to meet the needs of every student when the budget gets cut and more students per room and teacher.
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SEC
I agree with the article. All students can learn when they are challenged. I spend more time working directly with the lowest academic students, but I create more challenging learning activities for the gifted and talented. Teachers need to find a balance within the classroom and not teach to the middle and only support the lower achievers.
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Nickm1123
This is a concern I have had for a while as a teacher. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to avoid neglecting the gifted and talented? Any comments or ideas would be appreciated!
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SDeep
I do think that schools are neglecting the higher achieving students. In my school we have adapted the idea of heterogeneous groups when it comes to classrooms. I have students who are preforming at the honors and AP level in classrooms with students who are on a 3rd grade level. (I teacher 9th and 10th grade Social Studies). How is this fair to either group? My school has gone so far as to remove any honors program period! We still have the AP courses because of the possibility of college credit but it is not fair to stick a high preforming student with someone who can barely read. The idea that the high preforming student will bring up the low performing student is absolutely insane. If we continue to do this, we are doing a disservice to a group of students who want to be pushed and want to learn.
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chemgal
I spent 30 hours in a Gift and talented training and at the same time I only had one student identified as GT. Sometimes I wish scheduling would work out better grouping the students together. Is it worth differentiating for 1 student?
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jmunday
I certainly agree that there is a lot of pressure as an educator to meet the needs of all of the learners in the classroom. We place so much emphasis on the students with special needs and many times neglect the gifted and talented students. I have recently been reading about different strategies to differentiating the instruction in my classroom so that the needs of all of the learners can be met. I am currently trying to "tier" my lessons so that all of the students are being pushed to another level. I'd be very interested in reading your book to get more insight!
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pamela
However, I am very interested in reading your book, Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap, because I welcome any advice on ways to help my struggling students without holding the gifted students back. Sometimes I get discouraged as a teacher because I can't fix all the problems, but I love teaching and am constantly trying to educate myself on ways to improve and help my students be successful. Do you have any advice for me?
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kristy
Our elementary school is huge and we have one GT teacher. When we cannot find subs, she sometimes teaches in regular classrooms and is not able to meet with GT students throughout the day.
I feel it is very difficult to meet GT students' needs, because all I think about are the struggling students. I want to work with them one-on-one and can rely on my GT students to complete work independently. There is not enough time in the day to create individualized work for nineteen students.
It would be great to have extra assistance, but there is not enough money to do so!
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pamela
I feel that school districts try to cater more to low achievers, than to the gifted and talented students. In my school district, we recently “lowered” our grading scale because so many students were failing. Why should we have to lower our standards just because the majority of the students refuse to work? What happened to raising the bar? In addition, we “dropped” some of our advanced math and science classes and replaced them with basic courses; such as, Transitional Algebra and Science Skills. As a teacher of high school mathematics, I was outraged that my gifted students could no longer take Calculus, Probability & Statistics, and Physics because the district chose to replace these advanced classes with lower level courses. Why did they do this? It’s because our state now requires 4 math and 4 science courses for graduation, so they would rather “dumb down” the math and science to help more students get their requirements for graduation, than continue to help the small percentage of students who plan to go to college and be successful.
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dsm
Unfortunately many times schools leave the GT students out of the picture and think that the classroom teacher is sufficient enough. This is wrong. GT students need to be taught at a higher level and a classroom teacher alone is not able to give the interaction and sustainability that a GT student needs or deserves. My daughter is in a GT program that is about to be cut due to budget cuts. In the last two years she has worked on extensive projects with the GT teacher that she would never have been able to accomplish in a regular classroom. Her first project was on AIDs and work towards finding a cure. Her most recent project has been on cancer, specifically melanoma. She is designing a web page for fellow students with information on diagnosis, treatment, and support for children going through the treatment. It is exceptional. With so many demands on teachers, how could one possibly be by her side to help her with these projects?
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j brent
Our school provides our gifted and talented a day to attend a special class just for gifted and talented students. Projects and thinking outside the box is encouraged.
In our classrooms we are informed and monitored to present the curriculum given to us by the district. Our gifted and talented students are bored and do not receive the extended activities to help meet their cognitive level.
How do you abide by the districts guidelines and yet meet these students needs?
Our gifted children have so much to offer yet our district hinders their progress through insisting to used a set curriculum.
We currently used the "Saxon" math book and the guidelines it offers on how to apply the curriculum most efficiently.
I am open to suggestions on how to meet the needs of my gifted and talented students. They need the opportunity to go beyond the textbook, explore and develop at a higher level.
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Margo Illinois
Reject the assumption that attention to one group does not affect another? Really? Where do you live?
Yes, it does. .The entire educational system, NCLB, to IDEA, mandates to the needs of less than 30% of the population. And they are unfunded mandates, by the way. Few will admit that though. Helping the underdog is the Politically Correct thing to do in this country. There is absolutely no understanding of the Bell Curve anymore. We will now have a flat curve with everyone the same. Bring up the lower end to be normal. Except, verbal and performance aptitudes are real. The lower ends indicate low learners because for the majority of them, that’s how their brains function. The higher end students will challenge themselves and excel anyway. Of course, we try everything possible, and poor teaching should never be the cause of low performance. All students should be challenged to their next step, mastering standards.
Our high school district spends 60% of its revenue on special education programs servicing 12% of the population, and now with rti, who knows! That is the fact. There were fewer than 300 students with autism in 1992 in the entire state of Illinois, now there are over 16,000. No, we do not diagnose them any better, there is an epidemic that will bankrupt the system in less that 5 years. The rti tutoring this year eliminated 50% of after school sports and all orchestral music programs. They will hang on to band and choir as much as possible.
Students who did not meet the cut-off for “challenge math” in our middle school, get nothing at all. There was one challenge math class of 12 for every 800 students. Students were allowed to take a pretest and if they got a 100%, did not have to stay in class. They are allowed to sit in the hall and play “Magic the Gathering” card game. I think we could expend some energy developing alternatives! Yes, ur gifted students will achieve high scores on their own, if they are not swallowed up playing video games due to the lack of challenging homework assignments.
Is there is evidence that the achievement of high performing students was affected. You say there is and it proves you are right. I say, you are wrong, that it is impossible to measure. Those students sitting in the hall all scored 99% on the state tests all throughout grade school. Who cares? They could have been better and were ignored. There is no way to show the effect of sitting in the hall due to lack of funds if the test tops out at a set group of standards. Refute away, statistics can be made to support any side, even when it is dead wrong. (Especially to sell a book or win an election)
Have a nice day!
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pjcurry@fhsdschools.org
I developed a method of addressing question #4 systematically which we were able to partially implement in our school distict. Here is an overview. Please email me at patricia.curry@hotamil.com if you would like further details.
1. Develop a Pyramid of Extensions – A school-wide system for providing time and support to students who are learning.
2. Identify an Extensions Specialist/Monitor for each PLC – Have a teacher who will always make sure that extension activities are included in units of instruction.
3. Develop a vertical team which includes a gifted or curriculum facilitator and the PLC Extension Specialists/Monitors. This facilitator will assist each PLC Extensions Specialist/Monitor in the development of quality extension activities and provide materials if needed.
4. Each PLC will develop high-quality common assessments for units of study. Common assessments will include quality questions based on DOK (Depth of Knowledge)3 methodology.
5. The common assessments will be administered as pre-tests to determine what needs to be taught and what level of instruction each student needs.
6. Leveled instruction then takes place and lesson plans are developed to address each level of learning: struggling, middle level, and advanced learners.
7. Posttest to determine progress. The same common assessment that was used as a pretest should be readministered at the end to determine growth. Having students 3rd grade up chart their own results is an effective learning tool.
8. Proceed to the next unit pretest. PLCs develop a common assessment using DOK questions for the next unit of study.
Pat
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ltaft
Our elementary school addresses all levels of interventions during our daily RtI Walk to Intervention time. Students needing extra time and support to reach essential grade level standards are in small group instruction to work on necessary skills they are lacking, advanced students meet with our advanced education service provider to extend grade level skills, and students on grade level meet with teachers to practice the "nice to know" grade level standards. During this 30 minute daily time, instruction is differentiated so all student needs are met.
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Tammy
In our district our example to support this assertion would be how we deliver our core program. We ensure that students receive time and support during the core Reading program through the use of our workshop model. This time allows for each student to work at their level and give them an opportunity to connect with the text and build understanding before we move on. Our students who are struggling review the concepts, skills, and strategies. Re-read the story, discuss the vocabulary, etc. They may receive additional decoding practice or work on fluency. Students who are working on or beyond this level may extend the story through their writing, ask higher level questions, read a connecting text to deeper their understanding, etc. These groups are flexible and our assessments guide where students might be receiving instruction as we complete units. The core program is our "first line of defense" and needs to support the diverse needs of our classroom.
Thank you Rick and Becky for your time and talents!
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sicae
You are speaking in generalizations here. I appreciate what you're trying to explain, but can you please give some concrete examples from real life? Also, do you find that helping the G&T population in a targeted way comes more slowly in implementation, trickling up from focusing on helping the struggling kids?
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