diversity – Institute for Educational Advancement

Myths About Gifted Kids

��Ƶ Staff — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 02:54:27 +0000

by Nicole LaChance, Marketing and Communications Coordinator

There are a lot of myths out there about gifted students. Today I want to highlight and debunk some of the most common ones we hear in the course of our work advocating for gifted kids.

Gifted Students Don’t Need Help

Gifted students have great potential, but they, like any other student, need guidance and support for it to be fully realized. Left without help, , leading to a dislike for school and low-achievement. The guidance of a teacher, parent, counselor or other supportive adult is crucial for the success of a gifted student.

Students with Learning Disabilities Cannot be Gifted

Some gifted students are twice-exceptional, meaning they also have learning disabilities, which makes it harder for their giftedness to be recognized. Most of these students have the and are often not served and challenged at the level they need. It is important for these students to both be challenged and receive help for their learning disability.

Gifted Students Always Get Good Grades

Gifted underachievers are a very real thing. Some students are bored and disengaged from being unchallenged in the classroom, therefore they stop really trying to get good grades. Other students that required work goes uncompleted. These students greatly benefit from the support of an adult to help break the cycle of underachievement.

Gifted Kids Excel in All Areas – Academic, Social and Emotional

Asynchronous Development, in which gifted kids develop academically, socially and emotionally at different levels, is one of the . For example, a first grade student may be reading at a sixth grade level, but be communicating below the ideal for their age. This can sometimes lead to in school.

Teachers Love Having Gifted Students in the Classroom

It is often thought that gifted children are model students, but, in reality, they can be disruptive and have that frustrate their teacher. However, this can often be avoided when students are engaged, challenged and matched with a teacher who understands and enjoys gifted children.

All Gifted Kids are the Same

Gifted kids are just as varied and diverse as everyone else! They have a wide range of abilities and interests, as well as social and cultural backgrounds.

What myths about gifted students would you like to debunk?

Like this post?����to receive more stories, information, and resources about gifted youth straight to your inbox.

Imagine the Possibilities

��Ƶ Staff — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 05:05:05 +0000

by Nicole LaChance, Marketing & Communications Coordinator

Earlier this month, a few ��Ƶ staff members attended the National Association for Gifted Children’s 63^rd Annual Convention. The theme of this year’s gathering was “Imagine the Possibilities,” with a focus on what could happen if all gifted children had the chance to reach their full potential.

I had the opportunity to attend the pre-conference program, Identifying and Serving Gifted and Talented African American and Hispanic/Latino Students. The keynote speech for this portion of the conference was given by Superintendent Alberto Carvalho of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the fourth largest district in the country. Since he came on board in 2008, the district has been conducting universal gifted screenings using cultural and language sensitive assessments (a good portion of the district’s Hispanic/Latino population are English Language Learners). As a result, the district’s proportion of African American and Latino/Hispanic students represented in gifted programs is double or more the national and state averages.

Carvalho himself has an interesting story, coming to this country with his parents as an undocumented immigrant, knowing no English, and working his way up from dishwasher to superintendent. He was the only one of his siblings to even graduate high school, which he kept stressing was all about having the opportunity to succeed. He emphasized that this is what gifted students, especially those from underserved populations, need.

This message resonated with me. How can we best serve students from all backgrounds? How can we make sure no one is being left behind, that every student has the opportunity to be challenged if they choose to do so? I left NAGC with a renewed sense of optimism about the futures of these students. I met so many dedicated people from around the country working hard to serve and challenge them, to make sure the someday no one will fall through the cracks. Being surrounded by a group of dedicated educators, advocates and parents helped me to imagine the possibilities for all gifted kids.

To close, I will leave you with my favorite quote from Carvalho, about the importance of universal gifted screening to make sure no students are being left behind and unchallenged: “If you’re a smart fisherman, you don’t put a hook in the water to try to catch all fish, you put a net.”

Further Reading/Watching:

�� about the measures being taken in the Miami-Dade schools to diversify gifted programs.
��Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video Carvalho’s talk from the convention, but I found of him talking, in part, about the importance of reaching and challenging every child �� (he’s an engaging speaker).
��A about the fight for diversity in gifted education.

Like this post? to receive more stories, information, and resources about gifted youth straight to your inbox.

Finding the Right High School, Part II: A Parent’s Guide

��Ƶ Staff — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 04:28:06 +0000

By Bonnie Raskin
Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship Manager

Finding the right high school can set the stage for the rest of a child’s academic and professional future.�� The key to choosing the best high school for your child lies first in understanding your child’s specific needs, but it also requires both child and parents to learn about the various options available.�� While at the outset, this can seem like a daunting task, here are some tips we use to assist the and parents as they��choose the best high school for their family:

DEFINE YOUR CHILD’S NEEDS: Some children learn and work better in a structured learning environment, while others thrive in classrooms that allow students to guide the process.�� Look at a school’s curriculum and disciplinary policies.�� Does the school stress group projects over individual assignments? What are the homework policies and discipline practices? What services are available to help students learn or provide additional tutoring support?

DETERMINE YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING STYLE:�� Is your child a visual or auditory learner, and does he work better in groups or individually? Does your child have any learning disabilities that the school will need to address, and if so does the school offer specific programs for those types of learning issues? If possible, talk to parents of children with similar learning styles to find out how they think the school is performing.

WEIGH YOUR OPTIONS: ��Today, most parents needn’t limit their high school choices to the neighborhood high school. Research your options across charter, magnet and signatory public schools, independent day and boarding options, homeschooling networks and online educational opportunities, as well as early college and community college programs for accelerated learners.

CONSIDER DIVERSITY: While diversity may be a significant factor for minority students in particular, a diverse student community benefits all high school students, providing a range of life experiences, points of view and the opportunity to hear, learn from, and work with people different from oneself.

EXAMINE TEST SCORES AND ALUMNI SUCCESS: ��Test scores are a factor to consider when choosing a high school, although it should never be the only factor. Look at the trend of test scores in recent years: have scores moved up or down? This may indicate whether a school is actively pursuing improvement or declining in terms of academic rigor and quality.�� Is there an indication of how students with disabilities are performing, as well as the rest of the student body.�� This may indicate how well the school addresses a diverse range of available test-taking options within its student body.

Beyond test scores, look at college enrollment/matriculation data: Are alumni attending��the caliber of university that��you hope for your child?�� Are their students immersed in rewarding occupations or career options? Do alumni have an ongoing relationship with the school after graduation?

LOOK AT ACADEMIC PROGRAMS: Look for a school where your child’s brain will be exposed to a wide variety of subjects, cultures and pursuits, both in and out of class. Are you looking for Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate programs that challenge academic achievers with more rigorous curricula? Are there dual-enrollment programs that allow students to earn college credits while still in high school? Are there strong programs in STEM and/or arts/Humanities programs that offer depth in course offerings as well as the potential for acceleration and placement tests?

FACILITIES: ��An excellent private school should offer many kinds of enrichment from study abroad programs to a diversity of foreign languages and in-depth subject area curricula.�� Libraries, computer labs and facilities for art, music and drama should be well-equipped and staffed with specialist teachers.

ITS ABOUT THE TEACHERS: Many aspects of a school are fundamental, others are luxuries, but teachers can make or break a child’s natural curiosity. Their passion for the subject they teach can—and should—ignite a young mind. If your child attends a shadow visit to a school, find out from him what he experienced during his class time:�� how did the students engage with the teacher? What was the class size? Ask your child if she would want to be in this class with this teacher? Look for teaching staff who can be inspiring mentors.

IN EDUCATION, SMALLER TENDS TO BE BETTER: ��Educational research has shown that working in small groups fosters closer relationships between students and teachers, and also that a smaller student-to-teacher ratio leads to greater success in college. But numbers can be misleading. In their published student-to-teacher ratios, some schools count every adult and coach as a teacher. If you want to forecast the amount of attention your child will potentially get from classroom teachers, multiply the number of sections a teacher has in a day by the average class size. This will give you a sense of how much individualized contact a teacher is likely to have with each child. Also inquire about extra “support” hours a teacher makes available and if the teacher maintains an online presence via an e-mail where students can reach him/her off hours if necessary.

WORK WITH THE TEENAGE BRAIN, NOT AGAINST IT: ��The teenage brain is wired for risk taking, and when it comes to harmful or unhealthy behaviors, this can be a negative. High schools that understand this inherent issue try to channel this drive by challenging students to travel, try out for a play or team or something they’ve never done before, take initiative on a school project, perform in front of the student body, participate in a class retreat, or tutor other students. Risk taking is a necessary part of identity formation, so investigate the opportunities your child will have to test himself and grow in positive ways.

LIST EXTRACURRICULAR OPPORTUNITIES: These run the gamut from sports and specific subject teams to drama and technology clubs, music offerings such as band or orchestra, robotics, debate, Model UN, and regional/national competitive options such as science fairs, Olympiads, etc. Larger schools tend to have a wider selection of extracurricular options, but if the smaller private school offers specific programs your child is looking for, this could end up as a better fit. Find out what programs the school offers, which programs get the most attention and funding, and whether participation in extracurricular activities is required at the high school.

THE BEST WAY TO LEARN LEADERSHIP IS TO PRACTICE IT: ��Rather than only looking at a list of clubs and government positions at school, find out if a particular school provides opportunities to practice leadership by creating a club, teaching a noncredit course, initiating a fundraising effort, starting a new chapter of a national organization or assembling a team for competitive participation in an area of interest—robotics, science fair, Math Olympiad for example.

CONSIDER PRACTICAL FACTORS: In addition to the various options offered to students, practical factors must come into play for parents as well.�� What is the commute like?�� Does the school provide transportation? Are there buses or metro services the student will have to rely upon on a twice-daily basis?�� If the school is far from home, how will this impact the time for the student’s commute and wake-up time?�� How feasible will it be for the student to attend afterschool and weekend activities at the school? Do most of the student community live far from your child’s home, and if so, how will this affect get-together opportunities like group projects and socializing?

OBSERVE THE SCHOOL IN ACTION:��Plan visits to see the school environment in action—not just at specified Open House dates which are usually held during non-school hours.�� If possible, schedule a shadow day or half day for your child where she can actually attend classes, meet other enrolled students and be an active participant in a typical school day to see firsthand how classes are taught and the makeup of the student body and faculty. If your child wants to participate in sports, attend a sporting event at the school, or a play or musical performance.�� How do the participants perform individually and as a team or group? What is the audience behavior like? Are there parents and other students in attendance to support the program?

TALK TO YOUR CHILD:��Maintain an ongoing dialogue with your child concerning pros and cons of each school he is considering. While parents have significant say and sway in the final decision, by the time a child is considering high school, she should be able to define and identify that school best suited for her optimal high school experience academically, extracurricularly and socially.

AFTER SELECTION AND ENROLLMENT: The following are signs that I use with the CDB Scholar community to review and assess fit:

Your child is eager to go to school.
Your child acts energized and engaged at the end of the school day.
The pace of learning in core subjects is, overall, about right for your child: challenging but achievable.
You see progress in your child’s overall development- academic, physical, social and��emotional–�� throughout each school year.
Your child feels that her abilities and interests are appreciated and addressed at school.
Your child is achieving and performing academically at the level of which he is capable.
Your child has friends and acquaintances who like and accept him at school.
School work and friends are important but not all-consuming aspects of your child’s life.

When your child’s and family’s needs fit well with what a school offers, I call that a GREAT FIT.

Like this post? to receive more stories, information, and resources about gifted youth straight to your inbox.

Diversity and Gifted Children: Are We Doing Enough?

��Ƶ Staff — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 08:05:26 +0000

By Alicia A. Ayala

“Many of the gaps in my knowledge and understanding were simply limits of class and cultural background, not lack of aptitude or application as I feared.”

― Sonia Sotomayor, My Beloved World

Sonia Sotomayor is the first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court. In her memoir, My Beloved World (10), she tells her story of resilience and determination. Although a naturally precocious child with much promise, she endured many hardships – she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at age 8, the daughter of an alcoholic father who passed away at age 9, and raised in a single-parent household by an overburdened mother. In her book, she shares her story of self-discovery.

The above quote comes from a passage in which she describes her struggle with writing that resulted from English that was riddled with Spanish constructions. Although she was a bright young woman attending Princeton University, she had to work hard to overcome this limitation by completing grammar exercises and learning 10 vocabulary words every day to compensate for lost opportunities due to lack of exposure and the limitations implicit in a childhood entrenched in poverty. The striking disparity between Sotomayor and her fellow classmates was further realized when she was made privy to the financial figures of the most well-off at Princeton, students with trust funds, whose parents generously endowed Yale, while her mother only made $5,000 a year. Despite the discrepancy in socioeconomic (SES) status and cultural background, she received the highest honors at Princeton and Yale Law School and is now an Associate Justice for the highest judicial body in the United States.

Sonia Sotomayor’s story of tenacity and grit is admirable; it provides hope to children, adolescents, and emerging adults who are currently facing adversity. Her story is one that resonates with many gifted children who have considerable talent but face a myriad of challenges – whether they are cultural, linguistic, SES, and/or environmental.

In 1998, the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act was passed and stated that “outstanding talents are present in children and youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor”(11). Yet, in the report National Excellence, A Case for Developing America’s Talent (11), attention is called to a quiet crisis in the education of gifted students, as there is a disparity in the proportion of students identified and served in gifted programs among talented children from economically disadvantaged homes and/or from culturally or linguistically diverse (CLD) groups.

Taking into consideration Sotomayor’s story, the purpose of this blog is to explore��research that has been conducted on why diverse students and students from lower SES backgrounds are underrepresented in gifted programs and how we can recruit and retain more of them for our gifted programs.

Over the past 20 years, the United States has experienced a significant demographic transformation due to immigration (9). Currently, 23.7% of school-age children in the United States are children of immigrants (6), bringing linguistic and cultural diversity (CLD) to the institutions with which they come in contact. In the context of these rapidly changing communities and educational landscapes, how do we ensure quality education for children of diverse backgrounds, and more specifically, those who are gifted? This question has fascinated researchers, policy makers, and educators, as their success has direct implications on our nation’s future.

Researchers have found that disparities exist in academic achievement based on race and ethnicity, even among the most able students (7). A large number of CLD children reside in schools that are underfunded, lack a rigorous curriculum, have fewer educational resources, and often employ less experienced teachers (1). Gifted children within these schools are particularly at risk because they are often overlooked (2).

Researchers have also posited that the identification of a high ability learner from CLD and lower SES background is significantly impacted by inaccurate perceptions held by teachers and schools. Inequalities in teacher nomination for gifted programs are pervasive among districts and schools nationwide (5,8). Additionally, there is a dependency on validated measures of intelligence and a dearth of dynamic assessments, teacher and parent ratings, portfolios, and nonverbal ability tests (4,8).

Looking solely at income, it has been found that students whose families were in the top income quartile were 5 times more likely to be in gifted programs than students whose parents’ income was in the bottom quartile (2). Longitudinally, studies have shown that students from lower SES backgrounds often graduate from high school on time but are less likely to attend selective colleges than their higher SES peers (14% vs. 21%); less likely to graduate from college (49% vs. 77%); and less likely to receive a graduate degree (29% vs. 47%) (8).

These findings suggest that there is a need for new strategies in identifying gifted students of diverse cultural, linguistic, and SES backgrounds. However, since gifted education is not federally mandated – leading to differences in definitions, identification, and programming across districts and states – it is difficult to implement these strategies (4).

As I was trained in Applied Psychology, I always appreciate when research is translated into practice or provides implications for effective practices. In all of the articles I read, the majority of them also provided potential solutions to ameliorate identification and retention of diverse students in gifted programs.

High-quality, advanced curriculum must continue to be created and evaluated. Diverse gifted students would benefit from culturally sensitive and developmentally appropriate curriculum (5). As many gifted students disengage in classes where they are bored, there is a need for enriching programs and curriculum that evoke a gifted student’s potential. As intelligence testing and teacher referrals were often found to be a source for underrepresentation of diverse students in gifted programs, the field of gifted education needs to examine and consider broader conceptions of intelligence, alternative , and inclusive . Research has also linked the success of CLD and lower SES gifted learners to positive family relationships, where students excelled in school despite economic and social barriers (3). This demonstrates that there needs to be a collective effort to bring about change, one that includes energy from not only schools and parents, but also researchers and policy makers.

Finally, communities and organizations can also provide support and assistance to gifted individuals from diverse backgrounds by offering workshops, , and apprenticeship opportunities (8).

While I was able to provide a general overview of diversity and giftedness, only cultural, linguistic, and economic diversity were addressed in this blog. There is, however, a spate of research that addresses giftedness and gender diversity, gifted students with disabilities (2e: twice-exceptional), and geographic diversity. Finally, we cannot neglect the importance of diversity and non-cognitive factors of high achievement. There is much to be learned from research that examines the social and emotional needs of gifted children.

Imagine if Sonia Sotomayor had not been granted financial assistance at Princeton and Yale Law School; America would have been bereft of an important leader. With that in mind, I ask that you take the time to , so that we may continue to serve students who may not have the financial means to benefit from our programs. On behalf of the students and families we serve, thank you for being a part of the ��Ƶ community!

Like this post? to receive more information and resources about gifted youth straight to your inbox.

References

1. Barton, P. E. (2003). Parsing the achievement gap. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.

2. Borland, J. H. (2004). Issues and practices in the identification and education of gifted students from under-represented groups. Storrs, CT: The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, University of Connecticut.

3. Castellano, J.A. & Frazier, A.D. (2010). Special populations in gifted education: Understanding our most able students from diverse backgrounds. Waco, TX: National Association for Gifted Children/Prufrock Press.

4. Ford, D. Y., Grantham, T. C., & Whiting, G. W. (2008). Culturally and linguistically diverse students in gifted education: Recruitment and retention issues. Exceptional Children, 74(3), 289-306.

5. Johnsen, S.K. (2014). Assessing Growth of Gifted and Advanced Students. Gifted Child Today, 37(1), 4-5.

7. Miller, L. S. (2004). Promoting sustained growth in the representation of African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans among top students in the United States at all levels of the education system. Storrs: University of Connecticut, The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented.

8. Olszewski-Kubilius, P., & Clarenbach, J. (2012). Unlocking emergent talent: Supporting high achievement of low-income, high-ability students. Washington, DC: National Association for Gifted Children.

9. Perez, Patricia. (2010). College Choice Process of Latino Undocumented Students: Implications for Recruitment and Retention. Journal of College Admission, 206, 21-25.

10. Sotomayor, S. (2013). My beloved world. New York: Knopf.

11. United States Department of Education. (1993). National Excellence: The Case for Developing America’s Talent. Washington, DC: United States Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

diversity – Institute for Educational Advancement

Top 10 Blog Posts of 2018

Myths About Gifted Kids

Top 10 Blog Posts of 2016

Imagine the Possibilities

Finding the Right High School, Part II: A Parent’s Guide

Top 10 Blog Posts of 2015

Diversity and Gifted Children: Are We Doing Enough?