As a part of 优蜜视频鈥檚 effort to advance the cause of gifted students nationwide, 优蜜视频 commissioned the first ever national survey assessing the American public鈥檚 views on gifted education. The summary covers the results of a national survey, completed in 2016, that sought to understand the public鈥檚 perception of gifted students in the United States. This poll was designed in collaboration with leaders in the field of gifted education, including the National Association for Gifted Children, and conducted by Benenson Strategy Group and The Winston Group.

鈥淲e are seeing overwhelming support for funding and resources to ensure that our brightest students鈥� minds are nurtured and supported, which hasn鈥檛 always been the case in the past,鈥� said Elizabeth D. Jones, President & Co-Founder of 优蜜视频. 鈥淎s a community, we are committed to advocating for what the public wants: helping our highest potential students succeed.鈥�

The poll report contains helpful information about the state of gifted education in the U.S. and details recommendations for how to communicate about gifted students and advocate for this cause. The goal of this document is to provide a tool for the gifted community, families, teachers and professionals alike to use when advocating for these unique learners.

The poll report was written by Jones and Dr. Shelagh A. Gallagher. The authors will be hosting a webinar presenting the results and answering viewer questions on March 26th at 11 a.m. PST/2 p.m. EST. The webinar is free and open to the public.

Additional contributors include: Alan Arkotov of , Dr. Jim Delisle, Ren茅 Islas formerly of , Michael Petrilli & Chester Finn of , Ann Smith of , Dr. Amy Shelton of and Adam Umhoefer of .

The release of the full results was preceded by a poll summary, , released in August 2018. This document contains highlights from the results of the poll.

Read the full report.

For more information about 优蜜视频鈥檚 policy initiatives or any of 优蜜视频鈥檚 other programs and services, visit our Advocacy page.听

As a part of 优蜜视频鈥檚 , 优蜜视频 commissioned the first ever national survey assessing the American public鈥檚 views on gifted education. Linked below you will find a summary of the national survey, completed in 2016, that sought to understand the public鈥檚 perception of gifted students in the United States. This poll was designed in collaboration with leaders in the field of gifted education, including the National Association for Gifted Children, and conducted by Beneson Strategy Group and The Winston Group.

The summary contains helpful information about the state of gifted education in the U.S. and details recommendations for how to communicate about gifted students and advocate for this cause. Our hope is that this document would be a tool for the gifted community, families, teachers, and professionals alike to use when advocating for these unique learners.

Thank you to Alan Arkotov of , Dr. Jim Delisle, Dr. Shelagh A. Gallagher, Ren茅 Islas of , Michael Petrilli and Chester Finn of , Ann Smith of Gifted Support Center, Dr. Amy Shelton of and Adam Umhoefer of for their assistance and support.

How can you use this information to advocate for gifted learners in your state? Share your ideas below!

I have only been at 优蜜视频 for six months, but in that time one of the most frequent struggles I have heard from parents is how their child does not fit in socially. This is no surprise, due to the asynchronous development many gifted children experience, which causes them to develop at a different level socially than they do intellectually. This can cause kids to feel 鈥渄ifferent鈥� from their peers, leading to low social self-esteem.

Low social self-esteem is not just a problem for gifted children, but it can manifest differently and more intensely in them. Michelle Muratori, a senior counselor and researcher at the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, notes in an article for :

鈥淐ompetence and achievement are generally thought to be vital elements of self-esteem and are intertwined with a child鈥檚 evaluation and awareness of his or her own worth, so people may mistakenly conclude that gifted children are exempt from low self-esteem because they appear to be very competent and high achieving.鈥�

Muratori goes on to say that, while gifted children are not necessarily more susceptible to low self-esteem than their non-gifted peers, their self-esteem issues are more likely to be overlooked by others or hidden by the child themselves.

One of the main causes of low social self-esteem in gifted children is what . 聽Kroon notes that many gifted people have a strong need for honesty and transparency, yet many of those considered socially successful are good at knowing what is expected from them to fit in with the norm. They will often choose to protect themselves socially rather than doing what is 鈥渞ight鈥�, which is at odds with the way many gifted children think.

This can make fitting in socially difficult, since belonging to most peer groups requires some conformity. It often leads gifted kids with low self-esteem to believe they have to choose between being accepted by their peers and being true to who they are. Additionally, Kroon notes that, due to the often present, gifted kids tend to be more intense in their feelings. Often, this causes them either to stand out or try to be unnoticed, making them easy targets for teasing and bullies.

鈥淭hese students may unfortunately internalize the message that it is not OK for them to be who they truly are, which may damage their global self-esteem,鈥� said Muratori. Furthermore, , notes that gifted children are not always taught to use their many capabilities to solve the problem and need help obtaining a balanced view of their self-worth in both a social and intellectual context.

Fortunately, there are some things you can do to help your gifted child improve their social self-esteem.

• Find opportunities for them to interact with intellectual peers. Friends are an essential component to boosting social self-esteem. Start by talking to your school鈥檚 gifted coordinator, or connecting with a gifted advocacy group in your state. (优蜜视频鈥檚 Gifted Resource Center has a state-by-state list.) Ask them about social or interest groups that would fit your child. Also, consider inquiring about parent groups, where you can foster connections for both your child and yourself. If there are no groups in your area, some parents have recommended searching online resources and connecting your child with a pen pal. Keep in mind that gifted children may not always find close friends in their age group.
• Help them recognize their contributions. Kroon notes that it is important to remember that your child is a complex person with both intellectual and emotional needs. Help them recognize their contributions in all facets of their life by making a list of accomplishments they are proud of beyond just academics.
• Don鈥檛 let them think everything is easy. that some gifted children develop the idea that, if they are smart, everything will come easily to them. This makes them more likely to quit when something, such as finding a friend group, becomes difficult. Remind them that even the best performers practice a lot and help them develop a manageable plan for overcoming obstacles.
• Seek counseling if the need arises. Sometimes, even with the best parental and teacher support, a gifted child may need counseling to deal with issues related to low social self-esteem, notes .

Hopefully, with a little help and lots of patience, your gifted child will develop a healthy social self-esteem and be able to reach their full potential in all areas of life.

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Lisa is the mother of 3 gifted children and lives outside of San Francisco.

At my son鈥檚 kindergarten parent/teacher conference, his teacher played a game with my husband and me. She put 3 marbles on the table and asked us to close our eyes. When we opened them, we saw 2 marbles. She asked us how many she was holding in her hand. When we told her 鈥渙ne鈥�, she repeated the game with 4 marbles.

Our son鈥檚 teacher told us she played this game with each student until the child no longer gave the correct answer. All the children in her class stopped at 10 marbles, except my son. She played with him until she had 20 marbles on the table. Then she stopped. She told us that he was clearly very good at math.
I left the meeting feeling proud of my son鈥檚 talent and satisfied with the teacher鈥檚 assessment. My husband wasn鈥檛.

鈥淲hy didn鈥檛 she keep going until he gave the wrong answer?鈥�

From that moment, 鈥済ood at math鈥� wasn鈥檛 good enough for me. I wanted to know his limits. Then I wanted him to learn something new. Thus began my search for the perfect test: the one that would convince his teachers that he needed something different from the rest of the class.

I started with an . That was a terrible idea. I learned that he not only had exceptional perceptual reasoning abilities, but he also had excellent verbal abilities. When I shared this information with the principal, she was wary. What kind of parent gives her 5 year old child an IQ test? Clearly, I was one of 鈥渢hose鈥� parents. I not only complicated my search, I acquired a label that would follow me throughout my son鈥檚 elementary school years.

The psychologist who administered the IQ test also gave him the Wide Range Achievement Test. His Reading and Arithmetic achievement scores placed him in 3rd Grade. I approached his 1st grade teacher with these scores and asked if she could give him 3rd grade level work. She was sympathetic to my request. She thought she could deliver an appropriate reading curriculum. Unfortunately, she didn鈥檛 have the resources to deliver a 3rd grade math curriculum in her class and the school would not allow him to sit in a 3rd grade classroom.

I decided to make alternate arrangements for math. I enrolled my son in an online math program through the Educational Program for Gifted Youth (鈥淓PGY鈥�). He worked on the computer at home and brought the homework assignments to school. Finally, I understood what my son knew because I saw it on the computer screen every day.

I remained optimistic when my son started 2nd grade. I gave up on the advanced reading curriculum, but I continued to advocate for accelerated math. I doubled my efforts. My son took the Sequential Test for Educational Progress (STEP) for mathematics computation. The test detailed scores in reading and whole numbers, fractions, decimals, percentages, denominate numbers and algebraic manipulation in math. He scored at a 5th grade level. Armed with the STEP results and the completed EPGY math curriculum, I tried again.

His 2nd grade teacher was hostile. Through her behavior and comments, she delivered two messages to my son. First, he is not as smart as he thinks he is. He may be good at adding, subtracting and multiplying numbers, but he didn鈥檛 understand math concepts. (Later, I would learn his conceptual math abilities are particularly strong.) Second, he needed to be quiet about his abilities, or risk being ostracized by the class. Given the teacher鈥檚 hostility to my son, I did not push . She allowed him to work on word problems independently, but that was all.

I brought out all the big guns in 3rd grade. I not only had him take a second STEP test for math, I contacted Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth for an Educational Evaluation. Two Ph.Ds wrote a 3 page Educational Evaluation that concluded: 鈥淭o avoid repetition of material and the subsequent boredom and decrease in motivation, (my son) should be allowed to work on fourth grade-level math or higher.鈥� The teachers refused. I gave up. We hired a tutor so he could learn new math concepts after school.

By 4th grade, I learned that no test was going to convince any teacher at our school that his math curriculum should be accelerated. I sat in a room with my husband, the principal, my son鈥檚 4th grade teacher, copies of the California Education Code, the school district鈥檚 policies, and the book Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use to Meet the Academic Needs of the Gifted and Talented, and I got mad. I got leaning-over-the table-finger-poking-red-faced-mad. My surprised husband (the reliably hot headed one) jumped into the fray and suggested that 鈥渨e all step back and try to find some common ground.鈥� It worked. We got the teacher to pre-test our son before each math lesson. If he demonstrated mastery, he was allowed to skip the lessons. We kept his tutor. When he tested out of a concept, he was allowed to work on the tutor鈥檚 assignments during class. In addition, the classroom teacher did not assign him any homework.

So, what did I learn from all of this? I learned that a good assessment (or several) can let you know what your child needs and give you the conviction to fight for it. I learned that no test will convince a teacher, not otherwise inclined, to deliver an accelerated curriculum if he or she lacks the resources or motivation. I learned that when nothing else works, righteous outrage sometimes is the catalyst to make things happen. I learned that to be productive, outrage must be coupled with a reasonable proposal. Most importantly, I learned that my son is the most accommodating child in the world to put up with all this nonsense.

What has your experience been with effectiveness of assessments in getting your children the accommodations they need? Please share with us in the comment section below.

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