I recently read an article that described the state boards
endorsement of new standards to address gifted students in Maryland’s
schools. In response to this article, the Chief Academic Officer for Baltimore City
schools commented that the city schools is focusing their attention for GT
programs primarily on the middle grades.
As a middle school teacher, I have noticed a
strong push by the district and my administrators to get my students to the
“proficient” level in their skills.
However, once they reach that level it is almost as if they are set
aside. I have yet to see a time where
significant efforts and programs were in place to bridge the gap between
proficient and advanced. Considering
that on many standards for the benchmark exams proficient is deemed as 60-80%,
I find that this is a vast lowering of expectations. While I read that the
district fully supports
increasing differentiated learning opportunities to meet the needs of all
students, including advanced learners, I have a hard time believing this. Considering the large push towards an all
inclusive model in the coming years, which again, is more designed for targeting
the lower performing students, when is the district going to place a higher
value on students performing at the higher levels of achievement?
1 comment:
I think that adapting new standards for Gifted and Talented students might be a step backwards depending on how it is addressed. The GT curriculum that I work with is fairly affective at challenging my students now with modification based on the interests of my students. While it is very rarely aligned with the knowledge tested on the MSAs or benchmarks, these students are able to get a more hands-on understanding of the material through project based learning, fascinating literature choices, and a large dose of inquiry. My worry with the article that you are describing is that GT will become more standards based which I think would limit the ability of these students. As it is, I would much prefer addressing the needs of my struggling standard students with a curriculum that looks more like the GT curriculum so that they can approach standards that they are unable of learning conventionally in a whole new way. As it is, I frequently pull ideas and projects from the GT curriculum and adapt them for inclusion class standards.
My other fear is that students at my school in the past have been shoved into GT if they behave well and try hard, creating one half behavioral exclusion classes and one half fake GT classes. I think the first priority for schools in Maryland is to come up with an idea of what a GT student truly looks like and begin accommodating the needs of students who follow this profile.
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