Gourt Home::Gourt :: Gifted education
Gifted education is a broad term for special practices, procedures and theories used in the education of children who have been identified as gifted or talented. Youths are usually identified as gifted by placing highly on certain standardized tests.
Advocates of gifted education argue that gifted and/or talented youth are so perceptually and intellectually above the mean, it is appropriate to pace their lessons more aggressively, track them into honors, Advanced Placement, or International Baccalaureate courses, or otherwise provide educational enrichment.
They also claim that the needs of many gifted students are still neglected, as schools tend to place more emphasis on improving education for the mainstream. Some even say that too many resources are diverted from gifted education to the other end of the spectrum--disabled students--of special education (of which gifted education is a part). This may be an unintended consequence of the development of disability rights litigation, which some pundits argue has led to the disabled receiving escalating resources at the expense of needed growth for gifted programs. See Special education.
Both gifted and disabled students are often dissatisfied with the education system, which while it may suit the majority of students, doesn't suit their needs.
Gifted programmes are often cut when budgets are tight, partly because they are seen as a luxury and partly because their unpopularity means supporters of such programmes will not have many allies.
Forms of gifted education
They usually fall into the following categories:
Separate classes
Gifted students are educated in either a separate class or a separate school.Acceleration
Pupils are advanced to a higher-level class which is covering material that is more suited to the pupils' abilities. Some colleges offer early entrance programs that give gifted younger students the opportunity to attend college early.Pull-out
Students spend a portion of their time in a gifted class, with the rest of their time with their peers.Enrichment
Students spend all class time with their peers, but receive extra material to challenge them.Homeschooling
An umbrella term encompassing myriad educational options for gifted children: part-time schooling; school at home; classes, groups, mentors and tutors; and unschooling. In many states, the population of gifted students who are being homeschooled is rising quite rapidly, as school districts responding to budgetary issues and standards-based policies are cutting what limited gifted education program remain extant, and families seek educational opportunities that are tailored to each child's unique needs.Summer school
This covers a variety of courses, such as CTY and CTYI that take place in the summer.History
Differences in intelligence have been known for recorded human history, but the development of early intelligence tests by Alfred Binet led to the Stanford-Binet IQ test which was developed by Lewis Terman, who began long-term studies of gifted children with a view to checking if the popular view "early to ripen, early to rot" was true. He showed this popular belief was false and many of the children (dubbed "Termans termites") were studied for decades.
In 1946 Mensa was founded, which has provided support for some gifted children.
Controversies
There are several controversies concerning gifted education.
Definition of giftedness
Many different educational authorities define giftedness differently — even if two authorities use the same IQ test to define giftedness, they may disagree on what gifted means - one may take top 2% of the population, another would take top 5% of the population. The theory of multiple intelligence would produce a different definition to the traditional IQ definition.
In Identifying Gifted Children: A Practical Guide, Susan K. Johnsen (2004) explains that gifted children all exhibit the potential for high performance in the areas included in the United States federal definition of gifted and talented students:
- "The term 'gifted and talented' when used in respect to students, children, or youth means students, children, or youth who give evidence of high performance capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop such capabilities." (P.L. 103–382, Title XIV, p. 388)
This definition has been adopted in part or completely by the majority of the states in the United States. Most have some definition similar to that used in the State of Texas, whose definition states:
- "phrase 'gifted and talented student' means a child or youth who performs at or shows the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment, and who:
- exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area;
- possesses an unusual capacity for leadership; or
- excels in a specific academic field." (74th legislature of the State of Texas, Chapter 29, Subchapter D, Section 29.121)
The theory of positive disintegration
Overexcitability has been a popular theme in many gifted circles over the past twenty years. Overexcitability is a component of developmental potential, a part of Dabrowski's theory of Positive Disintegration, a theory of personality development. The application of TPD to gifted education is one of several (other applications include psychotherapy, personality theory, philosophy of Man, etc.).
Appropriateness of forms of gifted education
This is the most hotly debated aspect of gifted education.
Impact on school
Mara Sapon-Shevin has argued that gifted programmes result in educational triage, with the gifted programme taking a disproportionate amount of school resources, leaving other pupils with much reduced resources.
Her critics have countered that her research was into a school that was untypical of gifted education programmes in general.
Gifted programs also often have problems with the singling out of the gifted students by regular students. Gifted programs that are in the same school but under a separate program can cause a problem with bullying, as a specific set of targets, already singled out for a reason that might fuel a bully's insecurity (above-average performance intellectually), are there for his abusing pleasure. Such a program can result in gifted students being discriminated against by other students. This obviously has negative effects on the students as well, perhaps not just limited to a dim view of 'normal' students.
Impact on pupils
Over-Reliance on IQ
Some authors question the existence of "the g factor" and thus hold that the result of an IQ test is meaningless, thus rendering the notion of giftedness meaningless. The most famous example is The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould. In her book, Identifying Gifted Children: A Practical Guide, Susan K. Johnsen (2004) explains that schools should use a variety of measures of students capability and potential when identifying gifted children. These measures may include portfolios of student work, classroom observations, achievement measures, and intelligence scores. Most educational professionals accept that no single measure can be used in isolation to accurately identify a gifted child.
Arbitrariness of selection criteria
Even if the notion of IQ is a good one, the question of the cutoff point for giftedness is still important. As noted above, different authorities often define giftedness differently.
See also
- Mensa
- Mara Sapon-Shevin, critic of gifted education
- Rationale for gifted programs
- Gifted and talented programmes
External links
- Hoagies' Gifted Education Page: Comprehensive gifted resource, for parents, educators, and gifted kids. Includes annotated links on every aspect of giftedness, from identification and testing, to programming and acceleration, to gifted adults and more.
- Helping Your Highly Gifted Child. ERIC Digest.
- Blending Gifted Education and School Reform. ERIC Digest.
- Know Your Legal Rights in Gifted Education. ERIC Digest.
- Prufrock Press: Publisher of Gifted Education Resources and Information for Teachers and Parents of Gifted Children
- State Gifted and Talented Definitions. ECS Information Clearinghouse.
- What's best for the brightest? - an article on the debate about gifted education
Gifted education | Alternative education | School terminology
"Gifted education"