I'm not the only one! Gifted pull out programs seem a lot like music lessons or PE. Another interesting extra, that adds interest, but not anything to do with addressing the needs of my child.
Thanks for posting. The disconnected aspect of pull-outs certainly describes my experience as a child.
I think another interesting point to ponder is that subject acceleration and grade skipping can be extremely effective as well, and at least anecdotally seem more likely to occur if a school does not have a gifted pullout program. You are supposed to be happy with the pull-out I guess. It is supposed to be enough :)-- and it you don't want it there are plenty of people who do!!
We have experienced both with my DS (pull-out programs and school w/out) and the best fit by far has been in the school without any pull-outs. In the school with pull-outs, everything was a constant battle and there was no differentiation. In the school w/out (indeed, it has no gifted program at all), he has had a no-fuss grade skip (proposed by the principal), and subject acceleration beyond that on a differentiated basis in his regular classroom. The level at which he's working is constantly adjusted, as needed. The constant adjustment is in fact applied to all the kids in the classroom. There is no assumption that one-size-fits all (but there is an attempt to group children with similar needs w/in the same classroom). It is done very well, but I must say it is very obviously extremely hard to do. I could not do it.
Thanks for the link. I read Parts I and II as well. I agree with his commentary about the need for a new vision with respect to the education of gifted students. I've yet to talk to anyone who is happy with a pull out program and rarely have heard of effective differentiation in regular classrooms. I also learned a great new word, "struthious."
My DD7's pull-out is half the day every day, but it still suffers from a lot of the shortcomings illustrated in this article. They take the qualifying kids from 1st-3rd, throw them all in one room, and work on all the same content. If you're not going to differentiate with only 9 students in the room, a three-year age span, and a qualified gifted teacher, then when are you going to?