http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=26646
Startup schools for 'gifted' emerge as state cuts public funding
New groups embrace definitions for 'giftedness' that go beyond IQ

by Chris Kenrick
Palo Alto Online
August 31, 2012

As public schools reduce extra services for gifted children following state funding cuts, a few startup private schools and support networks have emerged locally with a broader definition of "gifted."

Helios New School, launched in a home with a handful of students five years ago, now leases a colorful corner of Palo Alto's Oshman Family Jewish Community Center with a K-5 enrollment of 35 children.

Synapse School in Menlo Park offers a similar program for children K-8.

Both schools say they use a "qualitative assessment" of giftedness in children that goes beyond the traditional IQ definition.

Another group, the one-year-old Gifted Support Center, offers assessments, support and community for gifted children and their parents, many of whom resort to home schooling after finding their children are bored or do not fit well in regular classrooms, according to support center director Ann Smith.

The broader definition of giftedness -- encompassing characteristics such as reasoning, energy level, attention span, moral sensitivity and "excitability" -- has gained ground with some local parents at the same time that public schools generally have pulled back on special offerings for gifted children.

Strapped for funds, the California Legislature in 2008 loosened restrictions on the state's Gifted and Talented Education program, allowing school districts to keep the funds but redirect them to other educational needs.

As a result, the Palo Alto school district suspended the program it once had of identifying gifted children -- beginning in spring of third grade -- through standardized test scores and checklists of multiple intelligences and indicators of giftedness.

Once identified, children in Palo Alto's GATE program were supposed to be offered "differentiated instruction" and extended curriculum within their regular classes.

"The district remains committed to serving the individual needs of high achieving and gifted students regardless of GATE identification," according to the district's website.

Superintendent Kevin Skelly noted, "In a place like Palo Alto we have an extraordinary number of gifted kids."

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The article is informative, by why put "gifted" in quotes, as if the existence of gifted children was doubtful? Not having gifted programs or ability grouping in the name of equity drives some of the best students out of public schools.