This is an advocacy vent.
Last week, our local gifted advocacy chapter hosted a Q&A session with the district coordinating superintendent of special education. The district is implementing a 4-year plan of "inclusion" that will see a 50% reduction in congregated special education programming. The capstone report released by the district has specifically identified congregated gifted programming as being the easiest to mainstream into the general education population. The dual goals of my advocacy chapter were to:
- Ascertain the extent to which congregated gifted would be affected, and the time frame over which changes would be made.
- To advocate in favour of congregated gifted programming.
To put it bluntly, the superintendent doesn't understand the gifted indication--much less the spectrum of needs and attendant exceptionalities therein--and is willfully ignoring any evidence presented by external parties that is inconsistent with the district's internal research that inclusion is optimal for all students.
As an indicator of the tone deafness of the superintendent, she kicked off her presentation to an audience comprised solely of parents of gifted students by describing the extent to which underachieving students feel a lack of belonging and self-esteem in the general education stream.
I will include a paraphrased transcript of replies I made to her points in italics below.
(Another parent's response: "You mean children who are different feel different? Hardly surprising.")
My response: I'm sorry, are we all operating from the premise that the first objective of school is to EDUCATE children? Has the district studied the cognitive and psychosocial effect of providing congregated gifted services to gifted students?
Answer: No.
Is the district aware of the work of Miraca Gross ("Exceptionally Gifted Children"), among others, who have found that a lack of access to accelerated curriculum results in significantly detrimental psychosocial effects for gifted students?
Answer: When we look at achievement scores of gifted and non-gifted students at high school graduation, we don't see a difference in achievement. (After confusing ability and achievement in a previous statement, she then incorrectly goes on to identify gifted students (defined locally as the top 2% on a WISC) as being in the third quartile of ability.)
My response: I'm aware of the testing the district uses. Is the district aware of the phenomenon of ceiling effects and the need for out-of-level testing of gifted students, both in identification and placement? You are not seeing a difference in achievement levels at university matriculation because the district is failing to measure the baseline achievement of gifted students at intake and failing to appropriately place gifted students through their academic careers.
(Another parent speaks up about the difference in rigor of various universities, and of an undergraduate degree not being a terminal destination for most gifted students.)
I could go on, but I will spare you the boredom and fury. The main points she made were:
- Gifted services will likely be cut at the earliest ages first, because of difficulty identifying students. (No response to my question about whether the district will be doing away with Early Intervention for other indications, too.)
- The district is unfriendly to congregated gifted because they don't like to segregate the gifted students from the general ed population. They prefer to have the low-achieving students strive by being with the gifted students. (To my question of whether gifted students are second-class citizens who are not entitled to a year of educational gains or striving, the superintendent cringed and dodged the question.)
- No external consultants are being hired for this decision process to vet the district's internal research. I am submitting a list of recommended universities/institutions from which a consulting pool could be drawn to the district.
Bottom line
- I am now definitely homeschooling DS until I can get a private school off the ground
- Anyone with contacts in Canada interested in a private gifted elementary school modeled on the Davidson Academy, please reach out to me by PM. I'm considering a multi-city approach in the medium term.
