The Seattle Public School District used to have an excellent gifted program that was designed by Dr. Nancy Robinson of the Robinson Center for Young Scholars of the University of WA.
Robinson Center for Young Scholars The way it was originally designed by Dr. Robinson, SPSD offered a 3 tier gifted program:
1) Academically Highly Gifted: Grades 1-12, 98th+ percentile in cogAT, 95th+ percentile in Achievement test ELA & Math. Full time, self-contained classrooms. Math is taught at 2 grade levels above current level.
2) Academically Gifted (Spectrum): Grades 1-8, 87th percentile cogAT, 87th percentile ELA & Math. Full time, self-contained classrooms. Math is taught at 1 grade level above.
3) Advanced Learning Opportunities: Grades 1-8, part time, in class enrichment.
At some point in the last 3 years, option #2 and #3 were combined into a 2 tier system:
1) Highly Capable: K-8, 98th+ cogAT, 95th+ achievement test, now offer "significantly accelerated curriculum" based on need
2) Advanced Learners(Spectrum): K-8, 87th+ percentile cogAT and achievement, in class enrichment only.
In the interest of equity, SPSD is now going through a district wide push to end the Advanced Learner/Spectrum program altogether, starting in elementary schools. One middle school is already moving ahead with the detracking starting in middle school:
Seattle Schools End Tracking.
Is this the beginning of a new nationwide trend or is this just for Seattle? How effective is in class differentiation anyway? Perhaps someone who has gone through such a gifted program or has a child who went through such a program can comment on its effectiveness so we can assess how much of a loss this is to the gifted children in SPSD.
