For the grandchildren...If you were on the school board and developing a gifted education plan, what would it entail? You'd have to be careful because there are limitations to what you'd commit to because of budgetary constraints (which IS one of your responsibilities as a board member). If students were allowed to work on online courses or independent study (say there was not an available teacher for every level and those two options were more affordable than hiring addl staff), how does a school make sure the student's not goofing off or floundering while working "independently"? If the school paid for the online stuff and the kid never completes it, are there consequences (repayment?). Does the kid get to come back next semester and enroll in another? Ideally real life instruction is better than online, but schools have real money concerns and may not be able to do that. What is to stop every student who wants to enroll in an advanced course from asking for it--how does the school discern which ones it's appropriate for?
I'm asking these questions because I'm on a charter school governing council and the school is just developing their gifted ed plan. Specifically, for my DS 9 who will go there next year and hopefully have a modification for math & L.A., I'm trying to figure out what is realistic for the school to offer. If the Alg 1 class conflicts with his schedule, then online coursework. How does the school select the provider and what responsibility does the school have for successful completion or monitoring online work? Is that the best solution for Jr high (are those age students really independent enough to work like that or are there better options?)
The school currently uses SEM (Schoolwide Enrichment Model) so that every student (not just gifted) has lots of hands-on projects, field trips, guest speakers, critical thinking exercises, etc. They have a talent search coordinator, encourage above-level testing, offer participation in lots of competitions/contests. I'm just not sure what's realistic to expect the schools to provide for HG in terms of differentiation. Current population of gifted (all levels) is 34%.
Hi Cym -
I think there needs to be an array of options to met the needs of the individual student. Here are some ideas on my menu:
1) Get a copy of the Iowa Acceleration Scale Manual, and pay for the gifted coordinator to get some training in how to use it.
2) Get a copy of Karen Roger's 'Reforming Gifted Education' and study how each of the options can be incorportated at your school
3) My hunch is that if one looks carefully,from every grade level, perhaps using those talent searches, one can find enough students to put a group together for most classes, or bus them to the high school as a group.
4) Try to set up the schedual so that all kids, in all grades, are taking Math at the same time (preferably the same as at the High School) so that there aren't any scheduling conflicts. Same with the other classes.
5) Independent study is a good idea as well. I wish I knew more details about how to set it up, but I think the key is to use cross grade grouping to limit the nescessity, and then arrange with parents on a case by case basis. One can work with books and meet with a teacher once or twice a week. Parents can pay for the online classes, and a PTA fund can be started for children who need the online classes, but whoes parents can't afford it. Also sometime people from the community can be taped to come and teach a single course.
6) If the school is allowed to allow "partial homeschooling" that is a good way to get the flexibility some familys need. Then the child can attend for everything except Math, for example, and the parents can administer the online or tutored Math class, even if they only do it on the weekends.
Remember there are two seperate problems:
1) How to excuse a child from classes that are innapropriate.
2) How to get a subject at a level that is appropriate.
Try to leave loopholes so that both problems can be addressed.
Good for you for doing this!
For the Grandchildren (and occasionally the Children themselves!)
Grinity
