Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School Extra-curricular gifted program? Why is it bad?

Well, my principal just announced his budget for the new year. We don't have a gifted program and I've been the squeaky wheel advocating for one. They used to have an after-school one, but it fell by the wayside. Anyway, looks like next year the "gifted program" will be another after school club.

I'm emailing him a bulleted list of reasons that this isn't acceptable. So far, I have:

• One of the biggest problems in gifted education is finding and providing services for gifted children from lower SES backgrounds. I have often found, as a teacher, that many of my lower SES students have obligations at home after school. Having a gifted program outside of school hours will mean that these children will not be attending.
  
• The intent of gifted programs is to provide the necessary curricular enhancements for children whose needs are not being met with the curriculum delivered as it is. An after-school gifted program is a club—it is extra-curricular, not curricular.
  
• An extra-curricular club is not covered by any specific guidelines or oversight in terms of content.

I'm thinking of including that it will interfere with athletics (it's a K-8 school, so kids do have sports in the older grades) and other true extra-curricular activities.

Help--anything else to include?

Oh, and I'm from NJ and am including the piece from the state's FAQ that says that it's a mandate for all districts and not a club. (http://www.state.nj.us/education/genfo/faq/faq_gandt.htm)

Here it would be a problem for working parents as afterschool pickups are just after 3. Unless the activity was 3 hours long they would be left with the task of getting the child to care for the time between the club ending and them finishing work.

Children who are dependant on school buses especially in rural areas where there is no public transport. Children who have several siblings and the parent can't make two trips to get children - either for financial reasons or just because putting whole bunch of kids in a car and driving through rush hour traffic is hellish.

Because it doesn't solve the problem of their needs not being met at school. In fact it just shifts responsibility away from the people who should be dealing with it onto someone else.

Are the kids challenged at school? Do they currently receive differentiation? I wouldn't be interested at all in an after school enrichment program. The problem for my kids would be that it would force them to choose between (apparently) appropriate academic stimulation and beloved activities that are also enriching like sports, music and free play. That's a non-starter for me. The school needs to find appropriate challenge for them during their regular classes.

If they want to do some kind of pull-out (which I also think are not worth much) it should be during school hours as well. Maybe they could make it a lunch bunch or something fun like that.

If I were you, I would completely ignore this after school program and ask what they're going to do to ensure the curriculum is appropriate.

What about the socialization aspect? An after school program might not be adequate exposure to like minded peers.

What do you know about how the after-school program will be funded and staffed? Even after-school programs come with costs - both financial and potentially trade-offs re the quality and credentials of the people who would staff the program.

So I'd want to know:

Who will plan the curriculum? Are there time/costs involved in developing the curriculum?

Will a certified highly-qualified (etc) teacher be teaching, or will the program be led by parents/other professionals/parents? Will the staff running the program be volunteer or salaried?

What subjects will be covered? Is the goal covering materials to enable the studetns to move ahead of grade level eventually or is it just enrichment? If it's only enrichment, how will it compare to other enrichment opportunities already available in your community - will it offer something truly differential?

Another potential concern - our kids' first school offered an after-school language program for enrichment. It was really popular (because there was no in-school language program for elementary school children), but it had two challenges: 1) the kids came to the classes universally hungry and tired because it was right after school (not a huge challenge, but it's not necessarily the best time of day to offer up meaningful enrichment since the kids have already been in school all day and probably need a break where they can run around, snack etc and they aren't going to be at their 100% top focus). 2nd challenge - the school didn't have any advanced language classes the kids took take once they finished up the first two years of the classes, and the kids also weren't allowed to enroll in middle school language classes before 8th grade (even though middle school started at 6th) - so kids who started young and mastered the material offered then were left hanging with no follow-up learning options.

Might be just our family, but my EG ds tends to not want to sign up for after-school activities simply because he has a lot of homework, and adding an activity impacts both his homework and free time. I'm wondering if once the kids get into upper elementary, the achievement-oriented kids who care about doing homework well etc might choose to opt out of the program, yet if the program was offered during school those same students would most likely enthusiastically participate.

Good luck when you talk to the principal!

polarbear

Just a few thoughts-

Our public school does this, at least at the middle school, 5th-8th grades. We also have a pull-out program and live in a state with no gifted funding or mandates, so things may not apply.

Re: sports, here they begin after the "enrichment period," which is a time period immediately after school ends, lasts 50-60 min. All kids are encouraged to stay for the enrichment period, it is when teachers are available for extra help, the computer room and library are open, there are study halls available for those who just want to do homework, or one can choose intramural sports or going to the fitness center, various clubs, etc. So while math club (the only math enrichment here) and other clubs geared toward GT kids meet then, so do all the other activities.

Re: transportation, there are scheduled "late buses," a limited run schedule to take kids home after the enrichment period. Many kids stay after enrichment for athletic practice which generally lasts till 5ish when pickups are easier by parents.

While I have heard good things about the math club, and the school refuses any acceleration, etc in this area, our kids have not wanted to join. DD has joined another "academic" geared afterschool club, though, and loves it- suspect it is mostly related to the subject matter being of more interest to her.

Overall, I agree that this sort of plan is lame, but recognize that our school is inflexible, refuses acceleration, etc, and budgets are tight now; while I don't like it, I am glad that at least some opportunities exist. Better than nothing, if you will.

ETA: I suspect most of these decisions stem from the need to provide equal opportunities for all- since we have no funding for GT. To provide any perceived extras to any subset of kids would be taboo here- even the GT pullouts are balanced by "push-ins" where the GT teacher does units in the regular classroom involving all the kids.

I couldn't agree more with some of the points that Polarbear raised wrt the time of day, ability to focus and conflicts with an existing homework load.

I found this out myself the hard way with my DS8 - I just couldn't understand why sometimes she would mentally attend to conversations, ideas etc and other times act like the World's first surviving brain donor. Eventually, yes I was SLOOWWWWW, I realised that there was a pattern and that pattern was that right after school she would need a bit of a break to 'process' the events of the day before she could re-engage. Finding the sweet spot is a bit of an art because leave it too long and then fatigue sets in anyway because it is too close to bedtime.

Homework that needs to be done also needs to be factored in and this is actually why DW and I met with the school last week - after school enrichment may not be sustainable once homework load ramps up.

All in all, based on our experience so far, I think that ability/level appropriate work is best done during the hours when the child is most alert - the school day.

Unless you are most alert in the evening.

Excellent point.

Are there other special ed programs after school? Does gifted mean they need more work to do?
ACK!