Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments GIEP too vague?

Try "continuous progress acceleration". Have you looked at "A Nation Deceived" book? It may help you prepare for meetings. The book is available as free PDF online.

When I was in this situation, I "afterschooled" my son with the school's learning targets. They were looking for holes. If they found a hole, they would not accelerate. So I looked for holes and provided material for him to fill any gaps. There were unintended consequences, but it might work in your situation.

Continuous progress acceleration is the dream - I am just not sure how it would be implemented. I have seen mention of "A nation deceived" all over the place - I guess it's time for me to start reading. We have been doing some work at home, and I think over the summer we will make a more concentrated effort - it just makes me nervous that she will be even more ahead, but I know it's all for the best.

Continuous progress acceleration is mplemented one semester at a time with whatever acceleration type is appropriate at the time. My son has had differentiation, an individual aide in the classroom to provide separate instruction, subject acceleration, compacting, advanced cluster, advanced pull-out, radical acceleration (3-grade skip) to get him access to high school classes, and currently homeschooling.

What does the future hold? I might put him back in public middle school when his classmates reach 6th grade (because the middle/high school automatically subject accelerates and he could get Calculus and Statistics there). I might put him in college radically early. I might homeschool him with every elective I can get my hands on. I might let him graduate high school early and put him in the workforce for a few years to save for college. I have no idea what is coming next. I don't know what will work and what won't. I'm making educated guesses for short-term, hoping for the best, and staying flexible to change what doesn't work.

That is the best any of us can do. Don't plan in advance. Just do whatever is the best of your options for the upcoming semester. Grade skips can be reversed, nothing is permanent. Be aware and responsive to your daughter's needs and you'll give her the best educational match available. (((Hugs)))

A Nation Deceived is the original report (2004), and the ten-year-follow-up is A Nation Empowered (2015). They are both conveniently found here.

Thank you so much for all the support! I read A nation deceived last night and am feeling a lot better about her need to accelerate. It sounds like you are in a dream school - I can't imagine getting that far with ours, but I sure am going to try. Last night I started looking into charter schools and I found one that looked fantastic, until I realized that there are no state protections for gifted ed in charter schools in PA I guess it doesn't matter if the program is good, but I really want her to find a "home", I don't want to continuously move her from school to school or grade to grade. I feel that accelerating her this year is a no-brainer, but I'm afraid that after a year or two she'll be ready for another grade skip She's really well rounded in her gifted-ness, both English and Math, so it seems strange to keep her in the same grade but subject accelerate in .... every class? Life gets so much easier at the high school and college level when there are more options for her. It's these elementary years that are so hard - and so important!!!! It's enough to make any mama crazy. I'll just wait and see what the IOWA scales show and talk with them about a continuous solution and see how far I get. I have no doubt that I'll be back to the boards in a week crying for more help lol.

Thanks a bunch indigo - good to see you again! I read/skimmed it last night and it is a fantastic resource!

Could you take a look at my initial post and let me know what your thoughts are about the GIEP they offered?

Thanks again!

Great! Glad to hear you found A Nation Deceived without me posting the link in this thread.

I glanced at the original post and had a difficult time making sense of it due to the spacing and the lack of bullets or some means to mark the start of a new idea. I thought of posting an edited version but did not due to:
1) lack of time to wade through the gobbledygook, and
2) equivocating about replicating something which could potentially be identifying to teachers at your school who may read this forum...

But, since you asked... here goes! Possibly with this attempt at a re-formatted GIEP more members may respond as well.

It seems the information was pulled from a chart or table format... Just guessing on how to assemble the pieces, not guaranteeing that this is assembled correctly...


II. Goals and Outcomes:

A. Annual Goal #1:
- Read and analyze developmentally appropriate texts at the current instructional and independent reading level.
This does not mention or document the instructional level, the independent reading level, or the gap between them.

B. Short-Term Learning Outcomes:
Short Term Objective
- Given instructional-level reading material, the student will apply higher-level thinking skills to analyze, synthesize and evaluate information
Objective Criteria
- Complete written and oral responses to literature with a minimum score of proficient based on teacher established rubrics.
Assessment Procedures
- Review of written and verbal responses: Established rubrics
- Teacher/Student conferences
- Teacher observation
Timeline
Bi-annually

C. Specially Designed Instruction (include this information for each annual goal)
SDI Projected Date for Initiation - Anticipated Frequency - Location - Anticipated Duration
The above information may provide some of the 5Ws (who, what, where, when, why, how) which would describe the student experience under this "Specially Designed Instruction".

- Provide challenge and require complex responses
Challenge - in what form? Raising instructional reading level?
Complex response - nebulous, subjective, and may involve differentiated task demands

- Conferencing between student groups and teacher How are the children grouped... by readiness and ability???
- Flexible grouping Cluster grouping by ability, reading level?
- Small group instruction Again, how are students grouped?
- Independent book conferencing with teacher
- Assistance provided when needed to choose books for independent reading that are on her independent reading level
- Guided reading instruction using higher-level texts
- Extension activities for comprehension skills
IMO, the "level" should be specified/documented. Out of 7 points provided, only two actually describe INSTRUCTION.

A. Annual Goal #2:
To develop effective creative thinking and expression in both oral and written communication

B. Short-Term Learning Outcomes:
Short Term Objective
- Generate, classify, and evaluate ideas, objects, and /or events in unique and/or new ways to construct original projects that illustrate solutions to real-life problems or concerns.
Objective Criteria
- Demonstrate proficiency evaluating ideas and events in unique ways as well as construct original projects LOL, some may say that is what I am doing here
Assessment Procedures
- Review of solutions developed
- Review of work products
- Established rubrics
- Teacher/Student conferences
- Teacher observation
Timeline
Bi-annually

C. Specially Designed Instruction (include this information for each annual goal)
SDI Projected Date for Initiation - Anticipated Frequency - Location - Anticipated Duration
- Student choice with clearly defined outcomes
- Conferencing between student groups and teacher
- Provide student with a variety of presentation options
- Facilitate problem-based or inquiry learning
- Flexible grouping
- Small group instruction
- Direct instruction in methods of evaluating alternative solutions
- Direct instructions in creative thinking techniques
- Differentiate tasks and assignments to foster individual creativity Not a fan of differentiated task demands.
- Opportunities to work, learn, and problem-solve as a member of a group
- Extension activities

A. Annual Goal #3:
Develop higher level thinking skills and apply to various situations and tasks.

B. Short-Term Learning Outcomes:
Short Term Objective
- Select and apply logical/critical thinking skills to single and multiple solution/open-ended problems
Objective Criteria
- Demonstrate proficiency solving single solution logic problems and when developing appropriate and pragmatic solutions to open-ended tasks
Assessment Procedures
- Review of written and verbal responses
- Review of solutions developed
- Review of work products
- Established rubrics
- Teacher/Student conferences
- Teacher observation
- Teacher review of student’s written and oral responses to literature
- Teacher-made tests, Curriculum based assessments, Performance-based assessments, & Problem-solving tasks
Timeline
Bi-annually

C. Specially Designed Instruction (include this information for each annual goal)
SDI Projected Date for Initiation - Anticipated Frequency - Location - Anticipated Duration
- Provide challenge and require complex responses
- Conferencing between student groups and teacher
- Apply higher order thinking skills (application, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis)
- Small group instruction
- Direct instruction in problem-solving strategies May be interesting?
- Direct instruction in methods of evaluating alternative solutions This sounds valuable.
- Direct instructions in creative thinking techniques
- Direct instruction in the use of inductive and deductive thinking
- Identify student’s interest for compacting and substituting work This may be valuable, if meaningful choices and options are given... may teach, encourage, and support student self-advocacy skills.

This document strikes me as a plain vanilla boiler plate which may be provided to each student at any ability level. Group work could be anything... including "count off 1-2-3-4... ones meet the the back corner, twos in the middle of the room... "

Most of the GIEP triggers my BS meter, therefore I will add a link to buzzwords. However I found two things which may be valuable in the 3rd goal.

Depending upon your State Laws and local school policies, a GIEP may not be required, or there may not be guidelines like those which exist for IEPs. Long story short, we may not like it, but the school may not be required to change it or provide further clarification or detail.

THANK YOU! I was in such a rush to post that I should have thought more about clear formatting. I appreciate the help.

The "groups" they assured me were by ability level, though I tried to point out that since she is the only identified gifted child in this grade level it is unlikely that even the "highest group" would be suitable. It's also disconcerting that it's not specified in writing anywhere.

I was afraid of exactly what you said - a vanilla standard with some BS thrown in. I just wanted to know exactly what I needed to push for clarification on. I plan on asking for copies of the "rubrics" they cite everywhere as their measure. I'm not sure if the timeline is changeable since the only hold GIEP conferences 2x per year (and as requested by a parent).

They said that we will review the GIEP yearly as required by law, but that the goals may endure through several years. I was hoping for more specific, organized plans, but I'm not sure if that is appropriate to ask for. To me the short term objectives and SDI's should be changing regularly - as one skill is mastered we can move on to the next. I am just having difficulty quantifing the document - its hard for me to hold them accountable when everything seems so ... wishy washy.

As for acceleration I have another question: Currently we are looking at a grade skip to address the fact that she is over 1 year ahead in all subjects. However, acceleration doesn't seem to address the pace issue. If my child learns faster than her peers - when she grade skips that seems to me, to be a bandaid, because she will continue to learn faster than her new peers and after a matter of time we'd be looking at another grade skip! Not to mention - she will have access to higher level materials in a higher grade, but the pace will still be the same slow progression. Is there some other form of acceleration I could reasonably request? Continuous progress acceleration sounds like a dream - but I have no idea how a public school could implement it without a teacher that caters to my child alone - which I know is not a reasonable request. That was the appeal of the mixed grade charter school I was looking into, but then we run into issues with gifted education not being mandated and she would lose out on the pull out program the public school offers, which does look valuable. This seems to be the most pressing issue. I just need to know what to ask for! If I had it my way she would be taught at a faster pace and progressively advanced topics - is that so hard?!? ::sigh::

You are welcome. I remember all-too-well the days of being in your shoes. I'm glad if sharing a little 20/20 hindsight can be beneficial.

Agreed. Ability grouping, if done within a gen-ed classroom amongst chronological-age peers most likely will not provide academic/intellectual peers for a gifted pupil. Research by Miraca Gross mentions the importance of academic peers and stimulating curriculum at the level frequently referred to as challenging, or as the student's zone of proximal development (ZPD).

That said, being the only child identified as gifted does not mean that she is the only gifted child... especially in kindergarten. The IQ of most children may not have been assessed yet... even though many of them may be regarded as being "smart" as compared with other kids or being "advanced" or "ahead" of chronological-age peers.

Agreed. The question to ask here may be: heterogeneous ability grouping (various levels of ability) or homogeneous ability grouping (similar abilities together).

This seems like a fair question and may reveal whether such rubrics exist, or possibly they are made up on-the-fly.

Prepare and request.

When is a goal not a goal? Possibly when it is a perennial goal?

In this case, it is possible that the same goals will be used for several years as a means to mark time until 3rd grade when gifted screening may take place and a gifted program may begin. (I am not endorsing this, just explaining what I anticipate may be their reasoning.)

One can ask... but first research your State Laws and school policies as these dictate what the school must do (and they do not need to do anything further).

Absolutely.

Possibly they want it that way. A number of parents will be very pleased with such a document and tout all the things the school is doing for their child. For some, this may be largely based on seeing a lot of words on a page which says "Gifted" (as in Gifted Individual Education Plan). For others, this may be based on having children who are slightly ahead of the curve and whose needs are being met with the tiny nudge here or enrichment there... or a grouping which actually does place them with academic/intellectual peers, because there simply are more children at their level in the classroom. The parents pleased with such a document are typically not parents of outliers.

This is correct. Pace remains an issue. However sometimes advancing a grade makes school tolerable (though far from a good fit). Sometimes posters refer to this as the "least-worst" option. It is also possible that a gifted child may advance into a classroom with another gifted child who may be a closer academic/intellectual peer than the child has in his/her classroom of chronological-age peers.

You may have already seen this article on the Davidson Database... Types of Acceleration: The concepts of combined classes, compacting curriculum, telescoping curriculum can be effective. They are not difficult to implement but in general the school as a whole needs to plan this, it would tend to involve grouping students from beyond one gen-ed classroom.

Somewhat similar to the computer-adaptive MAP tests, some online curricula adapt to student progress. These may also hold students in a level for silly mistakes or careless errors. Some online programs may perform a lot of data capture... how long a student was on a particular page, tracing where their eyes scanned, capturing keystrokes, etc.

Maybe, maybe not. It's more about placement and pacing than about being called "gifted". Dr. Donald Treffinger describes it well online at the website of Center for Creative Learning (CCL), as “Dear School People”.

If only I knew the magic words that would make others see what we see!
Basically you want to meet your child's educational/developmental needs for:
- academic/intellectual peers
- curriculum instruction, placement, and pacing in their zone of proximal development (ZPD)
so that your child learns work ethic, responsibility, coping with disappointment, self-worth stemming from the accomplishment of a challenging task, time-management skills, study skills, goal setting, decision-making and problem-solving skills, and sacrifice...
rather than learning to be always #1, an isolate, the one to knock down, the one to ask questions of, the one who cannot ask questions without negative commentary by others ("If you're so smart, why are you asking that?").

In the past it may have been difficult due to a dearth of:
1) a large body of anecdotal evidence (observation and lived experience) regarding the developmental trajectory of the gifted,
2) research studies and empirical evidence as to the needs of gifted individuals,
3) communication channels for broadly disseminating information about supporting and educating the gifted.

Now, it is only difficult because Common Core ushered in an era in which the educational goal is equal outcomes, which often means capping the growth of students at the top. Extensive data collection follows children through life and is used, in part, to evaluate whether teachers are effective enough at closing the achievement gaps and excellence gaps among pupils in their classrooms.

If your school seems like it wants to help but does not understand the needs of a gifted pupil, you may wish to mention the Davidson Educators Guild.

Whew! Thanks again indigo. It was relief to read some affirmations that I'm not crazy lol.
I'll wait for our meeting after the iowa scales and tackle the acceleration question then. Hopefully I can also tack on some more meaningful language in the GIEP at the same time.

I appreciate all the insight!
Thank god for those that came before me!