Gifted and Talented Education Research Paper
It is important to understand the many different methods of educating gifted and talented students. Most people, whether as teachers, students, or parents, will at some point be faced with the many options of educating the gifted and talented. In the United States today, 3-5 percent of students are considered gifted. Defining whether or not a student is gifted can be quite difficult, but many would agree that gifted students “are able to learn material rapidly and understand concepts deeply” (Lynch, 1999). Within this paper I will discuss the process of identifying gifted and talented students and the different methods of educating them including tracking, grade advancement, and cooperative learning. Of these three methods I believe the most effective method used to teach gifted and talented students is tracking.
One of the most controversial things about gifted and talented education is the criterion educators use to identify the gifted and talented. In the past, a student’s intelligence, based on an I.Q. score, was considered the best way to determine whether or not they qualified as gifted. As a result of using this method of identification, many gifted and talented students are not discovered nor are they placed in the appropriate programs to develop their abilities. Talents in the arts or an excellent ability to write are not measured on an I.Q. test but are abilities that may certainly qualify a student as gifted or talented.
This method of identification is accused of being biased because it results in the identification of a group of people that is mostly white and upper middle class (Sternberg & Williams, 2002). This occurs because minorities often lack the c...
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Author unknown (2003, February 24). Schools seek gifted among minorities. The Washington Times. Retrieved March 10, 2003, from http://washingtontiems.com/metro/2003224-14635946.htm
New York: Cambridge University Press. Ryser, G. R., & McConnell, K. (2003). Scales for Identifying Gifted Students. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.
While differentiating instruction and being able to design lessons geared towards the needs of diverse learners are currently highly prized skills for teachers, this has not always been the case. The history of education in the United States is a history of segregation. Even today, schools and curriculum are designed to meet the needs of a core group of students, which does not include students with disabilities (Hitchcock, Meyer, Rose, & Jackson, 2002). In the past, learners who were different, out of the mainstream, or did not fit into the mold to which teachers taught (were not part of the core) learned how or lost out on learning. This is not to say that teachers of the past did not care about their students, about being effective teachers, or about student learning. However, as schools are mirrors reflecting mainstream societal norms (Chartock, 2010; Delpit, 2006)—and, given that our society has not always valued diversity in people, be it due to disability, class, culture, or race—teachers in the past have largely focused their efforts where they could earn the largest return on their investment: the average student .
Board of Education outlawed educational segregation, the Illinois School District had created a completely different gifted program for Hispanic students, separate from the White students’ gifted program. Ford found that in 2009 and 2001, the RDCI (The Relative Difference in Composition Index) researched and concluded “at least one half million African American and Hispanic students combined are not identified as gifted” (Ford 145). While African American Students are rising to be the majority race in public education, the percentage of African Americans even being recognized as gifted or academically accelerated, is not proportionally increasing (Ford). Society hold precedents with people who have superior intelligence over those who do not, but how can superiority even be concluded when all people are not given the opportunity to have an enriching education? African Americans are not able to increase their percentage of gifted students because African American students are not given the chance to be even recognized as worthy or capable of such achievements. As society advances further academically and leaves African Americans with an unquail education, the percentage of African Americans attending college and entering professional careers
The problem associated with how students are chosen to join a gifted and talented program stems from the way that we define giftedness. Because there are countless ways in which any individual can define talent, the government created a federal task force in 1972 to study gifted education in order to standardize the way in which schools choose students for and implement their gifted and talented programs. The task force’s results are known as the Marland Report and include much information as a result of their research, including a decision that a public school’s gifted and talented programs should aim to serve between 3 and 5 percent o...
The Talents Unlimited Model was created under the philosophy that all students, both those identified as gifted and those not, would benefit from enrichment programs. The model is used to educate teachers on how to use differentiated instruction to use “higher order cognitive tasks to help students with varying abilities use their preferred thinking talents to manipulate instruction to solve problems, see broad relationships, evaluate varying perspectives, draw comparisons among disparate viewpoints, and predict causes and effects” (Schlichter, 2009, p. 434).
Both Sparta and Athens were Greek city-states. Sparta was a strict military ruled city-state where the people established themselves as a military power early. However Athens was more of a political city-state that was more involved with their economical stature than their military forces. Still changes from the Persian wars would change the powers of the city-state and somewhat unite them.
Ever since I was a child, my family and I have been Disney fanatics. The Disney empire has created many amazing places, but my favorite location to visit is the Walt Disney World Resort. Every day 50,000 people from all over the world arrive at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida to experience the magic. When the park first opened its gates in 1971, 10,000 visitors made their way through. That number has multiplied five-fold and continues to multiply to this day. Since the 1971 opening, over 600 million people have experienced the magic of Disney. In my lifetime, I have visited the park with my family and friends six times. Each visit lasted four days in order to experience all the parks and their unique offerings. When I’m in Disney World, the experience each time is incredible.
Racial Groups: Conceptual Perspectives and Practical Suggestions. VanTassel-Baska, J.L., Cross, T. L. & Olenchak, F. R. (Eds.). Social-Emotional Curriculum With Gifted and Talented Students (pp. 133-151). Prufrock Press Inc. Waco, Texas.
Athens and Sparta were both city-states in Classical Greece. While Athens embraced democracy, Sparta was a dictatorial fierce warrior state. Sparta was a militaristic community, Athens was a freethinking, and commerce minded city-state. Modern societies have modeled their government organizational structure and military discipline practices from lessons learned of these ancient city-states. There is much is to be praised regarding Classical Greece for their courage, their progressive thinking and the birth of democracy. However, I think it is important to remember that in both cases, Athens and Sparta were able to sustain their lifestyle on the backs of countless slaves, non-citizens and women and that there is a darker and less romantic side to the past.
Before there was the idea of Disney World, there was Disneyland. Disneyland started as a dream but the dream became a reality, thanks to a man named Walt Disney. The idea of Disneyland began in 1951 when Walt met a movie art director, Harper Goff, who started to sketch out Walt’s ideas for the theme park. Walt Disney was all about making dreams come true and taking storytelling from two dimensions and making them into three dimensions. His idea was for visitor to feel as if they stepped into a movie when they stepped into Disneyland (The Imageneers 11). Walt states in his 1952 proposal for Disneyland that “[He wants vi...
Plucker, J. A., & Barab, S. A. (2005). The importance of contexts in theories of giftedness. In R. J. Sternberg & J. E. Davidson (Eds.), Conceptions of giftedness (pp. 201-216). New York: Cambridge University Press.
The Integrated Curriculum Model has three main dimensions advanced content, process/product, and issues/themes. The first dimension, advanced content, is content that it at a higher level. In English Language Arts the readings are usually two grade levels above. Within advanced content, diagnostic-prescriptive approaches are used to promote new learning. Teachers are to continually pre-assess students before teaching content to make sure they are teaching at the appropriate level for the gifted students. In the second facet of the model it ensures that the students are thinking and processing information at higher complex levels. The third dimension of the Integrated Curriculum Model centers gifted and talented students learning around major issues and themes. To connect the themes and issues to real world applications is creating a deeper understanding of the material.
Donovan, M. Suzanne and Christopher T. Cross (2002, August). Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu/lib/drexel/-docDetail.action?docID=10032383.
Shaunessy, E. (2003). State policies regarding gifted education. Gifted Child Today Magazine, 26. Retrieved March 7, 2004, from http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=10445176&db=f5h
Gifted Child Today, 2004: 2000-. Willis Web. City U of New York Lib. 1 Dec