IDEA, Section 504, and ADA are laws that benefit students with disabilities; however, there is no federal legislation that supports students who are classified as gifted or talented. Other disabilities as opposed to gifted and talented are easily defined. Most states adopt (with modification) the federal definition. The definition most commonly used or modified is: The term “gifted and talented children” means children and, whenever applicable, youth, who are identified at the preschool, elementary , or secondary level as possessing demonstrated or potential abilities that give evidence of high performance capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, specific academic, or leadership ability, or in the performing and visual arts, and who by reason thereof, require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school. (Gifted and Talented Children’s Education Act, 1978)
Few areas in the education of children with exceptionalities are as controversial and critical as appropriate identification of children who are gifted. The controversies involve all the pros and con...
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 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...
Similar to IDEA, is Section 504 of the Act. Students are eligible for Section 504 if they have a "physical or mental impairment which substantially limits a major life activity." Section 504 also requires schools to meet certain evaluation criteria in order to assess how a student's disability affects the child's educational performance.
Whitney, C. S. & Hirsch, G. (2011). Helping Gifted Children Soar. A Practical Guide for
The Gifted program exists to provide more academic opportunities for those who qualify as “gifted.” “’Gifted means performing or demonstrating the potential for performing at significantly higher levels of accomplishment in one or more academic fields due to intellectual ability, when compared to others of similar age, experience, and environment’” (Quoted in “Gifted”). In order to make it into the program the student must show higher intellectual ability than the average student at his or her age, but what determines that factor? The student must take a multidimensional test and score in the 98th percentile. However, the most weighted part of the test remains an average IQ test. Intelligence test scores should not be the primary qualification for admittance into the gifted program. They should not remain the primary qualification because it allows the minorities and the economically disadvantaged to be underrepresented, it proves insufficient when compared to other means of testing, and it fails to accurately reflect a student’s intelligence.
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.
There are three curriculum models that are used to effectively teach gifted and talented students. These models include the Integrated Curriculum Model, the William and Mary Center for Gifted Education Research Model, and the Parallel Model.
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.
In conclusion Good Will Hunting is a good example of some of the challenges that gifted and talented people face. First, they can be bored if not properly identified, and served. Secondly, they still need the same attention that adults give to students without exceptionalities. Finally, students with exceptionalities face the same social-emotional problems
A common misconception is intelligence is inherited and does not change, so therefore, gifted children do not need special services. However, this mindset is very dangerous when it comes to the development of gifted children. It is widely believed that gifted students will get by on their own without any assistance from their school. After all,
With this in mind, it is important to comprehend the role of an individual's environment while determining the source of intelligence. Gifted programs have incredible inequality, with 8% of white children being considered gifted, on the other hand only 3.6% of black and 4.2% of hispanic students are deemed gifted according to the Department of Education’s report (Guo, 2015). Poorer children are also presented with fewer advantages than their wealthier counterparts, critics will say that gifted programs put more effort into enrolling wealthier children (Guo, 2015). Interestingly, at the age of two, poorer children are likely six months behind on their language development skills (Guo, 2015). Not to mention that children brought up in safe, inspiring environments have a higher average IQ score than neglected children (Le Page, 2017). One stellar example of the role of environment while determining intelligence is the case of Edith Stern. Edith was raised from birth to be intelligent, only listening to classical music as a babe and being spoken to as if she were an adult while still an infant (Cohen, 1977). This process was dubbed by her father “total educational immersion”, as he believed in something akin to a growth mindset (Cohen, 1977). Edith now has an IQ of 200, taught math at a college level by age 15 and holds a PhD, proving that intelligence can be learned (Cohen,
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.
Many students suffer from the school system. Many students face problems in schools because lack of the system. There are so many problems in school that should never be there, education now involving more problems than anything else. In recent years so many people have lost their lives in the class-room. There are ways to improve school system by police presence, to end overcrowded condition, and to hire more qualified teachers.
Parke, B. (n.d.). Challenging gifted students in the regular classroom. Retrieved March 1, 2004, from http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content/Challenging_gifted _kids.html
Gifted Child Today, 2004: 2000-. Willis Web. City U of New York Lib. 1 Dec