CHALLENGES FACING GIFTED EDUCATION IN THIS AGE OF STANDARDS AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Joyce VanTassel-Baska, EdD.

Professor Emerita, College of William and Mary

Keynote Address, Rutgers University, November 15, 2015

THE EDUCATIONAL LANDSCAPE OF SCHOOLS

Content standards are higher level, but translation levels are not.

•Instruction is driven by the use of grade level materials implemented with rigidity to address deficiencies .

•Assessment of the gifted is age and grade level-based.

•Individual differences are obscured by group norms.

•Little teaching of science, social studies or the arts occurs.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

• Discouragement of innovation/experimentation in teaching practices,

• Attention focused on a few students who may make AYP,

• Students losing valuable instructional time in unchallenging curriculum dominated by reading,

• A climate of fear for teachers and principals with little reward.

STATE POLICY COMPONENTS: A PATCHWORK QUILT

• Only 18 states have an endorsement or certification for teachers of the gifted.

• Only half the states have a fulltime person working in gifted education.

• Only nine states include a policy on acceleration as part of their service delivery mechanisms; 29 permit dual enrollment credit.

• Only a few states include special provisions for the identification and service of students from low income backgrounds.

--State of the States, 2013

HOW ARE GIFTED STUDENTS FARING IN THIS CLIMATE?

• Languid performance on NAEP across the last ten year period (Loveless, 2008)

• Lack of attention from teachers (Farkas & Duckett, 2008)

• Little differentiation of curriculum or instruction being actualized (Westberg et al, 1993, 2004)

• Gifted services have been cut or curtailed in some states. (State of the States, 2013)

• US students lag in advanced math and science course-taking and achievement (TIMMS, 1995; PISA, 2012)

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES?

•Weak infrastructure—resources and funding

•Diffused agenda—gifted or all students?• Issues of low income and minority promising learners

•New standards and assessments that drive the bus

HOW DO WE RESPOND?

•Research-based practice (acceleration and enrichment )

•K-16 articulation (link to CCSS, AP,IB)•Comprehensive opportunities within each subject area

•Focus on a range of students—from those who are highly gifted to those who are promising

A NATION EMPOWERED

Evidence Trumps the Excuses Holding Back America’s Brightest Students

Editors:

Susan G. Assouline,

Nicholas Colangelo,

Joyce VanTassel-Baska, &

Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik

Published April 2015

www.nationempowered.org

ACCELERATION STUDY FINDINGS

• Younger students can perform at levels comparable to older students in a shorter amount of time in areas of strong aptitude (Stanley, 1976; Olszewski-Kubilius , 1998; Colangelo , Assouline & Gross, 2004; Rogers, 2015).

• Accelerative, short term, and intensive learning experiences are retained well by gifted learners and allow them to advance academically in selected content areas (Lynch, 1992; Stanley et al. 1991; Stocking & Goldstein, 1992; Swiatek , 2007).

• The top 1% of students who are accelerated demonstrate creative achievement in adulthood (Wai, Lubinski & Benbow,2009; Lubinski , 2009).

A NATION EMPOWERED: META-ANALYTIC FINDINGS ON

ACHIEVEMENT

• Bright students almost always benefit from accelerated programs, based on achievement test scores.

.• When compared to same-age, intellectual peers,

those students who were accelerated performed almost one grade level higher academically.

• When compared to older, non-accelerated students, the accelerated younger student performance was comparable.

Assouline, Colangelo, VanTassel-Baska & Shoplik, 2015

LIFE TRAJECTORIES

• High achieving students from poverty less likely to graduate and go on to college or graduate school than more advantaged counterparts.

• Students from poverty more likely to choose careers commensurate with background rather than ability or achievement.

--The Achievement Trap, 2007

SELF PERCEPTION AS A FILTER TO ADULT ACHIEVEMENT

S

elf P

erc

ep

tion

Self P

erc

ep

tion

Self P

erc

ep

tion

Educational Attainment

Occupational Attainment

AdultCreative

Productivity

MYTHS OF ACCELERATION

* Gifted students will miss out on childhood, driving, the prom if they are out of step in their schooling with age peers.

*Gifted students will be maladjusted and stunted socially and emotionally if they are not kept with same age peers.

*Gifted students will burn out if they are pushed to accelerate their schooling.

* Gifted students will ruin schools’ scope and sequence charts, cause difficulties with placement, and disrupt the normalized patterns of schooling.

COMMON CORE DIMENSIONS AND ACCELERATION OPPORTUNITIES

Teaching advanced content earlier to gifted students

(Standard 10 in CCSS-ELA)

Pre-testing for proficiency and aptitude in core areas of learning : reading, writing, mathematics

Teaching the common core at an accelerated pace (the structure is predictable and sequential in its organization)

MYTHS CONT.

*Only a very few gifted students should be accelerated.

*Acceleration is only grade skipping.

*Students will miss out on important learning in subject areas if they accelerate (the gap theory).

ACCELERATION PATTERN (STUDENT A)

Grade Accelerated Options

7 Homeschooling/tutorial (Latin I)

Northwestern (NU) –Literature Analysis(summer)

8 Latin II NU – Creative Writing(summer)

Latin III NU – AP English (summer)

10 AP Latin IV(Vergil)

College French I & II(summer)

11 AP Latin VCatalus &Horace(Independentstudy)

French III & IV (Blockschedule at high schools

AP AmericanHistory

12 AP Government Dual Enrollment (French) Early graduation(January)

Early College EntrancePotential college credits earned: 22Summer high school credits earned: 15

ACCELERATION PATTERN (STUDENT B)

Potential college credits earned: 15

MYTHS CONTINUED

*Gifted learners won’t do well academically if they are accelerated.

*Gifted students will miss out on extracurricular activities offered through the school such as sports and the arts.

* Acceleration causes gifted learners to feel alienated from peers and teachers.

REALITIES OF ACCELERATION

• Best researched intervention for any special population ever done. Meta analyses conducted at least every 20 years with the same results.

• Millions of gifted students around the world benefit from the practice in different forms.

• Gifted students themselves attest to its positive outcomes in their lives.

Joyce VanTassel-Baska Center for Gifted Education College of William and Mary

BENEFITS OF ACCELERATION

• Improves the motivation, confidence, and scholarship of gifted students over time.

• Prevents the development of habits of mental laziness

• Allows for earlier access to, and completion of, more advanced opportunities

• Can reduce the total cost of university education and professional preparation

US SCIENCE OLYMPIADADVICE--

“Take as many advanced classes as you can as early as possible; don’t listen to others when they try to tell you what you can and cannot do. Try to earn recognition in science, competitions, and seize any research opportunity you can find. If you get discouraged because your school’s scientific community is a community of one, seek refuge in your studies until you can find peers you identify with, but never compromise who you are to fit in with your school community.”

ACCELERATION RESEARCH

• Grade Skipping (ES=.49)

• Early Entrance to School (ES = .49)

• Subject Acceleration (ES = .57)

• Grade Telescoping (ES = .40)

• Concurrent Enrollment (ES = .22)

• AP Courses (ES = .27)

• Early Admission to College (ES = .30)

• Credit by Examination (ES = .59)

--Rogers, 2015

Acceleration: Vertical Articulation of Options

Early childhood

Middle childhood

Middle school

High school

College and beyond

Joyce VanTassel-Baska Center for Gifted Education College of William and Mary

ACCELERATED OPTIONS FOR THE GIFTED

• Early entrance

• Skip a grade at transition points.

• Private tutoring or mentoring

• Begin studying new subject matter earlier than typical (e.g., foreign language).

• Fast-paced classes in math, science, and verbal areas

Joyce VanTassel-Baska Center for Gifted Education College of William and Mary

ACCELERATED OPTIONS FOR THE GIFTED (CONT.)

• College courses while in high school• College credit via Advanced Placement exams

• Attend college early or without diploma.• Condense grades 7-8 into one year; condense grades 9-12 into three years.

• Self-paced instruction in core areas• Take Advanced Placement courses.• Enter academic competitions.• Attend summer and Saturday programs that stress advancement.

HOW MANY OPTIONS DO YOU OFFER IN YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT?

Acceleration option *Put an x, if used.

• --Early entrance

• --Early exit

• --Content acceleration

• --Grade acceleration

• --Individualized approaches

• --Online/university

PBL SCENARIO

You are coordinator of a gifted program in a small district here in New Jersey. Your principal has said that he does not believe in accelerating gifted students, but you have a boy who is seven years old who is functioning cognitively at the level of an 11 year old. His parents have asked for your advice in what should be provided for him. The superintendent has a gifted child who has been accelerated. How will you deal with the issue?

KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR ACCELERATION

What type of acceleration is needed at a given point in time?

When might it best be implemented? (transition times)

What combination of acceleration options would be propitious over the span of K-16 schooling?

COST –EFFECTIVENESS OF ACCELERATION

•High school opportunities such as AP, IB, and dual enrollment can save the cost of one year of tuition for able students.

•Schools can handle accelerative offerings within current budgets.

--Nation Empowered, 2015

TEACHER QUALIFICATIONS TO WORK WITH ACCELERATED STUDENTS

•Flexibility•Sensitive to individual needs•Deep content knowledge in one area of learning

•Mastery of fast-paced and compacting techniques

ACCELERATION FIRST AND THEN ENRICHMENT AND OTHER SERVICES

Acceleration EnrichmentIndividual

mentoring and guidance

MYTHS OF ENRICHMENT

• Enrichment is the best approach to serve the gifted.

• Enrichment is a choice in lieu of acceleration.

• Enrichment only involves self-selected project work in an area of interest.

MYTHS OF ENRICHMENT CONT.

• Appropriate enrichment of the gifted can occur without considerations of flexible grouping.

• Enrichment can be done without qualified teachers in both subject area and gifted pedagogy.

REALITIES OF ENRICHMENT

• Enrichment may provide both cognitive and affective benefits.

• Enrichment for the gifted may be in a specific area of learning or interdisciplinary in nature.

• Enrichment is a necessary but insufficient condition of programming for the gifted.

REALITIES OF ENRICHMENT

Acceleration and enrichment work together to provide appropriate education of the gifted.

Enrichment requires well-qualified instructors who can teach and facilitate gifted learners in specific domains and patterns of interest .

ENRICHMENT OPTIONS

• Subject area specialization (eg. creative writing class, science club, math games)

• New subjects (eg. foreign languages, philosophy)• Interdisciplinary approaches (eg. humanities, the art and science of design)

• Project-based learning (collaborative or independent)

• Learning the tools of inquiry

ACCELERATION, ENRICHMENT AND GROUPING OF THE GIFTED

STUDY TYPES CONTEXT VALUE-ADDED GAINS

XYZ CLASSES (51 STUDIES)

DIFFERENTIAL PLACEMENT; NO DIFFERNTIAL TREATMENT

1 MONTH GAIN FOR HIGH ABILTY

CROSS-GRADE/AND WITHIN CLASS (14 STUDIES/11 STUDIES)

PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL PLACEMENT; DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT

2 – 3 MONTHS FOR ALL GROUPS

ACCELERATED CLASSES (23 STUDIES) ENRICHED CLASSES (25 STUDIES)

DIFFERENTIAL PLACEMENT AND TREATMENT

1 YEAR

4 – 5 MONTHS

-- Kulik, 1993

SO, THE CHALLENGE REMAINS…

Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.

– Abigail Adams