Evaluating state funding for gifted education programs

As a follow‐up to a previous article in which Baker and Friedman‐Nimz (2002a) recommended that gifted education advocates should focus on improving state funding of gifted education, this article provides an overview of state school finance policies for gifted education and frameworks for evaluating those policies. The frameworks are then applied for evaluating state school finance policies as of 1998–99 and state aid allocated to local districts for gifted education in 2000. In that year, only Florida provided both sufficient and equitable support for gifted education, assuming general education conditions to be adequate as well as equitable in that state. Gifted education funding in Virginia, while less adequate than supplemental funding in Florida, continues to be a model of equitable distribution.     

Gifted Education and Counselling in Canada

Education in Canada is determined at the provincial level of jurisdiction. Each province and territory has a unique system of legislation and policy, although most provinces view the education of gifted students as a category of service provision under special education. The first section of this paper provides a brief, general overview of key themes that emerge from an analysis of the relevant Education Ministry documents and literature concerning gifted education and counselling within the Canadian context. Where appropriate, the particular province(s) and/or territory(s) associated with the themes is noted. The second section highlights the work of Canadian scholars most relevant to counsellors working with gifted students. A brief review of recommended counselling needs, goals, and practices for the gifted is presented in the conclusion.     

The fragmented framework of legal protection for the gifted

A legal framework for resolving disputes in gifted education is slowly evolving. Legislation, court cases, due process hearings, administrative regulations, Letters of Findings issued by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), negotiation, and mediation are the major components of this framework. The authors' thesis is that each state's legal framework should be constructed by sound legislation, and these statutes should then be used as the foundation to settle disputes in gifted education. A second premise is that the most economical and efficient method to settle disputes is to resolve them at the lowest level within the legal framework.     

Gifted education policy and advocacy: Perspectives for school psychologists

Education laws and policies serve to guide the way programs and services are implemented in schools. The transition from law or policy to implementation can be fraught with complications that impact the education system across many levels. According to Viennet and Pont (2017), one of the areas that can either hinder or support the transition from policy to practice is “inclusive stakeholder engagement” (p. 3). School psychologists are an important stakeholder in the education system thus they should have familiarity with gifted education policy to ensure students are being served appropriately—both academically and socio-emotionally. This article will introduce school psychologists to (a) federal and state laws impacting gifted students, (b) the role litigation, due process, and research has in shaping policy, and (c) relevant gifted education policy considerations.     

From the editor's desk

The scarcity of racially and culturally diverse teachers remains a major issue in education nationally, particularly given projections which indicate that the representation of minority teachers is declining while the number of minority students is increasing¹. The number of minority teachers in gifted programs, however, has received little attention in the literature. Accordingly, this article provides data on the under‐representation of Black and other minority teachers in education, explores personal and professional barriers to their representation, and provides recommendations for the recruitment and retention of minority teachers in gifted education. Owing to the limited information available on minority teachers in gifted education, the authors reason by analogy in order to draw implications from the general education literature and apply them to gifted education. Similarly, since the majority of research and writing have focused on Black teachers, we use Black teachers more often as a case in point, and draw implications for other teachers of color.     

Distance education for the gifted and talented: An interactive design model

In 1994, the New South Wales Board of Studies, Australia, introduced three high level Distinction Courses for gifted and talented students: comparative literature, cosmology, and philosophy. All are offered by distance education but the cosmology course employs an interactive design model and an extensive communication system that differentiates it from the other two. This article explains the model and the way it is used in practice to organize, sequence and deliver the course. Discussion addresses ways in which the model might be used to design a wider range of courses for gifted and talented students.     

Understanding the experiences of bilingual,Latino/a adolescents: Voices from gifted and general education

Eight gifted and eight general‐education students engaged in discussions regarding their observations of, experiences in, and recommendations for education. Six categories emerged through qualitative analysis of their conversations. These categories include: problem solving, task commitment, self‐perceptions, education, communication, and discrimination. Content within each category provides a glimpse into the students’ perceptions of their schooling experiences. The roles of ethnic identity development, identification with majority culture, adolescence, and gifted‐ness are examined and recommendations for future research are provided.     

No child left behind: Neglecting excellence

This article is neither a study nor a review; rather, it is a thought piece from a contributing editor concerning issues associated with the state of gifted child education, as it exists today in the shadow of the effects of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The primary purpose of this article is to stimulate thought, discussion, and action concerning the effects of NCLB on gifted child education. Seven effects are highlighted, namely, a remedial, deficit‐based emphasis; teaching what it tested; delivering a standard, one‐size fits all education to diverse students; increased numbers of dropouts; educators afraid to teach; cheating; and unsubstantiated alternatives. A change in focus, questioning, and appropriate educational actions are suggested.     

Exploring Specialized Schools for the Gifted and Talented

Consultation is a collaborative problem‐solving process with the ultimate goal of providing better services to students. Collaboration between specialists in gifted education and general education school personnel is a way to assist teachers meet the special needs of gifted students in the classroom and improve the general education program. A model for consultation to better serve students in gifted education is presented that encourages shared responsibility among school personnel. Implementation of the model is discussed including implications for training of administrators, specialists in gifted education, and general educators.     

Special Education in American Charter Schools: State level policy,practices and tensions

The US charter school movement is based upon the supposition that granting individual public schools increased autonomy from state and district rules and regulations in exchange for more accountability will foster the creation of innovative, effective and efficient schools. However, while state charter school laws free these schools from various state and district rules and regulations, the schools must still operate within the civil rights parameters legislated by federal statutes. Of particular import are federal laws that guarantee that children with disabilities receive a free appropriate public education. Project SEARCH, a 3 year qualitative study of special education in US charter schools revealed that there is a fundamental philosophical gap between the individualised, autonomous nature of charter schools and the highly regulated nature of special education. The philosophical gap is complicated by some charter schools' inability to amass the fiscal and human capacity needed to meet the needs of individual children with disabilities.     

The Severity of State Truancy Policies and Chronic Absenteeism

ABSTRACT

Since the Common School era, states have maintained truancy laws to ensure that students attend school. However, we know little about the severity of these laws and their relationship to student outcomes, particularly absenteeism. In this study, we survey state education statutes to document the severity of truancy policies. We estimate the relationship between these truancy policies and rates of chronic absenteeism via multilevel models using data on all U.S. public schools from the Office of Civil Rights. We find that most students live in states where they may be referred to legal authorities for levels of absenteeism below federal standards. We find little evidence that states with truancy policies have lower chronic absenteeism after adjusting for demographic and other characteristics. However, while non-White high-school students are overrepresented among chronic absences overall, they have rates of chronic absenteeism comparable to their White peers in states with less severe truancy policies.     

Motivation and gifted students: Implications of theory and research

An analysis of contemporary motivation theories reveals implications for gifted and talented students. The expectancy‐value framework, intrinsic‐extrinsic motivation theories, goal orientations, self‐efficacy and other self‐perceptions, and attribution theory are described and discussed with respect to implications for the psychology and education of gifted and talented students. Illustrative empirical research on motivation and gifted students is presented, and a model of classroom motivation factors is provided as a practical structure within which to consider instructional practices with this population. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Adventurous Navigator of the Dimensions of High Ability: An Interview with Robert J. Sternberg

Numerous resources in book form, both fiction and nonfiction, are available to assist gifted youngsters in pursuing their interests. There are books to help students explore an identified interest with greater depth and breadth, as well as to stimulate new interests. For youngsters who are already in the process of an in‐depth investigation, there are references and indexes and how‐to‐do‐it books to give assistance in skills areas. The books reviewed in this article are identified in terms of a specific conceptual model for gifted education, the Enrichment Triad Model (Renzulli, 1977), but the materials could be used in any program which focuses on the encouragement and development of students’ interests.     

Due process in gifted education

Twenty‐eight states and the District of Columbia currently provide due process for gifted students. When parents or administrators cannot settle a dispute at the local school board level, some states by law and/or regulation offer aggrieved parties the right to mediation or due process. Seven states reported holding 26 due process hearings during the years 1992–1995. This article examines these due process hearings describing the types of issues involved and the outcomes of the hearings. The authors report that disparate issues are handled in due process hearings, and they conclude that due process hearings are an inexpensive and relatively expeditious way to resolve disputes in gifted education in comparison to going to court.     

The growth of private education in Argentina: evidence and explanations

During the second half of the twentieth century, the Argentine education system went through a clear process of privatisation expressed in the increasing enrolment and state funding of the private sector. Especially in the 1990s, when the country implemented neoliberal economic policies, the academic literature had found in neoliberalism (in ideology, public policy and the enactment of certain laws) an explanation for this process of privatisation. Since the 2000s, and after a severe economic crisis, successive governments have rejected the neoliberal policies and have established a set of regulations and public policies with the explicit purpose of changing the previous policy trend. This article shows that after one decade of this new policy opposed to neoliberalism, the evidence suggests that privatisation of education has not only not been reversed but even expanded in a significant manner, reaching striking rates of increase, both in private enrolment and in state funding. Finally, the evidence presented shows that neither neoliberal nor post-neoliberal policies seem to determine the privatisation of education for the Argentine case. The article concludes with some remarks so as to design an explanatory model to account for the dynamics of the education system.     

美国数学教育改革与数学天赋学生培养的简略回顾--如何在鱼腹中发现珍珠

数学天赋教育是数学教育改革的重要分支，美国最近20多年的数学教育改革提供了关于数学天赋教育的有价值的经验，天才班并不是培养数学天赋学生的唯一选择，数学教师必须努力在一般课堂中识别数学天赋学生并开发他们的潜能；必须学会运用基本的策略来调整课堂教学以提高对天赋学生教学的能力；必须逐步建立自己的信念，调整自己的知识结构来培养数学天赋学生。     

Acceleration: A coat of many colours

The word “acceleration” continues to generate controversy. Although the literature makes it clear that acceleration in its various guises is a positive intervention for many gifted students, educational practitioners in Australia continue to resist the evidence and campaign actively against allowing students to take this option. This article synthesizes 3 research projects conducted in New South Wales, Australia, exploring different forms of acceleration. The first project involved an investigation of the Early Entry policy for gifted children in one region of the state; the second reports on the experiences of students who skipped at least 1 grade; and the third examines a vertical programming system that allows students to accelerate within subjects at an academically selective high school. Based on these research studies, this article explores the issues that are at the center of the acceleration debate.     

Assessing and accessing high human potential: A brief history of giftedness and what it means to school psychologists

The history of giftedness pertains to historical changes regarding how giftedness is conceptualized and defined, and how it serves the practical purpose of identifying gifted children and providing them an appropriate education. The past century has witnessed debates and controversies about what constitutes this elusive human quality we deem “gifted.” Overall, it has undergone significant changes from monolithic, static to more pluralistic, dynamic conceptions. The first part of this article delineates historical changes in the past 100 years in our understanding of the nature and development of giftedness, followed by the second part on the changing ways we define, assess, and identify gifted children or gifted potential for intervention purposes. The final part of this article depicts a broad trend toward expanding gifted education to a wider range of students, with the understanding that gifts and talents are widely distributed in student populations, and the deliberate cultivation of human potential should not be confined to a selected few.     

台湾资优教育探析

台湾资优教育始于1962年,到现在已有五十余年的发展历史。了解台湾地区资优教育的发展概况,探讨台湾资优学生鉴别的相关规定和程序,分析其多元化的实施模式,讨论资优教育的原因和存在的问题,以期对我们的拔尖创新人才培养有所启发。