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Home : 2007 : July : 3

CageyBee
By josephineg

You wrote: "What's the rush?"

My reply: No one is rushing, but many students are being held back.

Please do read: "A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America's Brightest Students", The Templeton
National Report on Acceleration, downloadable at: http://www.nationdeceived.org.

Of course, the children who struggled with "the social aspect" as you say were the readers. Perhaps they did not belong in your class. Did you keep all of them? I'm curious as to what modifications you made to support their differentiated instruction.

Most teachers do not have the resources

to provide the differentiated instruction that the gifted and the exceptionally gifted require.

"In kindergarten, Devion scored in the 99th percentile on an intelligence test, making him the only African-American at his elementary school to qualify for services for gifted children. In first grade, during weekly sessions with a specialist, he arranged cubes in intricate patterns and solved logic puzzles designed for older students."

"But this fall, Springfield dropped that program after state funding for it vanished. Devion now daydreams in the back of his second-grade class, rarely raising his hand. His report card brims with "unsatisfactory" grades, he often fails to hand in homework, and he has been suspended four times. His mother says he is bored and needs 'that one-on-one attention.'"

"Specialists in gifted children say some exhibit behavior problems and inattention when their intellectual needs aren't met, and Devion seems to fit that mold. He has been barred from two field trips because of misbehavior. Mrs. Gruebel says he is 'extremely bright, but he's not doing the work he can do' and often doesn't follow directions."

(from the Wall Street Journal, "Brain Drain: Initiative to Leave No Child Behind Leaves Out Gifted", by Daniel Golden, 12/29/03).

Please do take a look at the references I've cited. I think they make clear that acceleration has nothing to do with skipping or rushing. I do think that many educators subscribe to the myth that "gifted students should be with students their own age", which is a mistaken belief, and which by the way is not supported by research.

"...gifted students need opportunities to be together with their intellectual peers, no matter what their age differences (Coleman & Cross, 2001). While there are plenty of appropriate reasons to provide enriching educational experiences, these decisions should not be made out of fear, worry, or myth; they should be based on the needs of the students." (from "Competing with myths about the social and emotional development of gifted students" by Tracy L. Cross, from Gifted Child Today, 2002 Summer, available on the Internet).

All the best.