“Unfortunately, many of our nation’s brightest students from underserved populations (e.g., Black, Hispanic, English Learner, and/or free and reduced-price lunch eligible) are not being identified as gifted and do not receive gifted education services,” says Del Siegle, principal investigator with the National Center for Research on Gifted Education and an associate dean with the Neag School. “About 80% of states that completed the most recent National Association for Gifted Children’s State of the States survey indicated that underrepresentation of students from underserved populations was an important or very important issue in their state.”
“Teachers and educators are not super supportive of acceleration,” said Betsy McCoach, one of the researchers and a professor at the University of Connecticut. “But it doesn’t make sense to pull kids together to do the same thing that everyone else is doing.”
“When I first started my student teaching, I understood that all of my students would have specific learning needs that must be addressed throughout the school year,” writes Caroline Galeota. “As a teacher with dual certifications in elementary education and special education, I knew I would need to support students with a wide range of talents and abilities. Yes, it was tough learning how to identify and implement supports that ensure academic growth for students, but with proper training and time in the classroom it became second nature.”
“Each year, I have the opportunity to work with preservice teachers to provide a little bit of information for them about gifted education. During that workshop, someone always brings up the idea that one great way to work with advanced learners – particularly the teacher pleasers and ‘fast finishers’ among them – is to have them help the other kids with their work. These developing professionals, along with some of the practicing teachers with whom they work, are secure in their belief that this approach is a win for everyone. Students are kept busy, the struggling student has individual support, and surely the gifted learner will benefit because “we all learn something better when we have to teach it to others,” writes Catherine Little, a professor of educational psychology at UConn’s Neag School of Education.
“This is the first look at this issue in a significant way,” says Rashea Hamilton, a research associate in the National Center for Research on Gifted Education (NCRGE), part of UConn’s Neag School of Education. “We were able to make connections between higher proportions of free or reduced lunch students and availability of gifted programs and percentage of gifted students.”
Through the state, a survey developed in partnership with UConn’s National Center for Research on Gifted Education has been sent to all district superintendents seeking information on what is being done for gifted and talented students.
“As students’ achievement increases, their chance of being identified as gifted increases, but much slower if you are an English-language learner, poor or from a underrepresented minority than if you are non-ELL and white or Asian,” said D. Betsy McCoach, a co-author of the gifted education study and a professor of education measurement and evaluation.
There were more than 140 comments on my last Local Living column, where I said gifted education programs were too selective and did not appear to educate bright children any better than challenging courses we offer everyone in this region. This is a sensitive topic, particularly with parents of gifted children. I expected the worst […]
After four years of changing the face of education in Hartford, the Renzulli Academy is expanding its nationally renowned model of gifted-and-talented schooling to three new districts in Connecticut. Starting this fall, students in Bridgeport, New London, and Windham will be able to attend schools for fourth-through-sixth graders modeled on the Hartford program, which has […]
The nation is failing its 3 million brightest students with dramatically uneven funding, policies and oversight of gifted education at the state and local levels, a Neag School of Education team found in a recent survey representing 47 states. Del Siegle and Catherine Little, associate professors in gifted education at Neag, conducted the research with […]
