Show me one gifted program, and you’ll have shown me… one gifted program. Each program is unique to the location’s history, requirements, quirks and personalities, among other factors. And once a program is in place, those practices can be hard to dislodge, even when a better approach is found. One commonality between programs is the constant need to lobby for gifted services support, according to two district administrators featured in the latest Texas Association for Gifted & Talented (TAGT) podcast episode, “G/T Experiences: A Conversation with Teresa Francis and Audra Rowell.”
Each of these administrators has years of experience in the gifted education field, and their commitment to excellence and raising the bar within their own districts is energizing. One of my takeaways among many was the importance of a driving focus guiding the program at the district level to shape the implementation of the program at the ground level.
Gifted programs shaped by vision
Audra Rowell, the advanced academics coordinator in Northwest ISD in Texas, shared how she needed to separate the practices that existed prior to her tenure in the district to what she wanted to accomplish now.
I’ve had to say, okay, it’s been this way, but what’s my vision for accomplishing the state plan where you talk about that self-directed learning, building communication and thinking and research skills, and showing that through products and performances… It turns into a creativity issue. These are the resources I have, here’s the limitations that I have, here’s how I’m going to try to accomplish that… So it’s that mixture of innovation but also kind of where you’re at and what you can do.
At both schools, their departments make conclusions based on student performance to provide additional opportunities suited to each school. For instance, Teresa Francis, the Advanced Academics Coordinator at Mansfield ISD, considers the trends where students show lower scores on testing, to increase talent development at that school. For students who require acceleration to meet their academic needs, the intensity of their course of study can be adapted. Similarly, Rowell explained:
“When I got to Northwest in 2015 almost every campus had a full-time person but there were a few schools that had to share … because their [identified as gifted] numbers were lower, but they were also all of our Title 1 schools … that’s like the very definition of an equity issue. So we worked on that and we were able to get it to where every elementary has a GT specialist and now when we open a new school that is one part of the staffing requirements.”
Francis explained their utilization of the cluster model, where full time classroom teachers are trained to be gifted specialists to differentiate for higher ability within their rooms. Both administrators agreed that a combination of a pull-out gifted program with additional support in the subject area classrooms is an ideal model. This allows for students identified as gifted as well as those displaying gifted potential to benefit from challenging material focusing on critical and conceptual thinking standards. Rowell explained how their GT team focuses on serving the school in its entirety even with the pull-out enrichment model for a smaller group of students in place:
“When [the gifted specialists] come together one of the things that we talk about is, yes your first priority is serving gifted learners … but how are you proving your value, like what benefits are you bringing not just to the 40 gifted kids at your campus but to the 800 kids that are at your campus and the teacher. So I think that’s really where our focus has been for the past few years, is what are we doing to support not just our gifted kids but our teachers who can help all of our kids be challenged and get the great education that they’re entitled to.”
For future program improvements, Rowell of Northwest ISD seeks to add tiered services to address differences in ability within the gifted population such as high ability in language arts but low ability in math. Francis at Mansfield ISD will be targeting consistency within campus gifted programs, so that, theoretically, students, “can move between [schools] and get equitable services–not necessarily the same, but they can get what they need to help them grow.”
Both administrators implemented steps based on their visions to improve and increase access to enrichment, and they committed the funding and personnel to make that vision a reality.
SOURCES
TAGT Podcast Episode: G/T Experiences: A Conversation with Teresa Francis and Audra Rowell
Gifted Weekly 