Gifted Programming and Effective GIEPs

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Gifted Programming and Effective GIEPs

• Pennsylvania Department of Education
• Annual Conference 2005
• February 24, 2005
• Presentation by Ron Schmiedel
• Pine-Richland High School
• rschmiedel_at_pinerichland.org

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Regulations for Gifted Education
http//www.pde.state.pa.us/gifted_ed/site/default.
asp
PA Statutes Gifted learners are children with
exceptionalities and in need of specially
designed instruction.
Chapter 16 BEC Basic Education Circular Legal
requirements governing special education for
gifted students

• Guidelines
• Assist local education agencies in meeting the
  requirements of the State Boards regulations

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Definition of Gifted Students

• A student who is exceptional under section 1371
  of the School Code (24 P.S. 13-1371) because the
  student meets the definition of mentally gifted
  in this section, and needs specially designed
  instruction beyond that required in Chapter 4
  (relating to academic standards and assessment).
  This term applies only to students who are of
  school age as defined under 11.12 (relating to
  school age).

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Mentally Gifted

• Outstanding intellectual and creative ability the
  development of which requires specially designed
  programs or support services, or both, not
  ordinarily provided in the regular education
  program.

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Themes

• Responsibility of the School District
• Based on the unique needs of the student
• Acceleration, enrichment, or both, as appropriate
• Services according to their intellectual and
  academic abilities
• Yielding meaningful benefit and student
  progress
• HOW?

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The Gifted Program Should be developed with
purpose

• Gifted Program
• Is the structure/framework that enables
  programming options for individual gifted
  students
• Not only a pull-out or enrichment program
• Programming for the gifted
• Diagnostic-prescriptive
• Aligns the structure of the gifted program to the
  individual needs of each identified gifted
  student as opposed to plugging the student into
  the gifted program
• GIEP - Specially Designed Instruction

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Developing a Gifted Program

• National Standards
• PA Regulations
• Chapter 16
• Basic Education Circular
• Guidelines
• Steering Committee (Guiding Coalition)
• Program goals

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Seven Primary Goals for Gifted and Talented
Children (Passow, 1958) 

• To deal competently with themselves, their fellow
  men, and the world about them as human beings,
  citizens, parents, and participants in the good
  life.
• To build a sound liberal foundation to sustain
  the rigorous development of specialized
  competencies at the higher levels they can
  handle.

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Seven Primary Goals for Gifted and Talented
Children (Passow, 1958)

• To foster self-direction, independence, a love of
  learning, and a desire to create and experiment
  with ideas and things
• To provide the self-understanding, inner
  consistency, and ethical standards to see their
  own uniqueness in terms of responsibility to
  society..

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Seven Primary Goals for Gifted and Talented
Children (Passow, 1958)

• To stimulate critical thinking and a scientific
  approach to solving their persistent problems.
• To nurture an appreciation of the cultural
  heritage bequeathed by societies through the
  ages.
• To motivate the desire to meet the special
  expectations society has for individuals with
  unique talents

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Levels of Service In Programming

• Services offered to all students
• Services offered to many students
• Services offered to individuals or small groups
  by specialists in school
• Outside services or unusual in-school options
  offered to individual students
• Treffinger 1986

All services should be responsive to the
identified needs of the student.
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Level IV
Type III
Applicable to a smaller population
Type II
Level III
Level II
Type 1
Options become more specialized
Level I
With-in the regular curriculum
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Applicable to a smaller population
Individualized
Options become more specialized
Systematic
With-in the regular Curriculum
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Independent Study
Acceleration
A.P. Classes
Honors Classes
Differentiated Classroom
School-wide Enrichment
Regular Education
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Acceleration
Acceleration
Enrichment
Affective Needs
Enrichment
Affective Needs
Career Investigation
Career Investigation

• Through a variety of service delivery options!

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Programming for the Gifted

• The structure of the gifted program should be
  comprehensive a full continuum of services

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Gifted Program
Counseling services
Independent Study
Pull-out
Student Government
Tiered Assignments
Mentorships
Enrichment
Clubs
Acceleration
Grouping
School in a School
College classes
Testing out
Resource room
Consortium
Gifted Center
Specialized Curriculum
Differentiation
Learning contracts
Magnet School
Distance Learning
Grade skipping
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AccelerationAccess to higher level learning
activities than typically provided in regular
education to students of the same age

• Early Admission to Kindergarten and/or First
  Grade
• Grade Skipping
• Subject-Matter Acceleration
• Curriculum Compacting
• Honors Level Courses
• College Level Options
• Advanced Placement
• College in the High School
• Concurrent/Dual Enrollment

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Acceleration

• Credit by examination
• Early entrance into Middle School, High School,
  or College
• Early Graduation

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Enrichment

• In-depth learning experiences that enhance the
  curriculum and are based upon individual student
  strengths, interests, and needs
• Seminars
• Independent projects
• Alternative assignments
• Outside of the classroom

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Curriculum Differentiation

• Effective differentiation requires consideration
  given to grouping practices
• Flexible grouping - Arranging students by
  interest or need
• Cluster grouping Ability grouping within a
  heterogeneous classroom
• Cooperative learning groups

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Differentiation

• Is two fold
• Group/class
• The curriculum, instruction and/or assessment is
  modified to better suit the needs of the class or
  group
• An honors level class must be different from a
  regular level class
• Individual
• The curriculum, instruction and/or assessment are
  modified to meet the needs of the individual
  students in the class

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Differentiation

• Content
• Extension of core learning, using both
  acceleration and enrichment strategies
• Exposure to challenging and specialized resources
• Stress higher-level thinking, creativity, and
  problem solving skills
• Set high standards that demand rigorous
  expectations for student work and performance
  demonstration

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Differentiation

• Process
• Promote independent, self directed, and in-depth
  study
• Encourage the application of advanced research
  and methodological skills
• Focus on open ended tasks
• Allow student-centered discussions, Socratic
  questioning, and seminar type learning
• Provide students with the freedom to choose
  topics to study and the methods to use in
  manipulating and transforming information

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Differentiation

• Product
• Encourage the development of products that
  challenge existing ideas and produce new ones
• Promote products that are comparable to those
  made by professionals in the designated field
• Require that products represent application,
  analysis, and synthesis of knowledge
• Provide opportunity to create products/solutions
  that focus on real-world issues
• Establish hi-level and exemplary criteria to
  assess student performance and products

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Differentiation

• Learning Environment
• Encourage the development of social and
  self-awareness
• Encourage self-directed learning to promote the
  development of independent research
• Encourage a tolerant and supportive environment
  that fosters a positive attitude
• Enable the pursuit of higher-level learning
  through the extension of classroom activities
  into the real-world
• Provide access to resources and materials that
  meet the students level of learning

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Differentiation
Learning Environment
Content
Process
Product
Encourage a tolerant and supportive environment
that fosters a positive attitude Enable the
pursuit of higher-level learning through the
extension of classroom activities into the
real-world Provide access to resources and
materials that meet the students level of
learning
Establish hi-level and exemplary criteria to
assess student performance and products Provide
opportunity to create products / solutions that
focus on real-world issues Require that products
represent application, analysis, and synthesis of
knowledge
Promote independent, self directed, and in-depth
study Encourage the application of advanced
research and methodological skills Focus on open
ended tasks Allow student-centered discussions,
Socratic questioning, and seminar type learning
Extension of core learning, using both
acceleration and enrichment strategies Stress
higher-level thinking, creativity, and problem
solving skills Exposure to challenging and
specialized resources Set high standards that
demand rigorous expectations for student work and
performance demonstration
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Other Programming Options

• Independent Studies
• Curriculum Compacting
• Pre-assess
• Demonstrate mastery
• Alternative activity
• Enrichment Activities
• Mentorships
• Shadow Studies

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Gifted Program

• A combination of acceleration and enrichment
  provides the greatest opportunity for flexible
  programming to meet the needs of gifted students.
• No matter the Program, programming options and
  specially designed instruction must be responsive
  to the identified needs of the individual gifted
  student.

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Gifted Program

• Must be comprehensive cannot be limited to
  enrichment alone, one academic area, one program
  option, or solely extracurricular activities.
• School districts must decide what program options
  are needed to provide specially designed
  instruction for each gifted student.

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Needs

• By definition needs are intellectual and academic
• Student taught at their instructional level as
  evidenced through meaningful progress

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Student profile
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Gifted Education

• Acceleration, enrichment, or both, as appropriate
• Based on the unique needs of the student
• Yielding meaningful benefit and student
  progress

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Accomplished through the GIEP