LEARNING SUPPORT SERVICES

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LEARNING SUPPORT SERVICES

• GIFTED PRESENTATION
• October 28, 2008 and
• October 30, 2008
• Revision 10/10/2008 755 AM

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LEARNING SUPPORT SERVICES

• Introduction of OCDSB staff and Facilitator
• Superintendent Cathy Nevins and Neil
  Yorke-Slader
• Facilitator Jim Kennelly
• Staff Learning Support Services
• - Nancy Reid, Gifted Learning Support
  Consultant
• - Rachelle Sintic, Gifted Learning Support
  Consultant
• - Dylan Smith, Gifted Itinerant Teacher -
  Elementary
• 4. Principals are here to listen, learn and
  perhaps add to the conversation but not to
  advocate for their school or gifted programs

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INTRODUCTION

• WHY ARE WE HERE?
• As a result of declining enrolment and the need
  to ensure the OCDSB is meeting the needs of
  students by offering programs that are both
  viable and sustainable, Board approved a
  consultation plan on 24 June 2008 to aid in
  decision-making regarding the number and location
  of secondary Gifted Centres. Currently,
  specialized gifted programs are available in five
  secondary schools. It is the intent of staff that
  the secondary gifted program will continue to be
  offered where viable.
• As part of the approved consultation plan,
  parents of all OCDSB students who have been
  identified through the Identification, Placement,
  and Review Committee (IPRC) process as being
  gifted are being surveyed to help us identify the
  factors that are most important to parents when
  making the decision whether or not enroll their
  child in a specialized gifted program in
  secondary school.

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PURPOSE

• WHAT IS THE PURPOSE?
• The purpose of this evening is to listen to
  parents regarding our gifted programming.
• First, we will share some information with you.
  Then our facilitator, Jim Kennelly will lead us
  through the questions that we have developed.
  Then we will wrap up this evenings session.
• Information gathered on October 28th and 30th,
  through consultation will be part of a report
  that is scheduled to go to the Board of Trustees
  in December 2008.
• What staff want, and we believe parents want is
  sustainable gifted programming in our secondary
  schools. To have sustainable programming, we
  need a sustainable mass of students from grade 9
  to grade 12 to ensure that there are classes
  available in many subjects and grades for our
  gifted students.

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PURPOSE

• Over the past number of years, a number of
  initiatives have been undertaken regarding
  secondary gifted programming. First, we have the
  Bendel Services report of 2006 and we will share
  the highlights.
• Then we have the questions that staff asked the
  secondary schools with gifted students in the
  fall of 2007.
• Now we have the survey letters that have been
  sent home with our identified gifted learners and
  this evenings consultation.
• In addition, we have gathered samples of data
  from schools offering gifted programs to share
  the trends.
• The information gathered from schools, surveys,
  and consultation will be the bases of a report to
  the Board of Trustees with recommendations for
  gifted centers in the future.

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BENDEL SERVICES REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

• WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND?
• In the fall of 2005 staff from Learning Support
  Services was directed to examine the number and
  location of the Secondary Gifted Centres with a
  view to implementing proposed changes for the
  2007-2008 academic year. The examination was to
  take the form of four phases including an initial
  review by staff, a consultative stage with
  various groups inside and outside the system, a
  decision-making stage and finally an
  implementation stage. This 2006 report represents
  the first stage. In specific terms this review
  was designed to do the following
• i. To review the historical patterns and
  projected enrolment patterns of the Secondary
  Gifted Centres.
• ii. To review best practices and challenges.
• iii. To review the impact of changes (actual and
  proposed).

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BENDEL SERVICES REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

• Methodology Data Sources
• The data base for the review came from several
  sources and is both quantitative and qualitative
  in nature. In terms of the former, information on
  enrolment was gathered from individual schools,
  from the Planning Department and from Curriculum
  Services. In terms of the latter, interviews were
  held with the school staff (generally principals
  from Gifted Centres and four principals from
  schools not designated as Gifted Centres) as well
  as with central staff associated with the
  Secondary Gifted Program. Documents collected
  included artifacts from the Ministry of
  Education, the central offices of the
  Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and from
  individual schools. Finally, materials from
  research on gifted education were also used to
  support observations, findings and
  recommendations.

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BENDEL SERVICES REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

• Methodology Data Sources
• This report includes references to specific
  schools in the presentation of quantitative data,
  specifically enrolment figures and patterns from
  the Secondary Gifted Centres and lists of course
  offerings from both the Centres and from other
  schools in the system. Whenever possible,
  however, to avoid comparisons between and among
  schools, and to protect the individuals who
  offered opinions or suggestions or provided
  school-based materials, the names of schools have
  been removed. This report is intended as an
  examination of program issues, not as a comment
  on the successes or challenges facing one school
  in comparison to another.

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BENDEL SERVICES REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

• The recommendations of the review were
  implemented as follows
• The OCDSB confirm its decision to maintain the
  secondary gifted centre as a program delivery
  option by establishing its status as a system
  program and by addressing it in the context of a
  system-wide program rationalization model.
• Policy P.105.CUR and Procedure PR.629.CUR be
  reviewed to determine whether or not the addition
  of Enriched and Advanced Placement courses should
  be subject to more central direction
• Policy P.077.PLG and Procedure PR.569.PLG be
  reviewed in the context of the OCDSBs attempts
  to support program viability at the Secondary
  Gifted Centres.

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BENDEL SERVICES REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

• The recommendations of the review were
  implemented as follows
• The OCDSB examine the inclusion of Enriched and
  Advanced Placement courses in Policy P/.105.CUR
  and Procedure PR.629.CUR and that part of the
  examination of the issue include clear
  definitions of Enriched and Advanced Placement
  courses and course packages.
• The OCDSB reduce the number of Secondary Gifted
  Centres from six to four.

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BENDEL SERVICES REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

• The recommendations of the review were
  implemented as follows
• a) The impact on the schools capacity to deliver
  programs to non-gifted students,
• b) The location of the school and the
  availability of transportation of one site
  relative to another gifted site,
• c) The possibility that other program changes
  not related to gifted education would have a
  positive/negative impact on overall school
  enrolment of the schools where the Centres would
  be moved.
• The above three criteria be considered in the
  removal of the Secondary Gifted Program from two
  of the current five sites.

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BENDEL SERVICES REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

• The recommendations of the review were
  implemented as follows
• The OCDSB through Curriculum Services and
  Learning Support Services undertake a project to
  assist schools in differentiation programs to
  address individual needs in a systematic fashion.
• The OCDSB examine the nature of evaluation
  practices in the Gifted Centres to ensure there
  are consistent with the written and taught
  curriculum but, at the same time, that they
  address the legitimate concerns about lower marks
  and implications for post-secondary placements.

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BENDEL SERVICES REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

• The recommendations of the review were
  implemented as follows
• The District and the Gifted Centres work together
  on a staff development plan that assists teachers
  in meeting the individualized needs of gifted
  students. That plan should focus on
  differentiation in all three aspects of
  teaching/learning i.e., curriculum, instruction
  and evaluation.
• The OCDSB establish, in consultation with Gifted
  Centre principals, a minimum standard for gifted
  course load at the Centres.

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QUESTIONS WE ARE FACING

• QUESTIONS ASKED OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STAFF IN
  2007-2008
• At each site, we asked the following questions
• How many gifted students do you have in each
  grade level
• Do you have congregated classes? If yes, how
  many at each grade level are fully in the
  congregated program
• Based on your statistics, are students opting out
  of partial integration (50 or more of their
  course selection in gifted) in grade 11. And if
  the answer to this question is yes, what is their
  reason for this switch to the academic program.
  (If you have Advanced Placement or other enriched
  courses please identify if they are choosing
  these courses over gifted)

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QUESTIONS WE ARE FACING

• At each site, we asked the following questions
• Are students opting out of certain subjects only
  in congregated gifted classes?
• Do you offer other programs such Advanced
  Placement or other?

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GIFTED NUMBERS SECONDARY

• Gifted Students
• As of 20072008 Overall
• Bell 254 grade 9 40
• Glebe 72 grade 9 16
• Gloucester 62 grade 9 5
• Lisgar 337 grade 9 92
• Merivale 103 grade 9 21
• Ridgemont 11 grade 9 1
• By grade 11, the students are taking whatever
  courses they want and not necessarily gifted.
  Many are taking advanced placement.
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• As of 20082009 Overall
• Bell 211 grade 9 55
• Glebe 76 grade 9 11
• Gloucester 47 grade 9 7
• Lisgar 340 grade 9 86
• Merivale 93 grade 9 17
• Ridgemont 0 grade 9 0

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SECONDARY GIFTED INFORMATION 2008-2009
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SECONDARY GIFTED INFORMATION
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SECONDARY GIFTED INFORMATION

• The following sites do not offer a specialized
  gifted program yet have the following number of
  gifted students
• 2007-08 2008-09
• Nepean 48 59
• Colonel By 82 103
• (538 students in IB program)
• Canterbury 78 27

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SECONDARY GIFTED INFORMATION

• Gifted Numbers Over Time
• 2005 2007 2008/09
• Bell 262 254 211
• Glebe 125 72 76
• Gloucester 104 62 47
• Lisgar 314 337 340
• Merivale 148 103 93
• Ridgemont 23 11 0

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STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

• PROVINCIAL OVERVIEW
• The Special Education agenda is the same as the
  overall student achievement agenda Improved
  student achievement
• Demographics (2005-2006)
• 13.72 of the total student population, or
  290,725 students were reported to be receiving
  special education programs and services
• 43 of identified students are in the learning
  disabilities category of exceptionality
• Approximately 82 of all students (86 secondary)
  receiving special education are placed in regular
  classrooms for more than half of the
  instructional day
• Gifted represents 13.4 of the students identified

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STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND SPECIAL
EDUCATIONQUESTIONS FOR PARENTS TO ADDRESS

• What if the Board was to demand that as part of
  access to the gifted program, parents and
  students committed to four years of gifted
  courses?
• Why? Then principals would have the critical
  mass necessary to plan their staffing and
  timetables.
• What if programs without critical mass were not
  offered but students could take an advanced
  placement for the same course?
• Why? Principal can not afford to staff gifted
  programs without a critical mass of students
  (critical mass 18 students)
• What if students who transferred to access the
  gifted program then opted out of gifted
  programming were transferred back to their home
  school?
• Why? Many students transfer then take one
  semester of gifted programs and then opt out of
  gifted programs and take academic stream classes.
• What if schools with gifted programming offered
  only Language Arts or Math gifted programs and
  the rest were academic?
• Why? The data gathered indicates that students
  in gifted programs take gifted English and Math
  but will take academic programs in other
  subjects.
• To offer gifted programs, secondary schools need
  85-90 students for 3 classes. What if a school
  could drop their gifted programming if they only
  had 40 students?
• Why? Without a critical mass, staffing and
  timetabling is very difficult if not impossible.

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