Links for Portland Parents of Talented and Gifted Children

 


Home news position paper local state/federal media reports Listservs Links to meta-sites topics my articles research help Progress-based assessment

 

 

 

Other articles/websites/specific topics

 

(note: this is a very select list.  Much more comprehensive collections of articles are available from the "websites"   page.  Start with the Hoagies site.)

 

CONTENTS

 

 

   Ability Grouping 

   Advocacy

   Articles and blogs

   College Advice

   Distance learning

   Home schooling

   Parenting

   Reports and proceedings

   Research resources and tools

   Special Needs

   Testing and IQ

   Unusually Gifted

   Progress-Based Assessment (separate page)


 

 

Ability Grouping

 

  

NRCG/T Digests with Recommendations: (see below for full-text online editions):

 

"The Relationship of Grouping Practices to the Education of the Gifted and Talented Learner," Dr. Karen B. Rogers: http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/rogers.html

 

"An Analysis of the Research on Ability Grouping: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives" Dr. James A. Kulik http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/kulik.html

 

"Promoting Student Achievement and Exemplary Classroom Practices Through Cluster Grouping: A Research-Based Alternative to Heterogeneous Elementary Classrooms" Dr. Marcia Lynne Gentry http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/gentry.html

 

 

     Full-Text articles relevant to grouping from the NRC/GT

(For the entire list of monographs, go to http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/nrconlin.html#9204)

 

"An Analysis of the Research on Ability Grouping Historical and Contemporary Perspectives" James A. Kulik, Ph.D. The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan

February 1992 Number 9204

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/reports/rbdm9204/rbdm9204.pdf

 

"Cooperative Learning and the Academically Talented Student" Ann Robinson, Ph.D.

University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas, http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/reports/rbdm9106/rbdm9106.pdf

 

"The Relationship of Grouping Practices to the Education of the Gifted and Talented Learner" Karen B. Rogers, Ph.D. University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, October 1991, Number 9102

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/reports/rbdm9102/rbdm9102.pdf

 

"The Effects of Grouping and Curricular Practices on Intermediate Students' Math Achievement" Carol L. Tieso, University of Alabama,  Tuscaloosa, Alabama February 2002 Number RM02154

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/reports/rm02154/rm02154.pdf

 

"An Observational Study of Instructional and Curricular Practices Used With Gifted and Talented Students in Regular Classrooms" Karen L. Westberg, Francis X. Archambault, Jr., Sally M. Dobyns, Thomas J. Salvin, The University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, July 1993

Research Monograph 93104 (shows that differentiated instruction rarely happens in mixed classrooms)

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/reports/rm93104/rm93104.pdf

 

 

"Evaluation of the Effects of Programming Arrangements on Student Learning Outcomes"

Marcia A. B. Delcourt, Brenda H. Loyd, Dewey G. Cornell, Marc D. Goldberg, The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, October 1994, Research Monograph 94108

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/reports/rm94108/rm94108.pdf

 

"The Effects of Group Composition on Gifted and Non-Gifted Elementary Students in Cooperative Learning Groups" David A. Kenny,  Francis X. Archambault, Jr., Bryan W. Hallmark (found that mixed cooperative groups actually harmed lower achieving students and resulted in more negative social relations; no change was found in learning by high-achieving students)

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/reports/rm95116/rm95116.pdf

 

"Qualitative Extension of the Learning Outcomes Study" Marcia A. B. Delcourt, Karen Evans

The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia,   November 1994, Research Monograph 94110

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/reports/rm94110/rm94110.pdf

 

Marcia Gentry's landmark study on cluster grouping is now online:

"Promoting Student Achievement and Exemplary Classroom Practices Through Cluster Grouping A Research-Based Alternative to Heterogeneous Elementary Classrooms"

"Qualitative and quantitative research data indicate a relationship between professional development in gifted education, cluster grouping, and increased achievement scores. Teachers using cluster grouping held high, yet realistic, expectations of students."

Abstract and Conclusions:

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/gentry.html

Full study:

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/reports/rm99138/rm99138.pdf

 

 

 

 

    Other grouping articles and sites:

 

"Ability grouping Works and Is Essential in Middle School and Beyond" a blog post from the "Gifted Challenges" blog by Gail Post:

https://giftedchallenges.blogspot.com/2017/03/ability-grouping-works-and-is-essential.html

        Portland Public Schools TAG office, Educator Resources, "grouping" a collection of articles and resources

        http://www.pps.k12.or.us/departments/tag/1399.htm

"All Together Now? Educating High and Low Achievers in the same Classroom" by Michael J. Petrelli, Education Next, Winter 2011. Highly recommended

http://educationnext.org/all-together-now/

 

Tracking and Detracking High Achievers in Massachusetts Middle Schools by Tom Loveless for the Fordham Institute (December: 2009).  Loveless found that  “detracking” may harm high-achieving youngsters in middle school math (but not English) Middle schools with more tracks had more math pupils performing at the advanced and proficient levels and fewer students at the needs improvement and failing levels whereas detracked schools  had more failing and needs improvement students.  Schools with one track have the most failing math students (26 percent), schools with two tracks fewer (20 percent), and schools with three or more tracks fewer failures still (14 percent). When schools’ socioeconomic status is held constant, each additional track in eighth-grade math (up to three) is associated with a 3 percentage-point rise in students scoring at the advanced level. That means the advantage for a school offering three tracks instead of one is associated with a 6 percentage-point gain in the number of students performing at high levels. http://www.edexcellencemedia.net/publications/2009/200912_trackinganddetracking/200912_Detracking.pdf

 

Devil is in the Details when it comes to Tracking/Untracking by Holly Yettick for the Inside School Research blog of Education Week, March 21, 2014 http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2014/03/algebra_for_all.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS3 a discussion of a study "Skill-based Sorting in an Era  of College Prep for All". See below for a link to the study.  The blog concludes that detracking for math can work when struggling students receive additional support AND teachers are consulted.  Oddly, the blog assumes that this is evidence against tracking. The results of the study suggest that tracking was the more successful policy for most students and especially for high-achieving students.

For gifted children, being intelligent can have dark implications  Marcello Di Cintio, Swerve Published on January 30, 2015 | Last Updated February 2, 2015 134 PM MST http://calgaryherald.com/life/swerve/gifted-children-are-frequently-misunderstood

....Nearly all teachers and parents of gifted students, however, consider congregated [self-contained] classrooms essential. "People say it teaches the kids not to get along in the real world," Aldred says. "I believe it is about survival." Gifted kids need a place where they can feel safe and accepted for all their various intensities. A place where they can be themselves, quirks and all.  Janice Robertson agrees a congregated gifted program may well have saved her son’s life. Janice had long been concerned about Mark (both their names have been changed). He was an exceptionally smart kid who taught himself to read by the time he was two years old. But a darkness always hung behind Mark’s brightness. "He would say things like, ‘I’m just going to hurt myself,'" Janice remembers. He used to bang his head on the floor and once, when he was three, pointed to a digger on a construction site and said, "I’m going to ask that digger to dig a hole and put us in it and bury us.".....

 

"Skill-based Sorting in an Era  of College Prep for All"  by Elaine M. Allensworth and Takako Nomi http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Sorting%20Brief_0.pdf Recommended. A research review by the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research, March 2014.  This brief summarizes the results of ten separate studies of Chicago's "Algebra for All", Double dose Algebra and College Prep for All.  Nor surpisingly, the study finds that results are mixed: the authors found that how schools sort students is as important as the content students are exposed to.

Below are two of the more striking conclusions:

"Average test scores are higher when classes are sorted by skills due to large benefits for high-skilled students’ learning gains. ...
A universal curriculum with unsorted class-rooms can increase, rather than diminish, inequities by race and income if teachers are unable to differentiate instruction and maintain classroom control."

 

"Setting The Record Straight on Ability Grouping" by Paula Olszewski-Kubilius in Education Week.

 

"Grouping the Gifted and Talented: questions and answers" by Karen Rogers. Reprint of a classic 1993 Roeper Review article on the Genius Denied website. A comprehensive review of the research in this field.  Highly recommended

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10173.aspx

 

"Ability grouping is not just tracking anymore" by Carol Tieso, rept. from the Davidson Institute:

http://www.geniusdenied.com/Articles/Record.aspx?rid=13012&NavID=13_15

 

"Does Sorting Students Improve Scores? An Analysis of Class Composition by Courtney A. Collins and Li Gan  NBER Working Paper No. 18848  Issued in February 2013 by the National Bureau of Economic Research

This working paper finds that sorting students by previous performance improves their math and reading scores and that the net effect is beneficial for both high and low performing students. (Note: there is a charge for online access to this article).

http://www.nber.org/papers/w18848

 

Review of "Does Sorting Students Improve Scores? An Analysis of Class Composition

The Review concludes that the original study did not in fact determine whether the study schools were tracking students and so should not be used as a guide to policy on this topic.

http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-does-sorting-students

 

 "Inequity in Equity: How 'equity' can lead to inequity  for high-potential students"  by Camilla Benbow and Julian Stanley (1996)

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Peabody/SMPY/InequityInEquity.pdf

 

"Gifted and Growing" How one school district used computer-adaptive testing, acceleration, and levelled classes to ensure that all students made progress

 

"Distinguishing Myths From Realities NRC/GT Research" by Marcia Gentry and Karen Kettlehttp//www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/newsletter/winter98/wintr983.html

 

"The Tracking and Ability Grouping Debate" full-text of a study by Tom Loveless for the Fordham foundation, July 1998. A review of the most important recent studies on tracking and ability grouping, with recommendations. Recommended. http://www.edexcellence.net/publications/tracking.html

 

"Ability Grouping, Tracking and Alternatives" An annotated bibliography (including websites) from the WISE program at Ithaca College http://www.ithaca.edu/wise/topics/ability.htm

 

"One Size Fits All? Age based tracking versus ability grouping in elementary school mathematics." An article by Mike Robison http://www.msu.edu/user/robiso12/Grouping.htm A very clear and useful review of the most important studies on this topic. Recommended.

The final report of the national panel on mathematics instruction is now online.
 

"How should we group to achieve excellence with equity?" by Bonnie Grossen, 1996 http://www.uoregon.edu/~adiep/grp.htm

 

'The Other Crisis in American Education" by Donald Singal, from Atlantic Monthly, 1991, now hosted by the Catholic Education Resource Center  Discusses the implications of the fact that falls in average SAT scores were caused by falling scores for the top quartile of students. Recommends curricular and administrative changes. Discusses the measures taken by schools that continued to succeed when other schools were falling behind.

http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/education/ed0025.html

 

Research Synthesis on Educational Provisions for Gifted Children by Professor Karen Rogers. This is an update of her "A Best-Evidence Synthesis of research on accelerative options for gifted students." published in Colangelo and others, eds., Talent Development (1991). It looks at studies of various educational programs such as acceleration, multi-grade classrooms, curriculum compacting, and cooperative learning and estimates the "effect size" of each as fractions of a school year gained in comparison to other gifted students who are not in these programs.

Rogers also found that:

 

Montgomery School's New Take On Ability Grouping Yields Results By Daniel deVise  Washington Post, Sunday, November 4, 2007; A01

    "Roberson and the Rock View faculty are having remarkable success lifting children out of that gap, the achievement gap that separates poor and minority children from other students and represents one of public education's most intractable problems.

    They have done it with an unusual approach. The Kensington school's 497 students are grouped into classrooms according to reading and math ability for more than half of the instructional day.

    The technique, called performance-based grouping, is uncommon in the region. Some educators believe it too closely resembles tracking, the outmoded practice of assigning students to inflexible academic tracks by ability."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/03/AR2007110301167_3.html?sid=ST2007110301386

 

White Paper on Grouping issued by the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)

"Grouping gifted children is one of the foundations of exemplary gifted education practice. The research on the many grouping strategies available to educators of these children is long, consistent, and overwhelmingly positive (Rogers, 2006; Tieso, 2003). Nonetheless, the “press” from general educators, both teachers and administrators, has been consistently less supportive. Myths abound that grouping these children damages the self-esteem of struggling learners, creates an “elite” group who may think too highly of themselves, and is actually undemocratic and, at times, racist. None of these statements have any founding in actual research...."

http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=4450

 

Advocacy:

 

see also "state/federal" and "grouping"

 

"The greatest economic risk to the nation isn't borrowing or debt, but deficient elementary schools that will hurt future productivity." Alan Greenspan testifying before the Senate Banking committee, February 16, 2005 (reported in the Charlotte Observer)

 

"Administrator's Toolkit--Quick Guide" from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC).  Written by administrators for administrators.  Link is to a summary of the various elements in the toolkit http://www.nagc.org/uploadedFiles/Information_and_Resources/Administrators/QuickGuide%20.pdf

See also the entire toolkit at

http://www.nagc.org/administratortoolbox.aspx

 

"Advocacy and Education Options," A collection of popular blog posts from Gail Post's "Gifted Challenges" blog:

https://giftedchallenges.blogspot.com/p/best-of-gifted-challenges.html

 

"Advocacy Toolkit" from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=36

 

Advocating for Exceptionally Gifted Young People: a step-by-step "how to" guide from the Davidson Institute.  Recommended

 

Advocacy for Gifted Students from the High Ability blog of the Ohio Association for Gifted Children.   https://highability.wordpress.com/advocacy-for-gifted-students/

 

ACHIEVE report  "Rising to the Challenge: Are High School Graduates Prepared for College and Work?"

  "College instructors are the harshest critics of public high schools. Only 18% of college professors feel that most of their students come to college extremely or very well prepared, with just 3% saying extremely well. ... Even at colleges with competitive admission policies that only let in high performing students, only 30% of instructors say that most of their students come to college well prepared....College instructors estimate that 42% of high school graduates are not adequately prepared by their high school education for the expectations of college classes and are struggling or having to take remedial courses to catch up....  (50%) is not adequately prepared for college-level writing.......A surprisingly low 30% of those in college preparatory programs think that they were significantly challenged in high school"

http://www.achieve.org/node/548

 

The Achievement Trap from the Jack Kent Cooke foundation documents the barriers faced by high-achieving low-income students

www.jkcf.org/assets/files/0000/0084/Achievement_Trap.pdf

Tanner Mathison, a student featured in the report, was an Oregon student who left the state in search of a better education.

 

"Our Achievement-Gap Mania" Frederick M. Hess National Affairs 9 ~ FALL 2011

"The effects of achievement-gap mania have been particularly severe in the area of advanced instruction and gifted education. In February 2009, the California Legislature adopted a plan that allows public schools to divert state money for gifted children to ‘‘any educational purpose." A 2010 study by the California Legislative Analyst's Office found that 68% of the 231 school districts surveyed had shifted resources away from education for gifted students. California's Evergreen School District, for example, responded by eliminating all its programs for approximately 800 gifted children. After noting the extensive cuts being made to gifted and talented programs, the San Francisco Chronicle observed 'Critics see courses tailored for exceptional students as elitist and not much of an issue when compared with the vast number of students who are lagging grades behind their peers or dropping out of school.' "

http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/our-achievement-gap-mania

 

"America and its high-potential kids" By Andy Smarick, in The Education Gadfly newsletter from the Fordham Institute,  October 24, 2013. See also the study "Closing America's High Achievement Gap"on which this comment is based below. 

Throughout much of 2013, a colleague and I worked on a project related to America’s highest-potential boys and girls, students colloquially known as "gifted." Though I learned a great deal, it was mostly a discouraging enterprise.In short, this country gives the impression that it doesn’t much care about such kids. We have an astonishingly under-resourced, deprioritized, and inchoate system of school supports for kids on the right side of the academic distribution...."

http://www.edexcellence.net/commentary/education-gadfly-daily/flypaper/america-and-its-high-potential-kids"

 

 "Are U.S. Students Ready to Compete?  by Paul E. Peterson, Carlos Xabel Lastra-Anadón, Eric A. Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann Education Next, Fall 2011 / Vol. 11, No. 4.  This is a companion to "Teaching Math to the Talented" which appeared earlier (see below)  The U.S. could gain an estimated $1 trillion each year if American students achieved the same level as Canadian and Korean students.

http://educationnext.org/are-u-s-students-ready-to-compete/

 

Back to school: Are we leaving gifted students behind? by Stacy Teicher Khandroo, the Christian Science Monitor, August 31, 2011.  The answer is "yes" http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2011/0831/Back-to-school-Are-we-leaving-gifted-students-behind

 

Breaking Free Public School Lessons and the Imperative of School Choice by Sol Stern for City Journal, Autumn 2011.

"Our public schools are shortchanging their best students."

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_4_academic-excellence.html

 

"Closing America's High Achievement Gap in k-12 Education" by Andy Smarick for the Philanthropy Roundtable (2013)

http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/file_uploads/High-Achievement_Interactive.pdf

 

Education and Economic Growth by Hanushek and others, Spring, 2008, argues that quality of education is a better measure than duration and that both widespread minimum attainment and a highly-educated group are needed for high economic growth.

http://educationnext.org/education-and-economic-growth/

 

 Education Reform: the problem with helping everyone reach 'average" by Ann Robinson for the Christian Science Monitor, March 11, 2011

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2011/0311/Education-reform-the-problem-with-helping-everyone-reach-average?cmpid

 

For Gifted Children, Being Intelligent Can Have Dark Implications.  By Marcello Di Cintio for the Calgary Herald, January 30, 2015.

http://calgaryherald.com/life/swerve/gifted-children-are-frequently-misunderstood .

 

Gifted Education Works!  A round-up of research on a variety of Gifted Education programming from the National Association for Gifted Children

http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=566

 

Know Your Legal Rights in Gifted Education. ERIC Digest E541., Karnes, Frances A.; Marquardt, Ronald

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/eric/e541.html

 

"Leaving Talent on the Table" an editorial from the Fordham Institute, March 2016

http://edexcellence.net/articles/leaving-talent-on-the-table-fixing-gifted-education-in-america

"For decades, elected officials, education leaders, and others have consumed much oxygen talking about the challenges facing our nation from countries doing a much better job developing their academic talent. Despite this the reality is that we have largely failed to address this concern as many of our most talented children are being overlooked and uncultivated."

 

"Mind the (Other) Gap--The Growing Excellence Gap in k-12 Education", by Jonathan A. Plucker, Nathan Burroughs, and Ruiting Song, Center for Evaluation & Education Policy, February 4, 2010.  See also the follow-up study: "Talent on the Sidelines" below. 

"...Although there has been a general improvement in academic performance, are achievement gaps also shrinking at the highest levels of student achievement? The purpose of this report is to review national and state assessment data for the existence of "excellence gaps," differences between subgroups of students performing at the highest levels of achievement. That excellence gaps have received so little attention over the past decade is a major oversight. The existence of such gaps raises doubts about the success of federal and state governments in providing greater and more equitable educational opportunities, particularly as the proportion of minority and low-income students continues to rise. The goal of guaranteeing that all children will have the opportunity to reach their academic potential is called into question if educational policies only assist some students while others are left behind. Furthermore, the comparatively small percentage of students scoring at the highest level on achievement tests suggests that children with advanced academic potential are being under-served, with potentially serious consequences for the long-term economic competitiveness of the U.S..."

https://www.iub.edu/~ceep/Gap/excellence/ExcellenceGapBrief.pdf

 

PSA Primer:  Written for people interested in promoting the Year of Languages by encouraging media to run Public Service Announcements, this is a handbook on publicity for nonprofits and advocates:  http://www.actfl.org/files/public/PSACampaignPrimer.pdf

 

Parents for Public Schools, Advocacy links http://www.parents4publicschools.com/Resources_advocacy.htm

 

"Science and Engineering Indicators, 2004." National Science Board of the National Science Foundation,  http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/showpub.cfm?TopID=2&SubID=9

See in particular Chapter 3, "Science and Engineering Labor force"     "The share of foreign-born scientists and engineers in the U.S. S&E workforce rose to a record in 2000, reflecting high levels of entry by both permanent and temporary visa holders during the 1990s. Data from the 2000 U.S. Census show that, in S&E occupations, approximately 17 percent of bachelor's degree holders, 29 percent of master's degree holders, and 38 percent of doctorate holders are foreign born." http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seind04/c3/c3h.htm

 

Seven Myths about Parents of Gifted Children from Lisa Conrad's Gifted Parenting Support blog:

http://giftedparentingsupport.blogspot.com/2015/03/7-myths-surrounding-parents-of-gifted.html

 

"Talent on the Sidelines: Excellence Gaps and America's Persistent Talent Underclass" by Jonathan A. Plucker, Ph.D., Jacob Hardesty, Ph.D., Nathan Burroughs, Ph.D. , Neag School of Education, Center for Education Policy ANalysis, (N.D. but 2012 or 2013). The website includes a state-by-state summary.

http://cepa.uconn.edu/mindthegap/

"Based on the results of our studies and a growing body of research, there is considerable evidence that America has a permanent talent underclass. Year after year, with billions and billions of dollars spent on interventions and policy initiatives that focus largely on minimum competency, the vast majority of our bright minority children, ELL students, and students of limited financial means underperform academically. The trends we noted in 2010 were depressing, but there were limited signs of hope. The data we explored for the current study should crush anyone’s optimism about the country’s success in developing academic talent The rich are getting richer, so to speak (but not in all cases), and the poor continue to show evidence of incremental, insufficient progress." p. 27

 

 

"The Other Crisis in American Education" by Daniel Singal comments that the level of preparation of college-bound students declined sufficiently to cause overall SAT scores to drop 60 points despite a slow but steady improvement in the scores of students in the lowest quartile.

http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/education/ed0025.html

 

"The Top 5 Misconceptions about Gifted Parents" on the gifted parenting support blog:

http://giftedparentingsupport.blogspot.com/2014/07/top-5-misconceptions-about-gifted.html

"Young, gifted, and black? Prepare to fight for your education" by Courtney McKinney on the High Flyers blog. May 10, 2017

"Parent savvy should not be a prerequisite for kids to have their needs met in the education system. Until these disparities are remedied, this country will hemorrhage vital human capital, especially as demographics continue to shift and the majority of school children are not white. Our mosaic of a country desperately needs diversity in our C-suites, in production companies, and in state houses and Congress, so we have to make sure all our students have access to what they need in school. Unfortunately, it remains largely up to parents to make sure educators stay on their toes. Parents, especially black parents, must make educators aware that, if their children’s needs are not being met, they will advocate for the education they deserve."

 

https://www.nagc.org/blog/young-gifted-and-black-prepare-fight-your-education

 

 

Editorials by Chester Finn:

 

"A Different Kind of Lesson from Finland" , Education Week, November 3, 2015  (with Brandon L. Wright)

 

."...Differentiated instruction certainly aligns with the Finnish culture and self-concept, and it's plenty popular among other educators, too, thanks to its obvious allure on grounds of both fairness and individualization. It's a very big deal among U.S. educators, and we found some of it in all 11 countries that we profile in our recently published book, Failing Our Brightest Kids: The Global Challenge of Educating High-Ability Students. Everywhere we went, we encountered some version of this assertion: 'We don't need to provide special programs or schools for gifted children, because we expect every school and teacher to adapt their instruction to meet the unique educational needs of all children, including the very able.'

But such solemn, wishful affirmations don't necessarily accord with reality on the ground. ..." http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/11/04/a-different-kind-of-lesson-from-finland.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news2

Is Differentiated Instruction a Hollow Promise ? by Chester Finn for the Flypaper of the Fordham Institute, May 1, 2014

http://www.edexcellence.net/commentary/education-gadfly-daily/flypaper/is-differentiated-instruction-a-hollow-promise

(In most cases, the answer is "yes.")

 

 "Young, Gifted and Neglected"  September 18, 2012

Washington

BARACK OBAMA and Mitt Romney both attended elite private high schools. Both are undeniably smart and well educated and owe much of their success to the strong foundation laid by excellent schools.

Every motivated, high-potential young American deserves a similar opportunity. But the majority of very smart kids lack the wherewithal to enroll in rigorous private schools. They depend on public education to prepare them for life. Yet that system is failing to create enough opportunities for hundreds of thousands of these high-potential girls and boys.

Mostly, the system ignores them, with policies and budget priorities that concentrate on raising the floor under low-achieving students. A good and necessary thing to do, yes, but we’ve failed to raise the ceiling for those already well above the floor.

Public education’s neglect of high-ability students doesn’t just deny individuals opportunities they deserve. It also imperils the country’s future supply of scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs.

Today’s systemic failure takes three forms.

First, we’re weak at identifying "gifted and talented" children early, particularly if they’re poor or members of minority groups or don’t have savvy, pushy parents.

Second, at the primary and middle-school levels, we don’t have enough gifted-education classrooms (with suitable teachers and curriculums) to serve even the existing demand. ....

Third, many high schools have just a smattering of honors or Advanced Placement classes, sometimes populated by kids who are bright but not truly prepared to succeed in them.......

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/opinion/gifted-students-deserve-more-opportunities.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

 

"Gifted students have ‘special needs,’ too"  January 2, 2013

"Are our national education-reform priorities cheating America's intellectually ablest girls and boys? Yes—and the consequence is a human capital catastrophe for the United States. It's not as dramatic or abrupt as the fiscal cliff. But if we fail to pay attention, one day we'll be very sorry.

...We'd like to believe that every teacher can do right by every child in each classroom. But let's be serious How many of our 3 million­plus teachers are up to this challenge? The typical class is profoundly diverse in ability, motivation, and prior attainment. In most cases, instructors—under added pressure from state and federal accountability regimes—end up focusing on pupils below the "proficient" line, at the expense of their high achievers......

Despite plenty of evidence that America is failing to nurture its gifted students, the problem fails to awaken much interest from education leaders and philanthropists.

http://www.edexcellence.net/commentary/education-gadfly-daily/flypaper/2013/gifted-students-have-special-needs-too.html

 

 

"Playing the gifted-student race card" January 17, 2013

....Millions of high-ability, academically promising youngsters are not receiving the challenging education they need to reach their maximum potential.

That’s what we should aspire to—and work to make happen. Alas, that’s not how many places currently function. Among the victims of our present dysfunction are millions of high-ability, academically promising youngsters who are not getting the kinds of "gifted-and-talented" education that would likely do them the most good and help them to realize their maximum potential. (Collateral victims are a society and economy that thereby fail to make the most of this latent human capital.)....

http://www.edexcellence.net/commentary/education-gadfly-weekly/2013/january-17/playing-the-gifted-student-race-card.html#body

 

 

Speech by Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel (pdf. file)

"Educational Complacency will make U.S. Feel the Pain" an article in USA Today 2.23.05

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-02-23-barrett_x.htm

 

"Neither the business nor the education community has done enough to convey the important message that U.S. education is an extremely serious problem, really a ticking time bomb. If not resolved, this inadequate education could eventually lead to enormous repercussions for our citizens, our economy and our nation as a whole. Our educational system needs drastic repair, yet our national leaders are sitting around debating a few details – whether we should have tests, whether we should have assessments, etc. – and really ignoring the task of forging an overall solution to our problems."

 

"The kids at the top of the heap are smarter than ever, but they're a decreasing slice of the pie. You can argue whether we rank 17th, 18th or 20th out of 20 countries in math and science comprehension among our 12th-grade kids. The longer they stay in the system, the worse they get. Who could [and should] tolerate such a system? [It's almost as if we said,] "Let's take a generation of our young people and legislate them into a system where the longer they stay in [school], the worse off they are to compete in the world's economy." This is bloody crazy."

 

"Ten Common Myths about Gifted Education" (and the realities)

http://www.nagc.org/commonmyths.aspx

 

"Ten Things All Administrators Should Know about Gifted Students" by Joyce VanTassel Baska

 http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=2423&terms=10+things
 

"Twelve cost effective educational options for serving gifted students"  from the Davidson Institute.  The next time someone in your

district says, "we'd like to serve gifted children but our budget is too tight," give them this and suggest they offer the inexpensive options on this list.

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10363.aspx

 

 "Wasting Talent Everyone's local school needs to do better", by Paul E. Peterson, Education Next 

Winter 2011 / Vol. 11, No. 1

"Americans tend to think their local elementary and middle schools are much better than those of the nation as a whole. The problems with schools, people seem to believe, are found somewhere else: Schools are dreadful in the inner city, perhaps, or in other parts of the country, maybe. My local schools are just fine. On some measures, they may be right. Yet schools across the country fall short when it comes to challenging the best and brightest."

http://educationnext.org/wasting-talent/

What a [Gifted] Child Doesn't Learn by Tracy Inman

http://www.portage.k12.in.us/1607201022142821597/lib/1607201022142821597/pdfs/April/Whatachilddoesntlearn.pdf

 

 "What it really boils down to" an especially cogent post on Tamara Fisher's blog, Unwrapping the Gifted posted on :
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/unwrapping_the_gifted/2012/09/what_it_really_boils_down_to.html?cmp=ENL-EU-VIEWS2

Why our Nation Needs to Educate our Gifted and Talented Youth: a collection of facts from the Davidson Institute
http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10398.aspx


 Teaching Math to the Talented Which countries—and states—are producing high-achieving students? By Eric Hanushek, Paul E. Peterson and Ludger Woessmann in Education Next,

Winter 2011 / Vol. 11, No. 1

http://educationnext.org/teaching-math-to-the-talented/

"Maintaining our productivity as a nation depends importantly on developing a highly qualified cadre of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and other professionals. To realize that objective requires a system of schooling that produces students with advanced math and science skills. .....

Unfortunately, we found that the percentage of students in the U.S. Class of 2009 who were highly accomplished in math is well below that of most countries with which the United States generally compares itself......

The economic and technological demand for a talented, well-educated, highly skilled population has never been greater. Not only must everyday workers have a set of technical skills surpassing those needed in the past, but a cadre of highly talented professionals trained to the highest level of accomplishment is needed to foster innovation and growth. ...

Unfortunately, the United States trails other industrialized countries in bringing a large proportion of its students up to the highest levels of accomplishment. .... Only a small proportion of the children of our college-educated population is equipped to compete with students in a majority of OECD countries.

Major policy initiatives within the United States have in recent years focused on the educational needs of low-performing students. Such efforts deserve commendation, but they can leave the impression that there is no similar need to enhance the education of those students the STEM coalition has called "the best and brightest." Yet, with rapidly advancing technologies in an increasingly integrated world economy, no one doubts the extraordinary importance of highly accomplished professionals.

Admittedly, the United States could simply ignore the needs of its own young people and continue to import highly skilled scientists and engineers who were prepared by better-performing schools abroad. But even such a heartless, irresponsible strategy relies on both the nature of immigration policies and the absence of better opportunities abroad, two things on which we might not want the future to depend. It seems much more prudent to encourage the most capable of our own people to reach high levels of academic accomplishment.


 

Articles and blog posts on Miscellaneous Topics

 

 "Are We Lifting All Boats or Only Some? Equity versus excellence and the talented tenth" By Richard A. Epstein, Daniel Pianko, Jon Schnur and Joshua Wyner: an Education Next interview (Summer, 2011) 11 no. 3

http://educationnext.org/are-we-lifting-all-boats-or-only-some/#

 

"The Blame Game"  ever wondered why the conference you thought would be about providing services to your child ends up being about what's wrong with your child?  This article explains why. Written for Special Education parents but equally persuasive for TAG parents .

http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/ALESSI1.html

 

The Catch-22 of Gifted Underachievement on The Fissure Blog by Emily VR posted 2/2016 http://thefissureblog.com/2016/02/01/the-catch-22-of-gifted-underachievement/

 

"Challenging the Gifted: Nuclear chemistry and Sartre draw the best and brightest to Reno"
By June Kronholz  Education Next (Spring 2011)  Vol. 11, No. 2

Profile of the Davidsons, the Davidson Academy in Reno and the students who attend it http://educationnext.org/challenging-the-gifted/

 

"Competing with Myths concerning the Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Students'' by Tracy Cross http://www.sengifted.org/articles_social/Cross_CompetingWithMythsAboutTheSocialAndEmotionalDevelopment.shtml

 

 Competition Makes a Comeback: Academic bees and bowls attract top students By June Kronholz,  for Education Next (Summer 2010) Vol. 10, No. 3

http://educationnext.org/competition-makes-a-comeback/

 

"The Dos and Don'ts of instruction: What it Means to teach Gifted Learners Well" by Carol Ann Tomlinson http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=659

 

"From "the saddest sound" to the D Major chord: The gift of accelerated progression." Miraca U.M. Gross, http://www.eddept.wa.edu.au/gifttal/EAGER/MiracaGross.html

 

Gifted Children A Journal published by the  Special Interest Group on Giftedness, Creativity and Talent of the American Education Research Association. A full-text journal that publishes about 4 articles each year in addition to book reviews.

http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/giftedchildren/

 

 "Gifted Children, the myth."  An Australian article by Helen Dowland ("Reception" is Kindergarten).  Everyone should read this one.  While you are at it, read the other articles on her website www.helendowland.com

http://www.helendowland.com/Gifted%20children%20the%20Myth.htm

 

"Gifted classes may not help talented students move ahead faster: Survey finds emphasis on developing "creativity" and "critical thinking" instead of acceleration above grade level" Proof Points by Jill Barshay for the Heckinger Report,
April 15, 2019
“'This is one area where there is the most solid research base,'” said McCoach. 'If kids are given more accelerated instruction, we see higher growth.' Why do schools tend to ignore this research evidence? McCoach speculates that many educators are worried that students who race ahead will face social problems at school, even though, she says, there is no research to support this widely held belief."

https://hechingerreport.org/gifted-classes-may-not-help-talented-students-move-ahead-faster/

"The Gifted-Ed Guru" an entertaining and informative blog by Christopher Taibbi hosted by Psychology Today

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/gifted-ed-guru

 

Gifted Education Press Quarterly  free!  To receive your complimentary copy of this and previous issues of the GEPQ send an e-mail to Maurice Fisher: giftededpress@comcast.net

 

Gifts for Gifted Children--by Betsy Cornwell, syndicated from Parabola, Sep 28, 2016

"Not every gifted child is socially awkward, a poor athlete, or any of the other concepts we might associate with them. Nearly all, however, feel some degree of loneliness and isolation—even the popular, athletic ones.  There is some part of themselves that they cannot share with their peers: the part that wants to talk about the finer points of particle physics, for instance, or that just blew through the collected works of Jane Austen in a week. They’ve learned to silence it, because no one understands, or because it will make teachers and parents expect even more of them than they already give.

That’s what makes a gifted child lonely: the part of themselves they can’t share with peers or even the most well-meaning parents."

http://www.dailygood.org/story/1400/gifts-for-gifted-children-betsy-cornwell/

 

"Highly Gifted Children in Full Inclusion Classrooms" by Kathi Kearney. Highly Gifted Children, 1996.   "Gifted students, especially the highly gifted, are probably the one group in our schools for whom the inclusionary principle of "Age-appropriate placement in local public schools" (Conn, 1992, p. 28) is not developmentally appropriate." http://www.hollingworth.org/fullincl.html

 

For a very clear and entertaining explanation of why student gain data is important and should be used to correct the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) evaluation required by the No Child Left Behind Act see the Northwest Education Associates report, "Individual Growth and School Success."  Both the executive summary and the full report are available at the link below, but the full report requires registration. http://www.nwea.org/research/getreport.asp?ReportID=28

 

The Koret Report: "Our Schools and our Future--Are We Still at Risk?" a reassessment of A Nation at Risk by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.  Reviews information concerning American student achievement and finds the answer is "yes."

http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/books/osof.html 

 

 The Misunderstood  Face of Giftedness: by Marianne Kuzujanakis on the Huffington Post, April 10, 2013

"...Contrary to common stereotypes, giftedness is not synonymous with high academic achievement... Special needs classrooms are where a number of gifted children end up -- their giftedness left unsupported...."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marianne-kuzujanakis/gifted-children_b_2948258.html

 

NEW!  Serving Gifted Students in General Ed Classrooms by Elissa F. Brown, November 29, 2017

"Gifted students need teacher advocates that care about them, understand them, and can provide differentiation in the classroom, as well as options and opportunities outside of the classroom that will help them achieve at levels commensurate with their abilities. By implementing these suggestions, you'll do more than meet their needs. You'll be setting them on a trajectory toward developing their talents."

https://www.nagc.org/blog/serving-gifted-students-general-ed-classrooms

 

"To Be or Not To be.... Gifted?  Identification and Education of the Young Gifted Child," by Susan Grammer, From Gifted Education Press Quarterly http://home.netcom.com/~grammers/ToBeOrNotToBe081501/

 

Unwrapping the Gifted A thoughtful, entertaining and provocative blog by Gifted Education Specialist Tamara Fisher.  Check out the archives if you've missed some entries.

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/unwrapping_the_gifted/

 

"Urban educational challenges Is reform the answer?" Susan Fuhrman, Ph.D::

    "My topic for this address is Urban Education Reform. Clearly, there are challenges in urban schools, but what's important and what I want to focus on is that there is no shortage of reforms intended to address them. The question I want to address is - why is reform so prevalent and so disappointing?" http://www.urbanedjournal.org/articles/article0004.html

 

College advice/advanced classes/admissions/scholarships/minority college advice

 

Advanced Placement: Administered by the College Board but now on its own website: http://www.collegeboard.com/ap/

 

AP Ledger: find out which approved AP classes are offered in a given High School

https://apcourseaudit.epiconline.org/ledger/

 

ACT testing, student pages  ACT also administers the Explore test, widely used by talent searches.  The former ACT site has been divided up and is now noisy and difficult to navigate

http://www.actstudent.org/index.html

 

Blackexcel http://www.blackexcel.org/ Created to encourage young black and minority students to attend college and to provide information about the historically black colleges and universities.  Provides all sorts of college advice and help including scholarship links, advice on attending medical and law school, articles on being an african american in college, financial aid, and a newsletter.  Highly recommended for black/minority students; useful for any student.

 

 ASPIRE: a project of Americorps to provide mentoring and college application assistance to Oregon students Check out the "web links" for a wide range of information

http://www.aspireoregon.org/about.html 

 

(Early) College Planning from the Hoagies: as usual, packed with good resources

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/college.htm

 

Early College Planning for Parents One of a pair of handbooks from the Davidson Institute:

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Resources_id_14782.aspx

 

Early College Planning for Students one of a pair of handbooks from the Davidson Institute:

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Resources_id_14903.aspx

 

EduRegistry: provides a state-by-state directory of universities, colleges, and vocational/technical schools with some advice on things to consider when selecting a college.  http://www.eduregistry.org/

 

High Schoolers in College: Dual enrollment programs offer something for everyone
By June Kronholz, Education Next (Summer 2011) Vol. 11, No. 3

http://educationnext.org/high-schoolers-in-college/

 

International Baccalaureate Organization best known for its program for advanced classes for High School also has middle school and elementary school programs.  All three can be found at http://www.ibo.org/

 

Oregon College Assistance Commission (OSAC) website for financial aid: http://www.getcollegefunds.org/

 

WiredScholar.  A portal for help with all aspects of college preparation. Provided by Sallie Mae, the leading college loan corporation.  Especially helpful on financial advice http://www.wiredscholar.com/  Test information is provided by Kaplan and is limited in scope

 

SATs, AP tests and more: http://www.collegeboard.org Provides articles and research as well as just testing information

 

U.S. News college pages http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php

 

 

 

 

Distance learning resources:

 

 

 See the Distance Learning Links on the Hoagies site at http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/distance_learning.htm

and the Free Online High School Courses on the Hoagies site at:

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/online_hs.htm

 

Academic Earth  a selection of college lectures on audio/video, not for credit

http://academicearth.org/

 

Affordable Colleges Online lists programs offered online by colleges and universities programs and can be searched by different criteria including state, accreditation and cost:

http://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/

The section for Oregon can be found at:

http://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/online-colleges/oregon/

 

Carnegie Mellon Online complete introductory college level classes offered by Carnegie Mellon University.  Recommended.  http://www.cmu.edu/oli/

 

Center for Distance Education from the Center for Talented Youth, Johns Hopkins.  Includes the EPGY program jointly offered by CTY and Stanford University.  http://www.jhu.edu/~gifted/cde/

See also http://epgy.stanford.edu/  for Stanford's version

 

e-IMACS online classes from the Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science.  http://www.eimacs.com/LM/LMPlain.asp?F=eimacs&S=5

 

EPGY High School online.  A new program from Stanford  http://epgy.stanford.edu/ohs/OHSPressRelease.pdf

 

"High School and Beyond"--a list of free online courses fulfilling Maine High School Course requirements.  Compiled by Kathi Kearney, this site offers a comprehensive list of online classes including many from the CyberSchool in Eugene. http://www.homeschool-maine.org/high_school_&_beyond.htm#Free%20Online%20Courses

 

Distance Education links from the Oregon Department of Educationhttp://www.ode.state.or.us/search/results/?id=332

 

Kahn Academy dozens of 10 minute talks on math and science topics from beginning to advanced levels

http://www.khanacademy.org/

 

Learning Counts: provides College Credits for experience and by exam provided by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL)

 http://www.learningcounts.org/students/Pages/Default.aspx

 

NetMath from the University of Illinois offers  distance learning classes in advanced math with credit/certificates available to students who complete the program.

https://netmath.illinois.edu/

 

Open Course Ware Central registry of open college course ware

http://www.ocwconsortium.org/

 

Research Guides for Students http://www.aresearchguide.com/

 

Includes a section of "webquests" or digital lesson plans http://geocities.com/researchguide/webquests.html
and links to all sorts of resources useful in writing research papers including citation guides

See also the essay on "How to Survive the Internet Unscathed,"
http://www.aresearchguide.com/14surviv.html
which should be required reading for anyone with a new Internet account (and the rest of us)
 

Village Home Education Resource Center  in Beaverton.  Classes for home-schooled students, requires tuition, http://www.villagehome.org/

 

Virtual Schoolhouse  http://www.ibiblio.org/cisco/schools/

 

 

Homeschooling in Oregon

 

 

A to Zs of Homeschooling: National: http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/

 

A to Zs of Homeschooling: Oregon.  Includes listing of many Oregon homeschooling resources and associations  http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/regional/Oregon.htm

 

Homeschooling Gifted Students:
http://giftedhomeschoolers.org

 

Homeschooling Questions and Answers from the Oregon Department of Education

http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/specialty/home/faqguidelines.pdf

 

Homeschooling in Oregon by the Eugene-Springfield Homeschool Association

http://www.eshaoregon.com/

 

Oregon Homeschooling Education Network (OHEN)

 http://www.ohen.org/

 

 

 

Reports and proceedings

 

The Achievement Trap:  from The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.  A study of the extent to which high achieving low-income students are losing ground year by year.

press release: .

http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/content.aspx?page=3636348&mode=stage

full report:

http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/Documents/Achievement%20Trap.pdf

The Australian Senate Employment, Workplace Relations, Small Business and Education Committee held a series of hearings across the country on the education of Talented and Gifted Children. in 1999. Both the submissions and the actual testimony are available online.

The submissions consist of about 280 documents. Some of them are simply questionnaires that were returned to the committee, but some of them are very substantial documents including very recent research (one person submitted findings from her just completed PhD. thesis). In particular, there is a moving submission by Shaun Hately about growing up gifted (number 95) an extremely substantial document from Miraca Gross and the GERRIC that is almost a manual of gifted education, (number 215) and a very extensive and carefully researched submission by Tracy Chaloner on the needs of

exceptionally gifted children (number 230).

The submissions are available at http//www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/eet_ctte/gifted/sublist.htm

 

Credits and Attainment: Returns to Postsecondary Education Ten Years After High School by Brian Zucker and Royal Dawson, National Center for Education Statistics (April, 2001) "High school academic preparation was associated with earnings for students at several different levels of attainment...." p.14

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2001168

 

A Deeper Look at the Black-White Achievement Gap in Multnomah County

"With a grant from Chalkboard, the Black Parent Initiative commissioned ECONorthwest to develop a statistical portrait of Black students and their teachers spanning six school districts in Multnomah County. The research reveals that the gap is not primarily about the pace at which students learn, but where they start out."

http://www.chalkboardproject.org/images/PDF/BPI%20Report%20Rev.pdf

 

Dual Credit in Oregon, 2010 Follow Up, Tom North and Jonathan Jacobs, Oregon University System,  Office of Institutional Research June 23, 2010

"This study began by asking two questions: (1) Do high school students who take dual credit courses succeed when they go on to college?, and (2) Does dual credit instruction do as well as collegesituated instruction in preparing students for subsequent college coursework? The answer to the first question is a clear-cut yes. Compared to their high school classmates who do not

take dual credit coursework, a greater proportion of dual credit students go on to college in the first place. And when they get there, dual credit students earn a higher first-year GPA, they accumulate more credit by the start of the second year of college, and they continue to the second year at a higher rate.  Oregon’s dual credit program is meant to give its strongest high school students a leg up on college, and those students plainly take advantage of the opportunity.

The answer to the second question also is yes, but it is not so clear-cut. ...

http://www.ode.state.or.us/superintendent/priorities/2010-sept-15-dual-credit-study-6.pdf

 

Education at a Glance 2010: OECD Indicators.  From the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation, a large report on educational attainment in OECD countries (including the US)

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/45/39/45926093.pdf

 

"Education, Demand and Unemployment in Metropolitan America, "Jonathan Rothwell and Alan Berube, Brookings Institution (September 2011)

http//www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2011/0909_skills_unemployment_rothwell/0909_skills_unemployment_rothwell.pdf

Discusses the correlation between unemployment rates, local industrial needs and educational attainment in major U.S. cities.

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2011/0909_skills_unemployment_rothwell/0909_skills_unemployment_rothwell.pdf

 

Facing the Future: Financing Productive Schools (December 2008) by Paul T. Hill, Marguerite Roza, James Harvey. Final Report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education on the School Finance Redesign Project

http://www.crpe.org/cs/crpe/download/csr_files/pub_sfrp_finalrep_nov08.pd

 

Foundations for Success: Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (March 2008)
Final Report of the National http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/mathpanel/index.html .
 

Excerpts from section 4 on instructional practices:
IV-173
"... when gifted students are accelerated by putting them together for special classes, this creates a very different academic and social environment that appears to be highly valued by and motivating for gifted students (Benbow, Lubinski, & Suchy, 1996). In this descriptive study, students report feeling affirmed and challenged in ways that the regular classroom does not provide. Also, the nature of the discourse changes, becoming much more high-level and intellectually challenging (Fuchs, Fuchs, Hamlett, & Karns, 1998). So, accelerated classes are more than just content taught at a fast pace. This makes it hard, if not impossible, to separate out the effects attributable only to the acceleration in these types of programs"
...................
IV 208: Despite the flaws in any one study, the set of studies suggests there is value to differentiating the mathematics curriculum for students who are gifted in mathematics and possess sufficient motivation, especially when acceleration is a component (i.e., pace and level of instruction are adjusted). A small number of studies suggest that individualized instruction, where the pace of learning is increased and often managed via computer instruction, produces gains in learning.....
Gifted students who are accelerated by other means not only gained time and reached educational milestones earlier (e.g., college entrance), but appear to achieve at levels at least comparable to those of their equally able age-mates ... even though they were younger .... One study suggests that gifted students also appear to become more strongly engaged in science, technology, engineering, or mathematical areas of study.
Some support also was found for supplemental enrichment programs. Of the two programs analyzed, one explicitly utilized acceleration as a program component and the other did not. This supports the view in the field of gifted education that acceleration and enrichment combined should be the intervention of choice. We believe it is important for school policies to support appropriately challenging work in mathematics for gifted and talented students."

 

 

High Achieving Students in the Era of NCLB, June 18, 2008 by Ann Duffett, Steve Farkas, and Tom Loveless,  published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute 

The first two (of five) studies Part I: An Analysis of NAEP Data,  by  Tom Loveless, discusses  achievement trends for high-achieving students;  Part II: Results from a National Teacher Survey,  by Steve Farkas and Ann Duffett , discusses teachers'  views of how schools are serving high-achieving pupils in the NCLB era.

http://www.edexcellence.net/detail/news.cfm?news_id=732&id=92

 

Interpreting 12th-Graders’ NAEP-Scaled Mathematics Performance Using High School Predictors and Postsecondary Outcomes From the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) From the National Center for Education Statistics. Wins a prize for the longest and densest title, and perhaps for most predictable conclusion.  Finds that students who performed well on a math test as High School Seniors are more likely to attend and graduate from College. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007328

"Left Behind By Design: Proficiency Counts and Test-Based Accountability" By Derek Neal and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach University of Chicago and NBER July 2007.  How uniform state standards under NCLB hurt students at both ends of the spectrum.

http://home.uchicago.edu/~n9na/web_ver_final.pdf

 

A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students by
Nicholas Colangelo, Susan G. Assouline, Miraca U. M. Gross. 
 The Templeton National Report on Acceleration from the Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development,  University of Iowa available free online or by mail from http://www.nationdeceived.org/

 

National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent.  Classic report issued by the U.S. Department of Education in 1993 http://www.ed.gov/pubs/DevTalent/toc.html

 

 

Northwest Evaluation Association reports::

The Impact of the No Child Left Behind Act on Student Achievement and Growth.  This report found that after the implementation of NCLB, student achievement test scores rose slightly, but student growth decreased, and shows that high-achieving students made lower gains. 

Press Release
http://www.nwea.org/assets/news/NCLBStudy2005Release.pdf
Executive Summary
http://www.nwea.org/assets/research/national/NCLBImpact_2005_Brief.pdf
Full report (requires free registration)
http://www.nwea.org/research/nclbstudy.asp

Individual Growth and School Success.  This report explains the benefits of Gains-based assessment systems ("Value-Added Assessment") when compared with status-based methods and provides results for 22 states. http://www.nwea.org/research/national.asp

 

"Reaching the Top: A Report of the National Task Force on Minority High Achievement" (1999).  This report is now only available for purchase.  The electronic version was taken offline.

 

"RIgor at Risk" A report from the ACT testing association argues that just taking the recommended "core curriculum" is insufficient to prepare High School students for college because of a lack of rigor in many "core" classes.

http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/reports/rigor.html

 

Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5 by members of the 2005 "Rising Above the Gathering Storm Committee" for the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering and Institute of Medicine, National Academies Press (2010)

A chilling analysis of America's competitive position in STEM.

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12999.html

 

 

The TIMSS, administered in 1995, was repeated for eighth-grade students in 1999 (TIMSS-R).  This time, the figures for the U.S. were better--U.S. eighth-graders slightly exceeded the international average of 38nations in mathematics and science.  They  outperformed students  in 17 countries, were level with students in 6 countries, and did worse than students in 14 countries.  In science, they outperformed students in 18 countries, were level with students in 5 countries and did worse than students in 14 countries. http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001027.pdf

 

Highlights from TIMSS (1999)  States that  U.S. students in 8th. and 12 grade lag behind those of many other countries and that the slower pace of the U.S. mathematics curriculum may be one factor. http://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/1999081.pdf

 

Short Web-Based Version of Answers in the Tool Box: Academic Intensity, Attendance Patterns, and Bachelor's Degree Attainment by Clifford Adelman Senior Research Analyst, U.S. Department of Education. finds that the intensity and quality of the secondary curriculum is the single most significant factor in students' attainment of bachelor's degrees. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Toolbox/toolbox.html

 

The Toolbox Revisited.  Answers in the Tool Box has now been updated by Dr. Adelman.  It still concludes that the intensity and quality of the High School curriculum available to students predicts college success. http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/toolboxrevisit/toolbox.pdf

 

(see also "research resources" below and pages for "Government information" and the Tennessee Value-Added Asssessment System (growth-based assessment)

 

 

Research resources and tools

 

CALDER publications: from the Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research.  Numerous papers on such topics as teacher retention and teacher training.

http://www.caldercenter.org/publications.cfm

 

Center for the Study of Evaluation and National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRREST).  This website offers several hundred technical reports on assessment standards and methodology as well as more readable articles for parents, policymakers and teachers.  The technical reports are a bit daunting but often worth the effort. See in particular: "Issues in the Design of Accountability Systems, CSE Technical Report 650 Robert L. Linn (April, 2005)  and "Corrective Action in Low-Performing Schools: Lessons for NCLB Implementation from State and District Strategies in First-Generation Accountability Systems", Heinrich Mintrop and Tina Trujillo CSE Technical Report 641 (2004).  Now available as a full-test article through ERIC

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1b/9e/1f.pdf

 

 A comprehensive bibliography of articles on gifted education and gifted students, classified by subject, and including a summary of each article, from the Center for Talented Youth/Johns Hopkins http://www.jhu.edu/gifted/research/biblio.html

 

Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington provides research-based reports on teacher standards, school finances and school choice among other topics http://www.crpe.org/

 

Cramming: The Effects of School Accountability on College-Bound Students by Colleen Donovan, David Figlio, Mark Rush published by CALDER (see above)  (September 2006)

"To date there has been no published research investigating the effects of these [accountability]  plans on the other end of the academic distribution – high-performing students who would almost surely have attained proficiency in the absence of school accountability plans. Even though these students are not the immediate focus of accountability plans, the effect these plans have on these students is vital to the nation because it is these students who will become the next generation of scientists and leaders......

http://www.caldercenter.org/PDF/1001068_Cramming.pdf

 

Education Week reporter Debra Viadero provides regular summaries of recent studies and conference reports.  Her page offers a very easy short-cut for finding  education studies as they come out--and her articles are accurate and even-handed. Many require subscription to Education Week.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/contributors/debra.viadero.html

 

H-Education is a listserv on the history of education intended for academic researchers.  It is part of the H-Net consortium of academic listservs http://www.h-net.org/~educ/

 

NEW!  ERIC The Federal Government's Education Resources Information Center The old ERIC digests can be found through the site though you have to hunt a bit to find them (buried under "publication type" in the pull-down list on the right). The Talented and Gifted ERIC Digests can be found directly at http//eric.ed.gov/?q=Talented+and+Gifted&ff1=pubERIC+Digests+in+Full+Text

The Kingsbury Center at the Northwest Evaluation Association publishes research reports on student assessment and achievement.  The home page includes a sign-up to receive updates on new research. http://kingsburycenter.org/

 

Measuring Teacher Effectiveness a research collection from the Rand Corporation

http://www.rand.org/education/projects/measuring-teacher-effectiveness.html

 

National Research Center for the Gifted and Talented NRCG/T in Storrs, Connecticut. Funded by the US Department of Education, provides TAG-related research studies by nationally respected scholars. Site offers publication list and abstracts.  For links to full text articles, see "Ability Grouping" below-- http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt.html

 

"A Reader's Guide to Scientifically Based Research" by Robert Slavin.  Some things to look for in deciding whether a particular study cuts the mustard..  From Educational Leadership.  http://www.ascd.org/publications/ed_lead/200302/slavin.html

 

"Statistics Help"  Intended for journalists, here's a quick, easy-to-read refresher course on some fundamentals of statistics, to prepare you for reading all these research reports.  Find out what a "standard deviation" is and why knowing the margin of error might be important. http://www.robertniles.com/stats/

 

"Statistics at Square One" a more challenging text on statistics from the British Medical Journal http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/collections/statsbk/index.shtml

 

UNESCO Institute for Statistics:  A large collection of international education statistics and reports on education, science, technology, culture and communication

http://www.uis.unesco.org/ev_en.php?ID=2867_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC

 Understanding NAEP: Inside the Nation's Education Report Card by Margery Yeager for Education Sector (2007) http://www.educationsector.org/analysis/analysis_show.htm?doc_id=560606

"Unfinished Business: More Measured Approaches in Standards-Based Reform" by  Paul E. Barton of the Policy Information Center, Educational Testing Service (2004).  Another very informative summary of the issues raised by the use of achievement test scores to evaluate school performance.  Longer, more detailed and a bit denser than the NWEA report above.  Recommends a mixed approach to evaluation including ensuring that testing reflects actual curriculum goals, repeated testing during the school year,  and the use of both gains-based and status-based reporting.  Recommended.

http://www.ets.org/Media/Education_Topics/pdf/unfinbusiness.pdf

 

 NEW! "Why Most Published Research Findings are False" by John P. A. Ioannidis  an essay for the Public Library of Science.  Written about medicine, but equally applicable to other studies.  Buyer beware!

http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124&ct=1

 

See also: "Reports and proceedings" above and the pages for "Government information" and the Tennessee Value-Added Asssessment System (growth-based assessment)

 

 

 

Parenting

 

NEW!  Envy and Giftedness: Are We Underestimating the Effects of Envy? by Catharine Vetter Alvarez.  A long article and worth every second.
http://microscopesareprudent.wordpress.com/

 

Gifted: What does that Mean a personal blog post by a parent: http://www.iwasthinking.ca/gifted-what-does-that-mean/

 

Tips for Parents:  A whole set of articles on parenting and parent advocacy from the Davidson Institute. use the link below and scroll down to "Parenting"

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/browse_articles_233.aspx

 

Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted (SENG)  http://www.sengifted.org/

 

Caring for your Introvert by Jonathan Rauch This popular article appeared in the Atlantic Magazine  http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200303/rauch

 

Special needs:

 

Access by Students with Disabilities to Accelerated Programs, a letter from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights

http//www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-20071226.html

 

 

AEGUS: the Association for the Education of Gifted Underachieving Students http://www.aegus1.org/

 

Auditory Processing Disorder, often known as CAPD.  UK site.  http://www.geocities.com/dolfrog/APD_in_UK

American Association of the Deaf-Blind http://www.aadb.org/

 

Asperger Syndrome:  OASIS - Online Asperger Syndrome Information and Support http//www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/

 

"Gifted children with AD/HD" by Dierdre Lovecky. This is the most sophisticated article I have seen on this subject. http://ericec.org/fact/lovecky.html

 

"Before referring a gifted child for ADD/ADHD evaluation" by Sharon Lind.  A very informative checklist. http://www.ditd.org/Cybersource/record.aspx?sid=11510&scat=902&stype=110

 

The Hoagies website offers an extensive set of links on ADD/ADHD at http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/adhd.htm

 

See also "symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder" on a site sponsored by the National Center on Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] and the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/symptom.htm

 

Council for Exceptional Children, recommended for parents of "double identified" children, and others seeking advocacy advice-- http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home

 

"Depressive disorder in highly gifted adolescents" a recent article based on interviews by S Jackson and J. Peterson: http://www.gt-cybersource.org/Record.aspx?NavID=2_0&rid=13872

 

Dual Exceptionalities Concise ERIC Digest guide to recognizing signs of giftedness in students who also have disabilities.  Recommended. Copied on the LD Online site http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/gt_ld/ericE574.html

 

Dysgraphia or trouble with handwriting seems to be a particular problem for gifted boys.  See http://www.ncld.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=468 and

http://www.dyscalculia.org/Edu563.html

 

Dyscalculia and Dyslexia resources from the Dyscalculia website http://www.dyscalculia.org/

 

Dyslexia: "We can do lots more for Students with Dyslexia"  by Cheryl Mizerny: suggestions for classroom support from the Middleweb blog.

https://www.middleweb.com/39393/we-can-do-lots-more-for-students-with-dyslexia/

 

 

"Guide to the Individualized Education Plan", from the U.S. Department of Education http://www.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/index.html

 

"Section 504, the ADA and IDEA" From the Wrightslaw website.  A concise account of the distinction between Individualized Education Plans (created under the Individuals with Disabilities Education ACT or IDEA) and a Section 504 Plan (created under the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA). http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/sec504.summ.rights.htm

An even more concise version, in the form of an ERIC digest, http://ericec.org/digests/e606.html

 

"Identifying English Learners for Gifted and Talented Education" (2008) Advice from the Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa and the Iowa Department of Education.  Includes advice on serving these students effectively.

 

Learning Disabilities Association of America -- http://www.ldonline.org/

and their gifted page: http://www.ldonline.org/indepth/gifted

See especially their "advocacy memos" including "advocacy memo no. 1, denial of eligibility because of gifted intellectual ability/lack of failure" -- http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/gt_ld/lda_advocacymemo.html

 

Learning Disabilities Self-Advocacy manual: something different: a manual written just for students.  Well-written, clear and helpful for both kids and adults.  Recommended. http://www.ldinfo.com/self_advocacy_manual.htm#top

 

"Meeting the needs of twice-exceptional children" by Merideth Warshaw.  A good place to begin.  A general article with links to other important sites.  The author maintains the "uniquely gifted" website (see below) http://www.ditd.org/Cybersource/Record.aspx?lib=1&sort=SourceName&scat=902&stype=110&sid=11330&sterm=%22Tips+For+Parents%22

 

"The Mislabeled Child" An Article by Fernette and Brock Eide argues for better diagnosis and non-pharmacological therapy for many children. Recommended. http://www.thenewatlantis.com/archive/12/eide.htm

 

Neurolearning Blog: links to lots of new and interesting articles.  Maintained by Fernette and Brock Eide in Edmonds Washington http://www.neurolearning.com/index.htm

 

Nonverbal Learning Disorder: NLD  on the Web: http://www.nldontheweb.org/

 

Oregon Parent Training and Information Center provides support and training for parents of students with disabilities http://www.orpti.org/index.htm

 

Project2Excel: a project by Karen Rogers funded with one of the last Javits grants, involved twice-exceptional students.  St. Thomas University has created a graduate program in teaching twice-exceptional students.  The project website provides a set of resources for this program, both internal and external including a set of parent training modules.  Each module includes readings, reflections and discussion questions.

http://www.stthomas.edu/project2excel/

http://www.stthomas.edu/project2excel/OurResources/default.html

 

Sensory Processing Library:  links to articles from the Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation.  Includes link to a "checklist" to screen for symptoms

http://www.spdfoundation.net/library.html

 

2-E, The Twice Exceptional Newsletter.  Copies are offered by subscription; back issues for a fee, but there's also solid information on the website.  Recommended. http://2enewsletter.com/index.html

 

"Uniquely gifted" a website for gifted/special needs children   edited by Meredeth Warshaw, a co-founder and listowner of GT-Special (see listservs above) Recommended

http://www.uniquelygifted.org/

 

Wrightslaw comprehensive website on the laws and court cases affecting Special Education and Twice-exceptional students. http://www.wrightslaw.com/

 

 

Aptitude Testing and IQ

 

"An Aptitude Perspective on Talent Identification" by David Lohman.  Encourages the thoughtful use of identification practices to match student aptitudes with the nature of the gifted programs they are being chosen to join.  http://faculty.education.uiowa.edu/dlohman/pdf/An_Aptitude_Perspective_on_Talent.pdf

 

The Hoagies site (see above) offers an extensive collection of resources at http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/testing.htm

 

Human intelligence: Historical influences, current controversies, teaching resources. This site is aimed at people teaching college or graduate level classes on human intelligence.   http://www.intelltheory.com/

 

Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns: Report of a Task Force established by the Board of Scientific Affairs of the American Psychological Association

Released August 7, 1995 http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/reingold/courses/intelligence/cache/apa.html

 

"IQ Subtest Analysis: Clinical Acumen or Clinical Illusion?" Marley W.Watkins, Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, Fall/Winter 2003 http://www.srmhp.org/0202/iq.html

Abstract:
Subtest analysis is pervasive in psychological training and practice. That is, the speculation that the variability or profile of an individual’s scaled scores across the subtests of an intelligence test have meaning beyond that provided by global IQ measures. A review of subtest analysis research revealed that neither subtest scatter nor subtest profiles demonstrate acceptable accuracy in discriminating among diagnostic groups. The evidence that exists regarding relations between subtest profiles and socially important academic and psychosocial outcomes is, at best, weak: subtest profile information contributes 2% to 8% variance beyond general ability to the prediction of achievement and 2% to 3% to the prediction of learning behaviors and test-session behaviors. Hypothesized relationships between subtest profiles and other psychosocial behaviors persistently fail to achieve statistical or clinical significance. Methodological problems in research and practice that cause subtest analysis results to be more illusory than real and to represent more of a shared professional myth than clinically astute detective work are explicated.

 

Lessons from the History of Intelligence Testing" by David Lohman.  An interesting and sophisticated rumination on the intersection of intelligence testing with other trends and factors.

https://faculty.education.uiowa.edu/docs/dlohman/history_of_intelligence_testing.pdf?sfvrsn=2

 

 

NAGC Position Statement on the use of the WISC-IV for identifying gifted students

Suggests that it is often appropriate to substitute General Ability Index (GAI) for overal. "IQ" score.

http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=2455

 

"The role of Nonverbal Ability Tests in Identifying Academically Gifted Students"  by David Lohman.  Argues that undue reliance on non-verbal tests such as the Naglieri (NNAT) and the Raven's Matrices may actually exclude gifted minority/ESL students. 

http://faculty.education.uiowa.edu/docs/dlohman/comparing-raven-nnat-cogat-.pdf?sfvrsn=2

 

"Tips for Parents: Intellectual Assessment of Exceptionally and Profoundly Gifted Children" , Davidson Institute for Talent Development/Young Scholar Seminar 2006.  Advice on getting the most out of the various idiosyncrasies of different IQ tests.

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10405.aspx

 

 

Understanding and Predicting Regression Effects in the Identification of Academically Gifted Children David Lohman.  Another of Lohman's provocative and interesting papers.  How do we establish identification methods that maximize the probability that students who test as "gifted" today will also test as "gifted" next year?

http://faculty.education.uiowa.edu/dlohman/pdf/Understanding_and_predicting_regression.pdf

 

"Understanding Tests and Measurements for the Parent and Advocate" by Peter D. Wright and Pamela Darr Wright. Written for parents of learning disabled children, but a very thorough explanation of different sorts of testing and how to interpret test scores. Long and somewhat dense, but worth the time. http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/tests_measurements.html

 

 

for reports on state achievement testing and NCLB, see "reports and proceedings" above.

 

 

 

Unusually, Highly, Exceptionally, or Profoundly Gifted

 

The Davidson Institute for Talent Development  A good collection of information and links about meeting the needs of extremely gifted TAG children and a large library of relevant articles, graded by staff for their quality/relevance.   See especially their pamphlet for educators which can be downloaded in .pdf format or ordered on the site. The Institute also offers some limited scholarship assistance. 

http://www.davidsongifted.org/

articles are now at http://www.davidsongifted.org/db

 

 

Hollingworth Center for Highly Gifted Children http://www.hollingworth.org/

 

see also "Tips for Parents" above under "Aptitude Testing"


 


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