While sitting in on parent-teacher conferences, I was hit with the pondering question, are the Talented and Gifted students being cheated out of an education? Have we lowered our expectations in America so much that we are trying to aim at the bottom half? Where is the middle? Who is the average? Should the apathetic students be included in the mix for hitting the middle of the classes?
TAG students may be getting behind the ball. Are they being ignored? In this article, a few examples of TAG programs being cut with budget cuts or no TAG programs at all. The article discusses where the situation that TAG students are in. It varies widely between active programs, cut programs, and I would venture to say not really a TAG program.
Can you imagine a special education program being cut? People would be appalled! Why are we not paying much attention to the TAG students. I think America has done a great job of providing an education for special education students. I think that is one thing that America has figured out. They do not want to leave students behind. However, are we leaving TAG students behind? In the article No Genius Left Behind, a Reno academy for the gifted is discussed. The school accepts only 100 kids and takes them above and beyond where they would get education anywhere else.
I posted my questions in the introduction. Where are we aiming at. I found after teaching high school math that I spent way to much time dealing with the apathetic bottom 5 than I did with the top five that wanted to go further. Maybe we should separate the classes by intelligence and work ethic. Most schools have 3 or more classes so why not separate the top, middle, and bottom.
This may not be the answer, but we do need to look at this to avoid wasting our TAG students. By letting them fall to the wayside, we are not only hurting them, but we are also hurting the future of America. We need to capitalize on these assets and make sure that these kids too get to reach their fullest potential.
What do you think?
Philip Russell
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Very interesting topic. I have long pondered this question. I have thought about and seen first hand TAG students get left behind. I have even seen a TAG student drop out of school because he was just too bored. How wrong is that? It is a sham and shame that we cater so much to the bottom percentages. I ageree that great efforts and strides have occured to give this bottom side a great education. The No Genius Left behind article was great and I think this should be the title of the next educational movement. I have to contradict your statement about most schools having 3 classes. That is most certainly not the case in small schools. So it would not be so easy to divide them out. But in theory that is a great idea. But isn't that how we got to this point in the first place? Mainstreaming everyone? It is definitley something that needs to be addressed before all the TAG students just give up and fade away.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Haraseth
Philip --
ReplyDeleteThis was a great article. I really appreciated reading it because I have a seventh grade student who I believe is a gifted student. Her ITBS scores came back and she tested at a freshman in college level. She is only in seventh grade! So what do I do? I have never even taken a course in college about teaching gifted and talented students. So I have to rely on my research and other teachers. Fortunately, I have a friend who teaches this student population and she is helping me. I would have to agree with you that the next educational movement should have something to do with reaching and teaching these students. We just don't do enough because often times we don't know who these students are or have the resources to help them. I am frustrated that the teachers who taught this particular student didn't know she was gifted prior to now. However, they never really went over the test scores or analyzed the data. I'm pretty data-driven because I like to learn about what is happening with my students. Thanks for sharing!
I believe the word you are looking for is "tracking". Tracking students in core subjects was the norm when I was in high school. We had college prep, vocational, and remedial level classes. My impression is that tracking was declared "bad" as it was felt more students would excel if given the opportunity. I agree the gifted and talented students get the short end of the stick. One of the possibly good points about charter schools may be to provide more oppotunities for these students.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with you that our TAG students are left to defend for themselves in many schools. In a neighborhood district, the students there only get 'gifted' services 1 time a month for a week (30 minutes a day). How is that helping them? To me it is not. In my childrens school, the student may get 'gifted' classes everyother day for 30 minutes. In my district, they gifted/talented teacher will often co-teach a class inorder to meet the needs of the students. I think this is a great way to differentiate the curriculum to meet the needs of those students.
ReplyDeleteI also feel that many of our TAG students get label of behavior problems because they are often board in class because the teachers are focusing on the students who are struggling. For the TAG students who are labeled or drop out what will happen to our society in the long run? Will we have doctors that are unquaified?
Sarah