What is Gifted Education? Public, private and gifted education
Hello, and welcome to Vanguard Gifted Academy’s educational channel. I'm Shannon Holub, and this is the second article in our new series. I am the Master Teacher for the intermediate level here at Vanguard, and I'd like to talk to you about a question that quickly pops into the minds of parents who have just found out that they have a gifted child: Where shall I send my child to school? Now, the first question that typically comes up is “public or private?”
I've actually taught in both public and private settings, and I'm here to tell you that I don't think that's the right question. I think the better question is “who are the administrators and the staff members of these programs?” If you have a dedicated staff who is trained and has experience with gifted children, your child is going to thrive in that program, no matter whether it's in a public or a private setting.
Let's face it, high intelligence creates special educational needs for a student who is intellectually ahead of her peers. It takes some training, some assistance, to figure out how to handle that in her life. On any given day, she might be thinking at a fifth-grade level, but she might be feeling the emotions of a second-grader. If the staff members of the program do not have sensitivity to that asynchronous development, you might find that you have to advocate for your child's needs every step of the way through her education.
These days in Illinois, with the passing of the Accelerated Placement Act of 2017, public schools are mandated to provide acceleration opportunities for any deserving child in either a single subject area or by grade level. Now, that's a welcome step forward, but what is NOT mandated is that the teachers who will be teaching these accelerated students receive any additional gifted education training. Furthermore, you might find that your child who is gifted winds up in a collection of learning profiles that is unexpected. There may be typical learners of an older age, there may be high achievers, and there may be other gifted students, but that could cause there to be less of a fit than you might think between your child and the curriculum.
Let me give you an example: One of the most interesting and challenging classes I've ever had to teach was a math class made up of 30 students who had, through placement testing, wound up being positioned to start into a program called Pre-Transitions Math. What wasn't taken into consideration was learning profiles. Half the class was made up of typical learners from the fifth grade, and the other half of the class was gifted learners from fourth grade. It quickly became evident that these two different groups of students needed two distinctly different approaches to their lessons. So, I quickly made some changes. The typical learners needed and deserved to have a linear order of topics, multiple repetitions to the point of feeling secure in their mastery of skills, and modeling of problem-solving techniques. Meanwhile, the gifted learners needed and deserved to have a faster pace to the curriculum, fewer repetitions, the chance to explore problem-solving techniques on their own, and the opportunity to extend discussions beyond the parameters of each lesson. Frankly, a less experienced teacher would have really struggled with this situation because even though both of the groups were ready to begin the year at the same starting point, they really were very different types of learners, and a less experienced teacher might not have even noticed that there was a problem.
So, the takeaway is that you have many options out there, some wonderful options in both public and private settings, and you as a parent, have every right to pursue questions that get at the nature of the programs, the philosophy of how you educate gifted students and the nature of the background of the staff who are assigned to the program. This is an unexpected task for parents of atypical learners, but it really will matter to your child.
If you have had successes or struggles in either public or private settings, please consider sharing them with others using #VanguardGiftedAcademy. We will also post the link to the Accelerated Placement Act for your reference. As always, thank you for listening.
Resources:
The Illinois Accelerated Placement Act: www.iagcgifted.org/IL-Acceleration-Act
Additional information on acceleration: www.iagcgifted.org/Academic-Acceleration