To address these social and academic issues, the Waco, Texas, Independent School District (2005) initiated a project offering AP Spanish Language to eighth-grade Hispanic students and later expanded to three years (Rakow, 2005). The goal was to promote student success, develop self-confidence, and support student academic aspirations among an at-risk student population. In the three years of program implementation, 117 students took the class and corresponding AP exam. Of these, 92 (79%) earned qualifying scores of 3, 4, or 5 on the exam and four high school credits. In addition, the AP students were more likely to participate in honor societies (29.3%), academic clubs (36.2%), and to win an academic honor (41.4%), as compared with the HE and HS students. In addition, more of the AP students reported planning to participate in AP courses (92.7%), dual credit (67.9%) courses, honors courses (52.8%), pre-AP courses (52.8%), honor societies (37.0%), and service clubs (24.1%) in high school than those who spoke Spanish as their first language and Hispanic students who spoke English as the first language who did not participate (Kettler, Shiu, & Johnsen, 2006).
The Office of Civil Rights is alarmed by the underrepresentation of African-American students in gifted programs (as noted in Hertzog, 2005). The achievement gaps between Caucasian students from middle-to-high income homes and those from minority and low-income homes is a serious concern in the U.S. Hertzog (2005) conducted a study to examine the introduction of project-based learning as a school-wide program that would higher levels of achievement and recognize the potential in a student population that is normally underserved in gifted programs. Project-based learning is more often found in gifted programs than in classes where students perform below age or grade level. The purpose of this school's initiative was to alter the environment for learning to enhance the growth of students' potential and to change the beliefs of teachers and encourage them to recognize and develop talents in those youth who are normally overlooked for gifted programs. As the result of this initiative, teachers became much more understanding of the higher expectations of their students. Classrooms changed with the addition of many more learning tools. The implementation of this program was not easy given the challenges of time, resources and mixed interest by the teachers' and administrators.' There were also a variety of different initiatives occurring at any one time, but most of the teachers were favorable about project-based learning at the end of its first year of implementation. teachers saw high levels of engagement during project-based learning activities. Teachers were more aware of the students' ability to focus on learning when having meaningful experiences that were connected to their personal interests. In brief, the students "acted more gifted" by assuming some of the traits educators normally use to identify youth for gifted programs, such as demonstrating curiosity by asking questions, remaining interested and involved over time, acquiring new knowledge quickly, solving problems creatively, and becoming self-motivated to gain more learning and go into greater depth on subjects of interest (Hertzog, 2005).
A number of school systems are thinking out of the box when developing their programs for gifted youth. The Gifted Kids Network, http://www.giftedkidsnetwork.com/, is a Web-based, supplemental, gifted and talented programming model that includes standards-based classes, enrichment clusters, and affective programming (Ekstein, 2009). The network is designed to encourage students to think critically and creatively, question information presented to them, and thoughtfully integrate subjects covered into their daily lives. Socratic-style discussion forums, PowerPoint presentations, group work, and individual response blogs are used to give students the opportunity to express themselves and engage with the content. The network also exposes students to technology tools that can enhance their creativity, organization, and productivity. There are seven main goals for students in the program, which were adapted from Florida's Framework for Gifted Learners (Florida Department of Education, 2007): Students will be able to: 1) critically examine the complexity of knowledge and information; 2) ask and assess multifaceted questions in a variety of fields and disciplines; 3) conduct thoughtful research; 4) think creatively and critically to identify and suggest possible solutions to real-world problems; 5) assume leadership and participatory roles in group learning situations; and 6) produce a variety of authentic projects using 21st-century tools that demonstrate understanding in multiple fields and disciplines. The network's structure is based on Ng and Nicholas (2007), who suggested using online technologies to engage gifted students, such as online management systems, e-mail, and Web-based resources....
gifted and talented education for minority students. The writer explores the screening process for gifted and talented programs and the various problems that screening process causes when it comes to locating and educating minority students. The writer also explores the societal mindsets and the urban areas that play a part in the overlooking of minority gifted students. The bulk of the exploration is done with a literature review on
Students who are gifted need to be challenged in their area of giftedness and their social and emotional needs must also be addressed. One of the most important management skills a teacher can have when it comes to a gifted student is to encourage higher level thinking ability and divergent thinking patterns. In addition the teacher can provide the gifted student with enrichment work as opposed to more busy work so that
Expounding upon a group that has received little attention, and in fact has only been acknowledged for a few years, Vaidya's article is beneficial to the teaching and learning community. Although the identification of such gifted/learning disabled students has occurred, few teachers understand how to best cater to them. Vaidya gives teachers and understanding of some of the techniques that teachers may use to help these students achieve to the
Gifted Education - AZ Gifted Placement Procedures Functions Arizona State GAP Analysis Gifted Education Coordinator The gifted education program does not have oversight by a gifted education coordinator The state offers many professional development opportunities for staff engaged in gifted education to enhance their skills and knowledge -- and to work toward creating lead gifted education teachers or gifted education coordinators. http://www.azed.gov/search-results/?q=gifted%20ed%20coordinator Coaching tools, summer institutes, and peer coaching can be used as resources to support the development of
Score cards for the first level would be handed out and the program and the prizes explained. The start date would be set starting the day that the employee gets their score card. Each score card would require three months of consistent metrics in order to be signed off by the employee's supervisor. Once signed off, that employee receives their rewards at a monthly group award meeting. Works Cited "Case Study:
They predict age and gender variations relate to bullying concerns. Of the 25 cartoons implemented in the study, two depict characters with different shades of skin color where skin color appeared to be an issue. One cartoon relating to sexual orientation was not used in several countries. Smith et al. report Olweus to assert bullying to be characterized by the following three criteria: 1. It is aggressive behavior or intentional
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