Murray County Program for Gifted Students

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Murray County Program for Gifted Students

• Beth ThornburyGifted CoordinatorAugust 1, 2007

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There are plenty of misconceptions about gifted
education..
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Why do we have Gifted Education in the State of
Georgia?

• State Law OCGA 120-2-152 SPECIAL EDUCATION
  SERVICES
• SBOE Rule 160-4-2-.38 EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR
  GIFTED STUDENTS
• SBOE-approved Regulations for Gifted Education
  Programs

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SBOE Rule 160-4-2-.38

• Established in 1996
• 108 increase in the gifted population in ten
  years (4.5 to 9 of K-12 population)
• Total K-12 enrollment has increased by about 30
  during that time period.

Source Linda Andrews, Georgia State Gifted
Specialist, DOE
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Students Identified as Gifted in GA

• -- 59,806
• -- 67,407 (13)
• -- 73,534 (9)
• -- 81,042 (10)
• -- 89,182 (10)
• -- 95,524 (7)
• -- 98,251 (3)
• -- 104,673 (7)
• -- 106,596 (2)
• -- 114,265 (7)
• -- 124,586 (9)

Source Linda Andrews, Georgia State Gifted
Specialist, DOE
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Gifted Program Participation by Ethnic Group
Since Implementation of Multiple-Criteria Rule

• 1996 2006 ( growth)
• White 51,022 83,988 (65)
• Black 5813 17,786 (206)
• Asian 2093 6852 (227)
• Hispanic 432 2895 (570)
• Native American 80 183 (129)
• Multi-Racial 366 2561 (600)

Source Linda Andrews, Georgia State Gifted
Specialist, DOE
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Statewide Gifted Education Allotment

• Fiscal Year 1998
• 70 million

Fiscal Year 2006 170 million
(The largest Gifted Education
budget in the
country!)
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Gifted Education Policies by State
Gifted Education Policies vary by state. Only Six
(6) states, including Georgia, mandate and fully
fund Gifted programming.
(6)
(20)
(4)
(11)
(9)

• Site Reference Davidson Institute
  www.gt-cybersource.org

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Nomination

• Nominations are often made by classroom teachers
  however, any responsible person who has knowledge
  of a students intellectual functioning may
  nominate that student for further consideration.
  This includes administrators, counselors,
  parents, peers, or themselves.

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Nomination

• Automatic referral procedure Students scoring
  at or above 90th percentile on the ITBS (Total
  Reading, Math, or Composite) or CogAT (any part)
  are considered.
• Planned Experience
• Given in kindergarten and first grade.

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SBOE Rule 160-4-2-.38

• Mental Ability
• CogAT, OLSAT, Naglieri
• Achievement
• ITBS, Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement
• Creativity
• Renzulli Rating Scales, Torrance Test of Creative
  Thinking
• Motivation
• Renzulli Rating Scales, GPA

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Identification

• Option 1, the Psychometric Approach
• The student may qualify on the basis of mental
  ability and achievement assessment results only
  (regardless of the assessment results in
  creativity and motivation). In this case the
  mental ability test score must be a composite or
  full-scale score of K-2nd (99th) 3rd -12th (96th)

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Identification

• Option 2, the Multiple-Criteria Approach
• The student may qualify by meeting the standards
  in any three of the four data categories, at
  least one of which must be on a nationally-normed
  standardized test. Component scores (e.g.,
  Nonverbal Ability), as well as full scale scores,
  may be used in the area of mental ability.
  However, component scores must meet the criteria
  specified in the Gifted Education Regulations

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THE GOALS OF EXCEL

• To provide an atmosphere for tasks which
  challenge the students interests and capacity
  for learning.
• To develop inquiry, critical thinking, and
  problem solving skills and techniques.
• To provide opportunities for communication with
  their intellectual peers.
• To provide experiences which stimulate the
  student to become self-directed.
• To allow for and encourage student planning and
  involvement.
• To provide opportunities for exploration of the
  fine arts.
• To provide experiences by which the gifted
  student comprehends his or her responsibility to
  the community.
• To provide activities for development of career
  and lifelong learning potential.
• To stay current with advances in technology as it
  applies to research and acquisition of knowledge.

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Direct Services

• Resource Class (K-5)
• Advanced Content Class (6-12)
• Cluster Grouping (K-12)

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Resource Class (K-5)

• Academic content foundation
• Interdisciplinary enrichment activities
• Identified gifted students only
• Limited class size
• Teacher must have the gifted endorsement.
• Limited to ten segments per week

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Advanced Content Class (6-12)

• May include other high achieving students who
  meet locally established criteria
• Reduced class size (21)
• Homogeneously grouped on the basis of achievement
  and interest in a core academic content area.
• Course description and syllabus document
  appropriateness of curriculum.

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Cluster Grouping (K-12)

• Identified gifted students placed as a group into
  an otherwise heterogeneous classroom.
• Teacher must have the gifted endorsement.
• One or two segments per day

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Documentation of Cluster Group Instruction

• Separate lesson plans
• Individual student contracts that show
• Students NEED for advanced curriculum in that
  content area
• Learning objectives for the gifted student
• Alternative curriculum activities
• Dates and amount of time student will be engaged
  in the higher-level activities
• Means by which learning will be assessed

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Indirect Services

• Collaborative Teaching (K-12)
• Joint Enrollment/Postsecondary Options

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Collaborative Teaching (K-12)

• Direct instruction may be provided by a regular
  classroom teacher.
• Substantial, regularly scheduled collaborative
  planning between the content area teacher and the
  gifted specialist

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Collaborative Teaching, contd

• One full period each day (or weekly equivalent)
  that gifted specialist devotes to curriculum
  extensions for every three classes in which
  he/she has collaborative teaching
  responsibilities.
• Total number of gifted students whose instruction
  is modified through this model may not exceed an
  average of eight per class.

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Documentation of Collaborative Model

• Separate lesson plans
• Time log of collaborative planning
• Individual student contracts

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Joint Enrollment/Postsecondary Options

• Enrollment in college, university, or technical
  school may serve as the gifted instruction that
  districts are required to provide for qualified
  students.
• FTE funding generated while away from the regular
  school campus is awarded to the postsecondary
  institution.
• Students must meet state regulations for
  attendance and be present on the secondary campus
  for at least three instructional segments.

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Gifted Education Funding

• Show me the MONEY!
• GADOE Website
• http//techservices.doe.k12.ga.us/admin/reports/fi
  nancial.htm

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FY 2008 WEIGHTS FOR FTE FUNDING FORMULA
Category/Program FY2008
Weight Kindergarten 1.6556000 Grades
1-3 1.2841000 Grades 4-5 1.0319000 Grades
6-8 (Middle Grades Program) 1.0157000
Grades 9-12 1.0000000 Kindergarten Early
Intervention Program (EIP) 2.0448000 Primary
Grades 1-3 (EIP) 1.7992000 Upper Grades 4-5
(EIP) 1.7934000 Grades 6-8 (Middle School
Program) 1.1204000 Gifted Education 1.6642000
Remedial Education 1.3109000 Vocational
Lab 1.1859000 Postsecondary Options (Dual
Credit) N/A Study Hall (Non-state funded)
N/A Other (Non-state funded) N/A
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12 Gifted Education FTEs (72 segments)
Teacher Allotment
23 Regular High School Education FTEs (138
segments) Teacher Allotment
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12 Gifted Education FTEs (72 segments)
Teacher Allotment
20 Regular Middle School Education FTEs (120
segments) Teacher Allotment
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What can we do to enhance gifted education?

• Elementary
• Challenge Rigor Rising Tide Lifts All
  Ships!
• Effective enrichment curriculum
• Standards based and tied to foundational goals of
  Excel
• Attend to the needs of each individual childs
  strength and talent.
• From you..?

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What can we do to enhance gifted education?

• Middle School and High School
• Appropriate, challenging and rigorous curriculum
• Attend to the needs of each individual childs
  strength and talent.
• From you.?

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Differentiation

• No child left bored
• Sally M. Reis http//www.aasa.org/publications/saa
  rticledetail.cfm?ItemNumber8205snItemNumber950

• A Nation Deceived
• Nicholas Colangelo http//www.nationdeceived.org
  

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How should instruction look different for gifted
students?

• Effectively differentiated curriculum must vary
  in ways that match the differences we find in
  learners
• Cognitive abilities
• Prior knowledge
• Opportunities to learn
• Learning rate
• Developmental differences
• Levels of abstraction

From Sally Krisel,Hall County, GA Schools
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Curriculum Differentiation

• Differentiation is the fit or match of the
  curriculum to the needs of the learner.
  Differentiated instruction is not a strategy. It
  is a total way of thinking about learners,
  teaching, and learning. . . . Differentiated
  instruction promotes high-level and powerful
  curriculum for all students, but varies the level
  of teacher support, task complexity, pacing, and
  avenues to learning based on student readiness,
  interest, and learning profile. (Tomlinson, 2000)

From Sally Krisel,Hall County, GA Schools
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Gifted Advocacy

• Promote creative endeavors.
• Promote open mindedness toward new ideas.
• Encourage students to develop strengths rather
  than worry about weaknesses.

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Gifted Advocacy

• Join Georgia Association for Gifted Children!
  www.GAGC.org
• It would be great to get a Murray County Chapter
  started!

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TED.COM

• Extraordinary evidence of human creativity and
  innovation in children.
• All children, especially gifted students, have
  tremendous talent
• and we must not forget that talent needs to be
  developed.
• Children starting school this year will retire in
  2065 and
• we are educating them for the future- NOW.
• Future is unpredictability.
• Creativity is as important in education as
  literacy and we should
• treat it with the same status.
• Intelligence is diverse.
• Intelligence is dynamic and wonderfully
  interactivity!
• Intelligence is distinct!
  
• - Sir Ken Robinson www.ted.com
• http//www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66

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Thank-you!

• Please give me your comments and questions
• Beth Thornbury, Gifted Coordinator - Murray
  County Schools
• beth.thornbury_at_murray.k12.ga.us

Murray County Excel Website