I taught gifted and high achieving students for twelve years, my husband has taught AP and IB courses for 25 years, and our own three boys have been labeled "gifted." We've had many conversations with parents who are tired of the watered down, politically correct answers frequently given by teachers or administrators when they're seeking advice. Parents are eager to do what's best for their kids, but sadly, our public education system isn't the best place to turn for answers when it comes to advanced children and budgets rarely include gifted funding. For too long education policy has forced schools to focus on getting all kids to proficiency while no attention or funding has been directed toward advanced students who languish, finishing their work in a fraction of the time their classmates take and rarely pushed to their potential.
The system expects teachers to provide for each individual student's needs six hours a day, five days a week. Classes are crowded and teachers invariably have kids with learning disabilities, emotional issues, language barriers, and a host of other issues to overcome. They have students who just need a little individual attention to rise to proficiency. These populations of kids get teachers' time and focus and it's hard to justify otherwise. Comparatively, advanced students will "be fine," but don't these kids deserve to be challenged? Shouldn't they be given what they need, not just for a few hours a week, but every day? Shouldn't they be allowed a year's worth of growth even if they are already a year or two ahead?
There are sweeping cultural and political changes that need to happen for schools to be able to properly meet the needs of advanced students. Meanwhile, parents are trying to fill in the gaps on their own.
The system expects teachers to provide for each individual student's needs six hours a day, five days a week. Classes are crowded and teachers invariably have kids with learning disabilities, emotional issues, language barriers, and a host of other issues to overcome. They have students who just need a little individual attention to rise to proficiency. These populations of kids get teachers' time and focus and it's hard to justify otherwise. Comparatively, advanced students will "be fine," but don't these kids deserve to be challenged? Shouldn't they be given what they need, not just for a few hours a week, but every day? Shouldn't they be allowed a year's worth of growth even if they are already a year or two ahead?
There are sweeping cultural and political changes that need to happen for schools to be able to properly meet the needs of advanced students. Meanwhile, parents are trying to fill in the gaps on their own.