Even though gifted is listed as a special education category, Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) never adequately addressed it. Intellectually advanced students are complex, not always easy to understand. They need and deserve school support. Much debate surrounds gifted education. But charter schools will not be a sufficient answer to concerns. Some gifted students are […]
Social-Emotional Learning: The Dark Side
Why would parents and teachers, tired of high-stakes testing in their public schools, wish to sign onto more assessment that tests, tracks, and profiles their child’s behavior online? Good teachers have always built social skills into their classes. Helping children behave and work with each other is second nature to teaching. One can find nice […]
14 Devious Claims to Destroy Special Education
Around the country, state education chiefs, local school superintendents, and school boards are eliminating special education services. There’s an effort to get rid of special education. Sometimes this is done through language that sounds appealing. Who doesn’t want a quality education for all children? Why not declassify students? Do schools really need part-time resource classes […]
Isn’t It Time to Pay Attention to Our Gifted Students?
By Gina Kennedy According to the National Association for Gifted Children, there are three to five million gifted students in our public schools today, however rarely will you find two school districts in the United States that service these students in a similar way. Best practices and strategies to teach the gifted are likely based […]
Differentiation and Common Core—A Strange Combination for Gifted Students
In looking at different cities and their plans for gifted students, there is one thing most of them now have in common. They advocate differentiation and Common Core. The real buzz word is differentiation! Differentiation sounds soothing, like it will give every parent what they always dream of, personalized attention for their child. It advertises […]
Commiserating on How Gifted Students are Ignored by Educators, Policymakers and Those Who Should Care
A post I did almost a year ago about Common Core and gifted students has been receiving renewed activity lately. HERE. HERE is another. I wondered what was up. Why are gifted parents digging into the archives? I realized school for many has been in session for a while now and for parents, including parents […]
Special Ed. Labels—Why We Still Need Them in the Era of Common Core
Work hard at living the idea that differentness is just fine—not bad. Your child will learn most from your example. Help him to think of problems as things that can be solved if people work at them together. ~Nicholas Hobbs from The Futures of Children (p.288) Years ago a poster circulated that said “Labels are […]
Common Core and Ability Grouping—Ignoring Critical Questions
Common Core does not honestly tackle a problem that should be front and center in our public schools. How do we address ability grouping? Should students with learning disabilities be educated separately or in the regular class? Do autistic children learn faster mainstreamed or with specialized help in a self-contained classroom or separate school? Are […]
Misguided Education Reform
A nice thing that happened to me this past year was the publishing, back in July, of my book, Misguided Education Reform: Debating the Impact on Students, by R & L Books (Rowman & Littlefield). It covers many of the same topics you will find on my blog. I discuss special education which might be […]