FROM: Terry James Mohaupt, Chairman, Parent Affiliates
ILLINOIS ASSOCIATION FOR GIFTED CHILDREN
an affiliate of
National Association for Gifted Children
Gifted
left behind by school reforms
By Tracy Dell'Angela
Chicago Tribune staff reporter
Published November 29, 2003
The gifted program in North Chicago's schools has no budget, no organized group
of parent advocates and an admittedly haphazard approach to challenging the
district's brightest students.
At the Aurora-based Indian Prairie schools, the gifted program is blessed with
a $2 million budget, 1,200 carefully screened students clustered in special
classes and a vocal group of 300 watchful parents.
The two programs may seem worlds apart, but the educators who run them share
the same fear: Gifted students will be "left behind" by federal
education reform.
Advocates of gifted education have always struggled with the perception that
special programs for top-performing students are elitist and unnecessary. But
this year, Illinois parents and educators are reeling from a one-two punch they
fear could eliminate opportunities for the state's estimated 160,000 students
identified as gifted.
In the spring, state lawmakers literally wiped out the concept of gifted education--by
eliminating $19 million in grants that helped fund programs in 800 districts
statewide and erasing any mention of gifted education as a mandate in the state
school code.
At the same time, the demands of the federal No Child Left Behind law are forcing
an increasing number of schools to pour their resources into bringing up the
test scores of their lowest-performing students--even in affluent suburban
districts that never had to worry about test scores before and long had viewed
gifted programs as sacred cows.
"What this means is districts think they no longer have to be accountable
for these children, that they are not important, that they will be just
fine," said Sally Walker, executive director of the Illinois Association
for Gifted Children and the author of two books about gifted education.
"If these needs of these kids are not being met, they become
disenfranchised or they adapt to mediocre expectations."
In the Seattle Public Schools, parents unhappy over instability in the gifted
programs are threatening to keep their gifted kids out of school when state
standardized tests are administered next April, which they argue could lower
the district's passing rate by 10 percent and virtually guarantee that schools
would not meet annual yearly progress as required by the federal law.
The district has said the parents' fears are unfounded and questioned the
wisdom of the threat.
"After four years of getting jerked around by the district and their
aggressive neglect of this program, we finally said `enough is enough.' If
you're not going to give us some stability, we're not going to take your
tests," said Charlie Mas, one of the leaders of the Seattle advocacy
group. "What we really want is for the issues to be addressed. If the
district shows some genuine action, we will hold the boycott in abeyance."
Parents here say they wouldn't be afraid to organize the same sort of revolt if
their worst fears are realized.
Parents band together
Bolingbrook mom Robin Czajka said she's been thrilled with the progress her
4th-grade daughter has made in the Valley View school district's
"Challenge" program. Megan Czajka, 9, who was reading the novel
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in 1st grade and once had
problems relating to her classmates, now is in a magnet program that offers
exceptionally bright kids a chance to spend the school day together learning
complex material. They are taught by teachers who understand how to reach and
challenge gifted children.
Rumblings about proposed changes in the gifted program have galvanized Czajka
and dozens of other parents in the racially and economically diverse suburban
district who fear that their program might get squeezed out by the demands of
federal reforms.
Czajka hopes that parents' involvement with a task force studying the changes
will lead to improvements rather than cuts. But if that fails, Czajka would be
willing to fight to preserve the program, including using their children's
superior test scores as leverage with school administrators.
"I think [a test boycott] is a great tool, and I wouldn't be averse to
using it if they push us into doing that," Czajka said. "The kids
with high potential are not being given what they need in Illinois. The way
things are taught in the public school system, to be gifted is a learning
disability. I think when you say No Child Left Behind, you have to be talking
about every child, not just the kids who start off behind."
The label "gifted" has been controversial because it has been used to
describe such a broad range of children--from bright kids who are working above
grade level to those whose interests and intellectual skills put them in a
different academic stratosphere.
Some argue that broadening the label makes it little more than a status symbol
for the so-called Volvo vigilantes in affluent communities who push to have
their bright children labeled as gifted.
"It's a battle gifted education has fought for ages . . . it's that whole
elitist thing," said Penny Choice, a Lake County specialist who heads the
advocacy committee for the state gifted association. "Gifted means they
learn differently. Gifted kids learn to memorize really quickly, but they don't
learn how to think because the curriculum isn't challenging enough."
Nationwide, at least half the states mandate education for gifted and talented
programs, with about 20 providing specific money for programs and teacher
training, according to a 2002 survey by the National Association for Gifted
Children. Nine states offer gifted students the same protections given to those
in special education, with individualized learning plans and the right to
challenge a district's decision through formal hearings.
Schools left to decide
Because of the change in state law and the elimination of the gifted grant,
Illinois is no longer in that majority. It now falls to individual districts to
decide whether to screen for gifted students or offer targeted services, which
could be as minimal as a few supplemental assignments or as exhaustive as an
all-day program that puts gifted kids into separate classrooms.
Many districts that don't offer gifted programs argue that they are meeting the
needs of their brightest students by providing "differentiated
instruction"--in which a classroom teacher changes the curriculum based on
the needs of individual students.
That sounds great in concept, some educators say, but it takes lots of training
and a skilled teacher to pull it off, especially in classes with more than 20
students.
In North Chicago, about 250 of the district's brightest students in grades 2 to
8 are clustered in certain classes and assigned to teachers who have had some
specialized training. But the district's gifted specialist, Richard Cunningham,
acknowledges this method is far from ideal.
"I don't like my program because it's not a good program," said
Cunningham, who is trying to sell a new superintendent on the idea of creating
multigrade gifted classrooms. "Too much depends on the teacher. And this
is where the cuts really hurt because I have no money for [teacher training]."
Advocates nationwide are concerned that the federal reforms will tilt the
classroom emphasis even further toward test proficiency rather than academic
progress.
"Who is most at risk now? The gifted child because they are already so far
above what is being taught. The gifted children are already meeting or
exceeding, so we're not worried about them," said Nina Koelpin, a gifted
specialist for Wheaton-Warrenville School District 200. "We're keeping it
going, but in a lot of smaller districts these kids just fall through the
cracks."
Danute Krebs, who became a gifted teacher at Brookdale Elementary in Naperville
this fall after Indian Prairie School District 204 eliminated her position as
gifted coordinator, said it doesn't bode well when even a model program such as
Indian Prairie's is under siege.
"We're definitely not a priority anymore," Krebs said. "We can
say these kids are going to learn by themselves, but that's just not the case.
If you leave someone smart just sitting there for five years, what are you
going to end up with? The world's underachievers."
Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune