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Private Schools Rep. continued from page 4
5. The school ensures an anti-bias environment for the gifted by assessing school culture and addressing issues of equity and justice in pedagogy, assessment, curriculum, programs, admission, and hiring.
6. The school values each and every child, including the gifted, recognizing and teaching to varied learning styles, abilities, and life experiences.
7. The school uses inclusive, anti-bias language in written and oral communication.
8. The school complies with local, state, and federal laws and regulations that promote diversity including gifted.
9. The school provides appropriate opportunities for leadership and participation in decision making to all members of the school community, including the gifted.
10. The school includes all families and guardians for gifted students as partners in the process of creating and sustaining an equitable and just community.
11. The school expects from its students including the gifted and all members of the community, an appreciation of and responsibility for the principles of equity and justice.
If all schools, public and private, would include gifted students as truly part of an equitable and just community, the educational experience for all students, including gifted and talented students would prosper and positively contribute to an equitable and just society.
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No Gifted Child Left Behind continued from page 6
students achieving "advanced" math scores early in elementary school all too frequently regress to merely "proficient" scores by the end. In recent years the percentage of California students scoring in the "advanced" math range has declined by as much as half between second and fifth grade.
Many gifted students, of course, continue to shine on standardized tests regardless of the level of instruction they receive. But whether these gifted students -- who are capable of work far above their grade level -- are being appropriately educated to develop their full potential is not shown by looking at test scores measuring only their grade-level mastery. Nor do test scores indicate whether these students are being sufficiently challenged to maintain their academic interest, an issue of particular concern in high school. Shockingly, studies establish that up to 20 percent of high school dropouts are gifted.
When high school faculty members face the prospect of losing their jobs if low achievers do not attain proficiency, what percentage of their resources will they devote to maintaining the academic interest of high-level students? How much money will administrators allocate to providing advanced courses? How many of the most experienced teachers will teach honors, rather than remedial, classes?
Surely we can find a way to help low-achieving children reach proficiency without neglecting the needs of our gifted learners. If we continue to ignore gifted children, the NCLB may end up producing an entire generation of merely proficient students -- a generation that will end up working for the science leaders produced by other countries.
The writer is a Rhodes Scholar and former environmental lawyer who currently lectures on legal ethics and gender issues in negotiation. She is president of her local parent gifted education advocacy group in Southern California. She and her husband are parents of two school-age boys. She may be reached at sgoodkin@aol.com.
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