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Your opinions? Re: gifted program 1st grade

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Last edited 11/17/2012

My reasoning for continuing to provide guidance and enrichment to the gifted child in the educational setting...this world needs more Bill Gates  and fewer Ted Kaczynskis!  I hope Charlie never gets her computer or bank account hacked by a bored, unchallenged gifted teenager.  LOL!  All children need opportunuties for proper education and enrichment.  I've taught.  I've had both children with special needs and students with gifted intelligence in the same classroom - it is possible but very overwhelming to meet the needs of all the children daily.  I was grateful for a gifted teacher to come and brainstorm with me ways to enrich my curriculum AND for the pullout program when I just couldn't get do it.  My son is gifted.  I cannot afford outside enrichment nor should he be punished because the current economy sucks!

My son is one of the oldest in his class due to a Oct bday in a Sept 1 cutoff district.  No redshirting.  When he got to K, they wanted to skip him to first.  I refused because of his social and emotional immaturity at the time.  He's now in 2nd.  He's the only one in his grade identified at this time - very strict guidelines in our district (IQ, Standardized Tests, and other criteria).  He is pulled out with a 3rd grader only once a week for "gifted education" because the gifted teacher travels throughout the 5 schools in our district.  However, she is able to work with the classroom teacher to suggest ways to enrich my son throughout the week.  He is grouped with a few other kids with "high potential" and I am grateful he can be challenged in this way.  Before he was identified, he was sent to the computer for "enrichment" as the teacher taught her regular lessons.  (For example: He went into K writing full sentences with proper capitalization and punctuation when she was still having to teach kids to identify letters.)  The gifted teacher would be needed for the truely gifted anyway why not use her to enrich those with high potential as well?  My child benefits from working with "like minded" peers.  Then the classroom teacher has more time to focus on the "average" child. 

That's my 2 cents.


Posted 11/17/2012
You keep saying it costs extra...
If my daughters school took away the accelerated program, they would still be paying the same exact teacher the same amount of money to be teaching the same exact number of kids.

Its not like they can just leave 20 kids without a teacher.

The pull out programs may cause a little bit more, but without the gifted program the teachers will have to provide supplement (more work for them), there may be more behavior problems (more social workers and work for the principals), test scores may decrease (teacher has less time to work with the kids who are struggling (lose funding) and Im sure other problems I'm not thinking of.
I dont know any teacher who is not in full favor of gifted/accelerated programs (our school looked to see if cutting it would help the budget...it wouldnt and the teachers were the biggest supporters of keeping it.)
Posted 11/17/2012
If all schools grouped kids by ability with iif movement between levels, then all children could get the instruction they need from a teacher best able to provide. This idea of everyone gets the same is ludicrous. Our society has begun to punish excellence to achieve mediocrity for all. We expect our schools to turn out similar kids and our government to help us keep up with the Jones. Old concept - let people have access to the tools to make the most of their life but it isn't our job to deliver success on a platter by holding back someone else.
Posted 11/17/2012
If you are aware of a way to run a district's gifted program for a just a "little bit" more, you really need to share the secret with the rest of the class.

Everyone-administrators, teachers, and parents-can be fully in favor of a program. That is not the issue. It's the paying for it that is the problem. Eliminating gifted programs would not result in sum zero as PP said. Less staff would be required, more space in facilities would be available, and fewer learning resources and curricula would be necessary. All of which frees up funds in the budget.

I'm not sure how many of you have ever seen a school budget or been involved in balancing one. In our district, gifted students absorb an average of 3 times the resources that an average student does.
Posted 11/17/2012


yes, but education does not have to end at school. The laziness and dependency of the adults in our society is what is sabotaging the education of the gifted student.  "DO IT FOR ME".  At some point the parents need to step up and help their children.  And the great thing about enriching at home? you can make it fun, personal, and something the family can enjoy or special 1-on-1 with your gifted child.  And no "my child is above where I was in school" because by that point, the child will be smart enough and mature enough to not need or want your help anyway.


* ADHD without meds ** Parents of TEENS with ADHD *
BCPAC - Parents of kids in the performing arts!

Last edited 11/17/2012

So you are saying that only kids who have parents who have the interest, time and money to support their education are deserving of an appropriate education?  Great plan for setting our country up for success! 

Posted 11/17/2012
Nobody said they don't deserve a great education.
Posted 11/17/2012
I agree that parents need to step up, but we have created a generation or two without that skill. I stepped up by taking my kids out. I still however pay taxes and wish for those taxes to be used wisely. The best computer system in the world doesn't replace teaching a child to read. The high tech scoreboard doesn't help the bright child reach potential. The argument that gifted education is an extra that should be cut is like saying I have a splinter so cut off my hand. How about we cut the free contraceptives and teach kids. The schools have become nannies rather than a source of usable education.
Posted 11/17/2012
And what is appropriate is the subject of this debate isn't it?
I think it more "appropriate" that parents absorb the extra cost their child's education, so they get what they....deserve.
Posted 11/17/2012

Your son is receiving a lot of extra time and effort, and this does cost the school more than educating, say, my "nomal" 2nd grader. It costs more to educate a "gifted" child. 

But Charlie, You didn't quote the rest of my post.... What services would you drop for him?  What "private school" should i put him in when we are stationed overseas?  Which issue should I nurture and which gift should I ignore?

Or should I just leave my husband, move to a HCOL area and put my child in a private school so your child gets a better education? 

You are great at complaining, but you offer no REAL solutions.


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