[Ohiogift] Fwd: Who benefits from gifted education, the sequel

Mon Oct 26 08:38:54 EDT 2015

Such a good discussion!

I feel obligated to point out that meta-analyses from John Hattie's Visible Learning show that there is actually a decline in student learning (a negative impact) when the self-contained group of gifted students falls to 14.

Kathryn Craig, Gifted Intervention Specialist
Roxboro and Boulevard Elementary Schools
Cleveland Heights, University Heights
k_craig at chuh.org
216.371.7115, ext. 54445

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. "
                                                                                                            --  Aristotle

________________________________
From: Ohiogift [ohiogift-bounces+k_craig=chuh.org at lists.osu.edu] on behalf of Susan Rakow via Ohiogift [ohiogift at lists.osu.edu]
Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2015 12:36 PM
To: Margaret DeLacy; OATAG at yahoogroups.com; xl-PDX at yahoogroups.com; Ohiogift at lists.service.ohio-state.edu; Tagfam at listserv.icors.org
Subject: Re: [Ohiogift] Fwd: Who benefits from gifted education, the sequel

The research also has shown that there is little measurable academic growth if gifted learners are put in separate classes but given the same general studies curriculum. There may be positive social-emotional impact, but I have never looked up the research on this. But yes, self-contained GT classes that use a faster pace and advanced materials are essentially no-cost alternatives, especially if (in smaller districts) multi-age grouping is used to create appropriately sized classes that are consistent with the class size range in the other classes. It isn't defensible in many districts to have gifted self-contained classes with 15-20 kids when other kids have 30-35. And there is a difference between "defensible" and "ideal"....of course for all children, the smaller the class size, the more individual teacher attention is possible and the more differentiation is probable.
Susan

-----Original Message-----
From: Margaret DeLacy via Ohiogift
Sent: Oct 24, 2015 1:49 AM
To: OATAG at yahoogroups.com, xl-PDX at yahoogroups.com, Ohiogift at lists.service.ohio-state.edu, Tagfam at listserv.icors.org
Subject: [Ohiogift] Fwd: Who benefits from gifted education, the sequel

Friends:

Thanks to my library, I now have a copy of the original NBER study I mentioned a few days ago.  The full study confirmed (p. 8) that the students who were placed in the so-called "gifted" classes followed the same curriculum as all other students in the school.  Students who completed their tasks more quickly were assigned "enrichment" activities.

In addition, the study also found that the students who remained in their classrooms after the gifted students were removed did not experience any drop in achievement.

They conclude that a "separate gifted classroom environment can be highly effective in raising the standardized of students selected on the basis of past achievement, particularly disadvantaged and minority students who would not normally qualify for gifted education programs that use an absolute admission standard. ... a comprehensive tracking program that establishes a separate classroom in every school for the top performing students could
could significantly boost the performance of the most talented students in even the poorest neighborhoods, at little or no cost to other students or the District's budget."

Imagine what could happen if those gifted classes actually included an advanced curriculum!

Margaret

Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 12:07:35 -0700
To: list for OATAG, xl-PDX at yahoogroups.com, Ohiogift, Tagfam
From: Margaret DeLacy <margaretdelacy at comcast.net>
Subject: Who benefits from gifted education?

Friends:

Below is a link to a study and a summary of the study that came out last year from the National Bureau of Economic Research.   I haven't checked out the full study yet, but it seems to me that the authors' conclusions are questionable.  The summary refers to a study of three groups of 4-5 grade students (1) students who scored over 130 on an IQ test; (2) ELL and low-income students who scored over 116 and (3) the highest scorers on an achievement test the previous year.

These students were placed together in a "gifted" classroom that used the same curriculum and the same tests each year as the other district classes.  The students in group (1) did not make gains; the students in group (2) made small gains and among the students in group (3) the minority and low-income students made relatively large gains.

The problem with the study is that it merely replicates many other studies that have found that grouping alone is not an effective strategy for gifted students. ....

http://www.nber.org/papers/w20453

http://www.nber.org/digest/jan15/w20453.html

Who Benefits from Education for the Gifted?

Full-time classes for the gifted don't raise scores of high-IQ gifted students but have positive effects on other high achievers.

In Does Gifted Education Work? For Which Students? (NBER Working Paper No. 20453), David Card and Laura Giuliano report that full-time classes set up for gifted students don't raise the achievement of gifted students, but have large positive effects on non-gifted high achievers in those classes - especially on the reading and math scores of low-income high achievers. The authors conclude that establishing "a separate classroom in every school for the top-performing students could significantly boost the performance of [these] students in even the poorest neighborhoods," without harming other students or increasing school budgets.

Using detailed administrative data from one of the largest school districts in the United States, the authors tracked the progress of three distinct groups of students who were eligible for placement in classes for the gifted from 2004 through 2011. District policy required each elementary school to set up a separate gifted class for all students in the fourth or fifth grade who met one of two criteria. So-called "Plan A" gifted students scored at least 130 points on an IQ test. The policy also allows a lower threshold (116 points) for the "Plan B" gifted students - i.e., English-language learners and participants in the free and reduced-price lunch program. Finally, since many schools have relatively few gifted students in a grade, the remaining seats are offered to non-gifted students who scored the highest on the previous year's state-wide achievement tests (known as "high achievers"). Classes for the gifted are the same size as other classes in the district, and students follow the same curriculum and write the same standardized achievement test each spring.

The positive and relatively large effects on the math and reading achievement of the non-gifted high achievers was concentrated among free and reduced-price lunch students and black and Hispanic students. There was also a small positive effect on the writing scores of Plan B gifted students - especially boys and students at schools with high fractions of students who were eligible for free and reduced-price lunches.

The authors note that Plan B gifted students tended to be "underachievers" because their scores on standardized tests were more like those of the high achievers and were low relative to their scores on tests of cognitive ability. They note that it is possible that the program had a negligible impact on the test scores of Plan A gifted students because it is difficult to raise the scores of students who are already performing in the top percentiles. This argument is less compelling for Plan B students whose scores, like those of the high achievers, had ample room for improvement.

Based on interviews with teachers, the authors speculate that many Plan B students may have lacked non-cognitive traits, such as attention-to-task and a willingness to meet social expectations. Such traits may have helped high achievers perform well on standardized tests of routine knowledge despite their lower IQ scores. Differences in these traits may explain why high achievers benefitted more from gifted classes than the Plan B students, and may also explain why Plan B students reported lower satisfaction with the gifted classroom environment than either the Plan A students or the high achievers.

-- Linda Gorman
The Digest is not copyrighted and may be reproduced freely with appropriate attribution of source.

1824 Wilton Road
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118
216-932-3084 (home) 216-570-4976 (cell)
susanrakow at earthlink.net

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