2e in Kankakee, Gifted Ed, More

2e IN KANKAKEE. Well, actually, Bourbonnais (Bur-BON-is, no kidding), a suburb of Kankakee, Illinois. The Daily Journal reports on the story of a gifted first-grader who also has a reading difficulty and was way behind his classmates in reading. His mother, while supportive of public schools in general, pulled him to homeschool in February. The school district says it follows Illinois standards when it comes to supporting schools with difficulties; but other states — such as Indiana, just a few miles away — apparently do better at screening young students for reading difficulties and signs of dyslexia, according to the article. Read more including some familiar themes.

GIFTED ED might not actually help talented students move ahead faster. That’s the thesis of a column at the Hechinger Report which contends that in gifted classrooms students get activities designed to promote critical thinking or creativity, along with project-based learning. What they don’t get: advanced topic instruction. Find the column.