COOKING UP GIFTED ED. Gifted programs, parents, some Renzulli SEM, the New York City education department — take all of those ingredients and cook them together for years. Then suddenly take out the gifted programs so that you can enhance inclusivity and (hopefully) provide additional opportunities for all students, perhaps by adding lots more of the Renzulli Schoolwide Enrichment Model. Then figure out what to do about the red-hot parents who really want to have their children recognized as gifted. That’s the current situation in New York City. What’s YOUR recipe? Read more.
WHAT SHOULD SCHOOL BE LIKE? How about: “A whole-child-centered, research-and-evidence based school system, run by highly professionalized teachers.” That’s one description of Finnish schools in an article at the Washington Post about facts and myths surrounding the Finnish educational system. Anyone who ponders “success” in education might be interested in the article. Find it.
MORE ON EFFECTIVE EDUCATION. Education Dive reports that the Ogden, Utah, school district has spent three years developing what it calls a Multi-Tiered System of Supports — MTSS — to proactively identify and serve students who might be at risk. The data-driven system is described this way: “This system takes a comprehensive ‘whole child’ approach to addressing the unique and individual needs of each student through the use of tiered interventions, an early warning system, social-emotional learning assessment and professional development for teachers.” Read more.
GIFTED AND ANXIOUS? Psychologist Gail Post considers whether gifted children are really more anxious, and, if so, the possible dynamics, how gifted children cope with anxiety, and how parents can help. Find the blog entry.
TiLT PODCAST. The newest TiLT podcast is a conversation with a psychologist about pathological demand avoidance, a diagnosis Debbie Reber notes as not universally accepted as well as somewhat controversial. Find the podcast.
SENG WEBINAR. On September 10, the organization Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted has scheduled a webinar with Melanie Hayes, founder of Big Minds Unschool, on “Relationships and 2e.” Find out more.
DISTURBING STUDY ABOUT IDEA. Educational researchers report in Psychology Today about comparing long-term outcomes between students identified under IDEA and those not. Their conclusion: “…across the years studied, those who were identified under IDEA in some capacity did not significantly differ from those who were not identified under IDEA. In other words, special education services did not appear to be strongly related to a wide range of outcomes in adulthood.” There are wrinkles in the research results — e.g., that family income and maternal education do predict certain outcomes. But at first glance, the results are discouraging. We hope for follow-up and elaboration. Find the article.
