For students who display exceptional intellectual or creative abilities, gifted schools can offer a stimulating environment that caters to their unique needs. In these specialized institutions, gifted students can explore their interests and abilities, engage with like-minded peers and be guided by experienced teachers. This article will look at what defines a school for gifted students, the benefits of attending such a school and important factors to consider when selecting the right institution.

Defining Schools for Gifted Students

Schools for gifted students are educational institutions designed specifically to cater to the needs of students who demonstrate outstanding intellectual, creative or artistic aptitude. These schools provide a challenging curriculum, differentiated instruction and access to resources aimed at nurturing the talents of these exceptional students. Programs in these schools often focus on critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, innovation and collaboration.

The Benefits of Attending a Gifted School

1. Challenging Curriculum: Gifted schools provide a rigorous curriculum tailored to challenge and stimulate gifted learners. This ensures that they can grow academically at an appropriate pace without feeling bored or frustrated.

2. Specialized Teachers: Educators in gifted schools have specialized training and experience in working with gifted students. They understand their unique needs and learning styles, and are skilled at providing differentiated instruction that promotes growth and development.

3. Peer Interaction: Gifted schools offer an environment where gifted students can interact with like-minded peers who share their interests and abilities. This fosters social interaction, collaboration and healthy competition.

4. Development of Potential: Gifted schools aim to help students reach their full potential by providing them with opportunities to explore their talents in depth and develop new skills.

5. Support Services: Many gifted schools also offer support services such as counseling or mentorship programs to help students navigate the challenges associated with being a gifted learner.

Selecting the Right Gifted School

When choosing a school for gifted students, consider the following factors:

1. Academic Programs: Research the academic programs offered by the school, and ensure they cater to your child’s interests and abilities.

2. School Culture: Consider the school’s culture and values, which will influence the overall learning environment for your child. 

3. Extracurricular Activities: Evaluate the extracurricular options available, as these opportunities can help develop your child’s talents outside of the classroom. 

4. Accreditation and Reviews: Check if the school has appropriate accreditation and read reviews from parents and students to gain insight into the overall experience at the institution.

5. Affordability: Consider the cost of tuition, as well as any additional fees, to ensure that it falls within your budget.

Conclusion

Schools for gifted students can offer many benefits for exceptional learners, including a challenging curriculum, specialized teachers, peer interaction and support services focused on helping them reach their full potential. When selecting a gifted school, consider factors such as academic programs, school culture, extracurricular activities and affordability to find the best fit for your child. With proper research and consideration, you can help your gifted student thrive in an environment tailored to their unique needs.

The post Schools for Gifted Students: What to Know appeared first on The Edvocate.

The Covid-19 pandemic has left an indelible mark on all aspects of society, but for students in special education, the effects have been particularly pronounced. This article aims to explore the various ways in which special education was impacted by the pandemic and provides insights into potential long-term consequences for this community.

Challenges Faced by Students and Educators

1. Remote learning difficulties: The abrupt transition to online learning highlighted the unique challenges of engaging special education students who often require differentiated instruction, one-on-one assistance, and specialized materials. Virtual environments simply couldn’t replicate many of these essential components effectively.

2. Lack of resources: The digital divide further exacerbated disparities faced by many special needs students who lacked access to proper technology, stable internet connections, or a quiet space to learn.

3. Diminished emotional and social support: The isolation brought upon by social distancing protocols meant that many students were unable to tap into their familiar support networks, like therapists, aides, and peer groups.

4. Educator strain: Teachers and therapists faced unprecedented workloads with little preparation or training for remote learning scenarios while managing their own pandemic-induced stressors.

Mental Health Effects

The quarantine measures affected children’s mental well-being across the board; however, this was particularly true for those with disabilities as they lost access to vital therapies and educational services. Increased anxiety, depression, and regression in skills became common issues among special education students.

Academic Gaps

Special needs students experienced significant setbacks regarding academic progress due to difficulties adapting to remote learning environments. Learning gaps could potentially last into future school years as educators scramble to address lost ground.

Consequences for Parents and Caregivers

In addition to navigating new routines and providing extraordinary support for their children’s remote learning experiences, parents of special needs children suddenly took on primary caregiving roles that typically fell to educators or therapists.

Adapting and Mitigating the Impact

1. Support services: Many educational institutions pivoted to provide necessary support services virtually or through social-distanced in-person sessions.

2. Communication: Teachers and parents increased communication to accommodate individual learning plans and better manage expectations during remote learning.

3. Innovative solutions: A variety of online tools, apps, and virtual interventions helped bridge some gaps presented by pandemic restrictions.

Conclusion

The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of special education systems and highlighted the need for more versatile instruction models that cater to a wide array of learning needs. As we move towards recovery, it is crucial to prioritize creating resilient educational environments for special needs students to minimize any potential future disruptions.

The post What Impact Did COVID Have on Gifted Education? appeared first on The Edvocate.

Since these gifted students outshine their peers in their ability to think, reason, and conclude, they need special educational services and support to realize and develop their full potential and talents. Unusually, identification of giftedness is done through a blend of gifted tests and assessments.

Gifted students can come from all economic strata and all ethnic, racial, and cultural populations. They can have learning and processing disorders (such as ADHD, dyslexia, or autism) that necessitate specific intervention and accommodation. Apart from appropriate learning opportunities and support, these gifted students also need guidance and support to develop emotionally and socially.

No two gifted students are exactly the same. Each has its own unique traits and patterns. Though gifted students can have several traits in common, they don’t exhibit traits in every area. Traits of giftedness can be broadly categorized into creative, cognitive, behavioral, and affective. Creatively gifted students can display an ability for fantasy, intuitiveness, self-acceptance, independence in social behavior and attitude, and moral and aesthetic commitment to self-selected work. 

Students with cognitive giftedness can be voracious and early readers, have an extensive vocabulary and intellectual curiosity, display a keen power of abstraction, possess a range of diverse interests and abilities, and show persistent, goal-driven behavior. Some common traits noticed in people with behavioral giftedness are limitless enthusiasm, spontaneity, and an intense focus on passions, where resistance to changing activities crops up when the individual is engrossed in his own interests. Such gifted people typically show insatiable curiosity, are extremely energetic and need little downtime or sleep, and constantly question a lot of things. They could even be chatterboxes and have a volatile temper, particularly with respect to their perceptions of failure.

Traits of affective giftedness include empathy or sensitivity to others’ feelings, unusual emotional intensity and depth, high expectations from self and others that often lead to frustration, idealism, need for consistency between personal actions and abstract values, and advanced levels of moral judgment. Such people can also have heightened self-awareness accompanied by feelings of being different. They also tend to get easily wounded and need emotional support.

The post Giftedness: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on The Edvocate.

1. Identification of giftedness: The identification of giftedness is often a controversial and complex issue. Giftedness is not just about having high IQ scores, but also includes creativity, leadership, and other traits. Schools often rely on standardized tests, which may not adequately identify some types of giftedness. We need to develop better identification methods and ensure that teachers and other professionals who work with gifted students understand and use these methods.

2. Differentiated curriculum: Gifted students need a differentiated curriculum that challenges them at their appropriate intellectual level. Often, they are not challenged in their regular classroom, and they lose interest in learning. They need opportunities to pursue their academic interests through advanced coursework and research opportunities. We need to develop more advanced and rigorous courses in various subjects to cater to these gifted students.

3. Specialized programming: Gifted students require specialized programs that cater to their needs. This includes programs that provide academic acceleration, mentorship, and enrichment opportunities. Gifted education programs need to be adequately funded and staffed with qualified personnel so that students can fully benefit from the various services available.

4. Training and support for educators: Teachers need specialized training and support to work with gifted students. They need to understand the unique needs and learning styles of gifted learners, as well as ways to differentiate instruction to engage them. Professional development opportunities should be made available for teachers who work with gifted students.

5. Inclusion and diversity: Gifted students come from diverse backgrounds and possess different types of giftedness. It is crucial to ensure that all students who display giftedness receive appropriate services and that diverse voices are heard in gifted education programming. The inclusion of underrepresented groups of culturally and ethnically diverse students should be a priority.

In conclusion, gifted education reform is essential in ensuring the intellectual growth and enrichment of our most talented students. Improving identification methods, providing a differentiated curriculum, specialized programming, and training and support for educators, along with an emphasis on inclusion and diversity, are key elements of gifted education reform. We must ensure that gifted students receive the services they need to fulfill their intellectual potential and contribute to the greater good of our society.   

The post How to Reform Gifted Education appeared first on The Edvocate.

Similar to other gifted learners, twice-exceptional students are talented and highly knowledgeable in at least one specific domain. However, their disabilities often overshadow their giftedness, or these students might be able to hide or mask their learning deficits by utilizing their talents to compensate. Sometimes, the special education needs of a twice-exceptional student aren’t identified until adolescence or later or are never recognized throughout their life.

Twice-exceptional students belong to the league of the most underserved and under-identified population in schools. There’re two reasons behind this. First, the huge majority of school districts don’t have processes in place for identifying these students. And second, inadequate identification results in a lack of access to the right educational services. Also, twice-exceptional students, whose disabilities and gifts often mask each other, are hard to identify.

These students often face difficulties in the school environment, where participation, long-term planning, and organization play a role. They can be highly curious, creative, imaginative, verbal, and have a powerful problem-solving ability and many different interests or all-consuming, single expertise. However, these students might have difficulty keeping pace with course volume, demands, and rigor at school, leading to inconsistent academic performance, difficulties with written expression, frustration, and labels like an underachiever, unmotivated, and lazy.

Identifying these students is a complex process and requires unique expertise to identify and assess the two areas of exceptionality. These children might be identified using these tips:

·Using both formal and informal assessments

·Taking a multi-dimensional approach for identifying these students and using both behavioral assessments and written tests

·Lowering qualifying cut off scores to identify learning disabilities or differences

·Choosing oral questioning rather than formal written testing if the child has difficulties with processing details

·Using assessment methods that accommodate cultural and language differences to eliminate bias from the identification process

Twice-exceptional students need a supportive learning environment to reach their full potential. Some effective strategies might include developing and employing individualized education programs according to their talents and interests, utilizing a strength-based approach, accommodating both academic strengths and academic weaknesses, allowing them to participate in enrichment experiences and programs, etc. It might also help to collaborate with other professionals in counseling, gifted education or special education, etc.

The post Twice-Exceptional: What Does it Mean? appeared first on The Edvocate.

Different entities can apply for a grant from the Talent Search program – IHEs, secondary schools, private or public organizations or agencies, which include community-based organizations that have experience catering to disadvantaged youths, or a combination of the organization’s agencies and institutions.

There are some compulsory services that must be provided using the grant received from the program. These include:

·Connecting participants to excellent academic tutoring services so that they can complete secondary/postsecondary courses

·Providing assistance and advice in selecting secondary school course and, when applicable, in selecting initial postsecondary course

·Assisting the participants in getting prepared for college entrance examination and helping them to complete college admission applications

·Providing complete information on the Federal student financial aid programs, as well as their benefits along with information on identifying private and public scholarships, and assisting participants to complete financial aid applications

·Providing guidance and assisting participants on reentry into secondary schools, entry into postsecondary education, entry into GED (general education development) programs, and alternative education programs that are designed for secondary school dropouts which help them receive a regular secondary school diploma

·Connecting participants to counseling or education services that aim to improve the economic and financial literacy of the participants or the parents of the participants, which include financial planning for postsecondary education.

Additionally, there are some optional services that might be provided using the grant of a Talent Search project. These include:

·Career and personal activities or counseling

·Academic tutoring that might include instruction in study skills, reading, writing, mathematics, etc

·Information and activities to help the youths become aware of the career options available to them

·Helping the disadvantaged youths to experience the campuses of IHEs along with the academic programs, cultural events, and other activities or sites that are not generally available to them

·Counseling and workshops for the families of eligible participants

·Mentoring programs that include students, faculty members at IHEs, elementary or secondary school counselors/teachers, or any combination of these individuals

Activities and programs mentioned here are particularly meant for participants having limited English proficiency, belong to groups that are generally underrepresented in postsecondary education, foster care youth, homeless youths and children, individuals with disabilities, or other disconnected participants

The post A Guide to Talent Search Programs appeared first on The Edvocate.

In homogeneous grouping, lesson plans can be tailored to students’ abilities, which means teachers do not need to address individual needs. As students are grouped by similar abilities, they generally have similar areas of difficulty and questions that can all be answered at once.

Students also tend to feel adequately challenged and comfortable when they get to work with students who learn at almost the same pace as their own. Gifted students become more enthusiastic when equally competent peers challenge their knowledge and assumptions. Also, students, who are at grade level or below, may experience some synergism when grouped together. Rather than being dragged along by other students, they get to fulfill the challenges of an exercise or task at their own pace. It gives them the opportunity to persevere and deal with problems together. Basically, in a homogenous grouping, every student gets a greater opportunity to perform the exercise or task at their own pace.

These groups eliminate the issues of students struggling to keep up and trailing far behind or feeling inhibited from moving on. So, homogenous groups can boost student achievement if executed properly.

Another key advantage of homogeneous grouping is that teachers get increased ability to modify the difficulty level of an assigned exercise in accordance with the ability of each group. For instance, a teacher has split the class into three groups, where the first group has the most gifted students, and the third group has students who tend to struggle. After an exercise is assigned, the teacher recognizes that it is very easy for the first group, very difficult for the third group, and stimulating enough for the second one. With homogenous grouping, the exercise can be made more difficult and challenging for the first group while making it easier for the third group giving them an easier path to progress.

The post Homogeneous Grouping: What You Need to Know appeared first on The Edvocate.

Teachers of these students must have some special training. For instance, they need to be able to identify and foster ‘gifted’ behaviors, allow gifted students to demonstrate already-existing mastery of concepts, incorporate the passionate interests of these students into their independent studies, etc. 

The gifted students placed in cluster groups might be gifted in just one academic area, such as mathematics or reading. Consequently, the mathematically gifted students are placed in one classroom and those, who are verbally gifted, are in another one.

For teachers, one of the key benefits of cluster grouping is that it becomes more realistic for them to fulfill the special learning needs of gifted students. For gifted students, this method offers a plethora of significant benefits. First of all, as these students already have some of the concepts, which they are anticipated to learn in a particular class, a considerable percentage of their school time might be wasted. However, when gifted students are placed in cluster groups, they get exactly what they need: a steady opportunity to learn new study materials. They stay more humble when they face ongoing academic competition. They also get to develop the behaviors required to deal with the struggle and challenge of new learning. Additionally, they may avoid the emotional and social problems, which take place from struggling to comprehend why they appear significantly different from their peers.

Many think that cluster grouping may hinder the performance and achievement of other students in that particular class. However, in reality, as long as a cluster group appears with a reasonable number of no more than seven students, it is not a problem. The fact is that the entire class experiences a general improvement in its achievement, as reported by cluster teachers.

For the school, the major advantage of cluster grouping is it can provide a cost-effective, full-time program for gifted students. This is because it can likely fulfill the extraordinary learning needs of gifted students by grouping them together with one specially trained teacher.

The post Cluster Grouping: What You Need to Know appeared first on The Edvocate.

In several cases, merit-based scholarships s can help reduce or completely cover the cost of standard four-year college  tuition. A handful of scholarships are even awarded for meeting the expenses of multiple academic years based on continuing student eligibility, performance, and involvement.

Students who neither qualify for need-based financial aid nor can afford to pay for a college  education out of their pockets can find a solution in merit scholarships. Since such scholarships don’t take an applicant’s financial needs into account, they can be awarded to a student living below the poverty line just as easily as they can be given to a student who belongs to the top 1% of the nation’s wealthiest families.

Though merit scholarships are usually offered by colleges and universities, there are many organizations, companies, and foundations as well that grant such financial aid to deserving applicants. However, it’s important to know the details and read the fine prints of merit scholarships offered by private organizations, as they often have a caveat. For example, a company offering merit scholarships to students majoring in a specific field may use the opportunity as a recruitment method. Thus, it can ask scholarship recipients to join the company upon graduation for one to two years, at the least. Such caveats are usually used to improve the company’s public image. If the company in question is an extremely desirable employer, such conditions may not be a problem. Else, being bound by an agreement could pose problems in the students’ lives later, especially if they get good job offers from other, more reputed employers or consider changing their major in the future.

No fixed rules exist about how a student should apply for merit scholarships. Generally, the organizations offering such financial aids can set their own screening criteria and other requirements. Once students have shortlisted a few merit scholarships they plan to apply to, they should ensure they meet the eligibility criteria. Additionally, they need to read the application instructions outlined by the school, organization, or business and follow them to the letter.

The post Merit Scholarships: Everything Your Need to Know appeared first on The Edvocate.

When determining who is eligible to be classified as ‘gifted,’ some specific factors or qualities are considered. These include:

• Teacher recommendations
• Test results
• Learning speed etc.

There is no general definition of what giftedness is; however, the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) suggests that gifted individuals show immense promise or potential to excel in one or more areas of giftedness. They usually differ from their peers in a few ways, which include:

• They are much faster at assimilating information
• They have a great memory and retain lessons easily, making it unnecessary for them to review material severally
• They are very complex thinkers and are able to perform critical and abstract thinking far superior to what they should be able to do for their age
•  They find certain topics to be quite interesting and spend a lot of time focusing on them
• They are able to use their senses more effectively than their peers and are very good at monitoring their environment, even while working

When these qualities are used as a standard, only about 6% of the student population in the U.S. qualify as gifted. That being said, there is no law that enforces the need for special education services to be provided to gifted students. They simply have to be challenged enough to make learning fun and meaningful for them.

The post Gifted and Talented Students: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on The Edvocate.