Study: exceptional students slighted

WW-P district must establish clear and uniform protocols for identifying students with exceptional abilities, in order to meet a revised state mandate.

By: Gwen Runkle
   According to a year-long internal study, the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District is lacking in providing programs and services for its gifted and talented, or exceptionally able, students.
   The study’s findings were presented to the school board Tuesday by Gary Reece, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, along with Dr. Alyce Hunter, the district language arts literacy supervisor for grades six through eight, and Denise Mengani, principal of Maurice Hawk School.
   "The aims of this study were to look broadly at exceptionality from kindergarten through grade 12," Mr. Reece said. "We listened to all the stakeholders — students, faculty and parents. After processing a survey and analyzing focus-group activities, we believe this study will make our strong system even better."
   The district has about 900 students, or roughly 10 percent of its population, participating in some form of gifted-and-talented program or service, Mr. Reece said.
   The district’s main gifted-and-talented program serves exceptional math students. Students are formally screened in third grade for participation in the Accelerated and Enriched Mathematics Program, which begins in grade four, he said.
   Similar screening processes are in place for exceptional music students starting in grades four and five and in the humanities program in grades seven and eight, the study said.
   At the high-school level, exceptionally able students may choose to take advanced placement and/or honors classes, Mr. Reece added.
   But despite having these services in place, the district still needs improvement, primarily in establishing clear and uniform protocols for identifying students with exceptional abilities, in order to meet a revised state mandate, the study said.
   In April 2000, the state Board of Education adopted stronger regulatory language requiring school districts to "make provisions for an on-going identification process and appropriate educational challenges for gifted and talented students initiated in kindergarten and reviewed annually through grade 12," the study said.
   Today, the district does not have a consistent identification process in place for finding gifted students below the third grade and relies heavily on teachers’ informal identification of gifted students, the study said.
   "To solve this problem, we need to convene two ad-hoc committees, one which will clearly define what we mean by ‘giftedness’ in the district and another which will identify consistent ways to identify gifted and exceptional students," Ms. Hunter said.
   According to the study, the district also needs to provide more information to parents and faculty and provide staff with more development opportunities and resources in gifted education.
   "Parents and faculty are information poor when it comes to knowing about the district’s gifted-and-talented programs, polices and services," Ms. Hunter said. "We can solve this by providing more documents, using the school’s Web site and conducting informative seminars."
   Ms. Hunter also suggested the district establish an advisory board made up of community members, parents, students, teachers and administration; hire a gifted-and-talented director for each school; and encourage professional improvement with gifted education workshops.
   Mr. Reece estimated it would cost about $170,000 to implement a two-stage screening process to annually identify gifted students in grades K-12; about $95,000 to hire a gifted-and-talented education director for all 10 of the district’s schools; and $250,000 to hire five full-time advocates to serve as resource people for faculty at two schools during the regular school day.
   In addition, he estimated it would cost $28,000 to provide 10-hour training blocks for every faculty member in the district and $135,000, or $15 per pupil, for community-support programs.
   "What’s important to remember is that not all gifted students are high academic achievers. We need to do all we can to identify all gifted students, because all students have the right to struggle," Mr. Reece said.
   The school board’s curriculum committee is expected to evaluate the study and bring formal recommendations to the board in the spring.