Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mary
Parental
satisfaction
level of
Gifted and
Talented
Student
Programs.
ED737
Amy Oliver
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
Scene 1: A fourth-grade classroom with 28 students. The desks are set in groups
of four and six to promote collaboration. The teacher steps up to the front of the room
and asks for attention to start a new unit in Social Studies on map reading. As the
teacher is instructing the students on how to complete the assignment one of the
students, Johnny, starts to look around. The teacher uses proximity to get Johnny
focused again then goes back to helping other students. Johnny works for a moment
then goes back to looking around or pulls out his book from home to read. The teacher
calmly tells Johnny to put his book away and get back to work. Johnny responds with I
am bored or I know this already. The teacher tries to get Johnny back on track, but
since she knows he can do it she does not spend much time working with him because
she has other learners that need her help with what to do. Eventually, Johnny is put into
specializes in teaching accelerated learners, but this is only 6 hours out of a weeks worth
of instruction. Johnny still feels as if he does not belong in the classroom and wishes the
pull out program took more time per week, so that does not even keep his interest.
Johnnys mother cannot figure a way to get her son engaged in school. The
administration at his school tells her to be patient, and that things will work out, but she
is worried that Johnny will begin to dislike coming to school and lost his interest in
learning. Johnnys mother does not want her son to be like other gifted and talented
(GT) students who do not finish high school. She checks into other GT programs, but
1
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
Johnnys mother talks to another gifted students mother she knows from church.
Sally goes to school in another district that employs grade skipping. Sallys mom likes
the program because her daughter moved to a grade level that matches her knowledge
level. What Sallys mother does not like is that Sally does not interact with children her
age and feels left out sometimes by the older children. So, Sallys intellectual needs are
being met but her social needs are not. Sallys mother feels that there must be a better
way to teacher her child at the intellectual level she needs while learning social cues
Purpose:
gifted and talented students think is working for their child. Students who are engaged
in learning are more apt to continue their career in education up to and beyond high
school graduation. The students who are not interested in the learning process will often
drop out of high school because of the relationship between the school, the teacher, and
the student is not strong. If the GT student does not feel like the education system
values them, then they will see attendance and the learning environment as not
In the scenario at the top our student, Johnny, is bored. He already knows the
presented content, but he is not engaged in the learning because it is not motivating
enough for him. Johnny is a gifted learner, but the lessons given are not sufficient to
keep him involved in the teaching. The teacher may not know how to differentiate the
experience to include the accelerated and gifted learners or just doesnt have the time.
2
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
GT students may be the ones that score at the highest level on the standardized tests,
but they are also the ones that can fall through the cracks. Students that are not engaged
by their teachers may grow bored and stop following the curriculum. These students do
not want more work or to teach other students who need the help. These students want
to be challenged.
Some districts have the Pull-Out program where the students are moved to a
specialized classroom for a few hours each week. The fraction of the instructional week
that students spend with the gifted teacher in the pull-out program is not enough to
keep these accelerated students interested in learning. Johnnys school district is one
that has this type of program. The gifted students spend most of their instructional time
in the classroom with the inclusion teacher then spend a few hours with the gifted
teacher. This means that much of the time Johnny relies on the inclusion teacher to
differentiate the lesson to match his skill set. The benefits of this program are a good
working relationship between the inclusion teacher and the specialized teacher
increases the intellectual learning of the students. (Yang and Gentry, 2012)
Grade skipping is another enrichment program that school districts may use.
Grade skipping allows the student to move up to the grade level that they are at
intellectually but may not be the best place for learning social cues that are so important
for a learner. Along with this type of learning, there are districts that have content level
skipping as their enrichment program. (Gurwell, 2016) In this kind of program, the
students are tested at the beginning of the year then placed in higher subject level
classes. These students still spend much of their time in their age level classroom but
3
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
will move to a different grade level class to get their instruction of an individual subject.
This allows the student to increase his understanding of the subject while still learning
GT students range in ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and age. Yoon and Gentry
point out in the Gifted Child Quarterly, white and Asian students are overrepresented
since 1978 (Yoon & Gentry, 2009). They go on to mention that all ethnicities have
students who qualify for the gifted program, but the most are white and Asian. The age
level can start as young as kindergarten but the focus for this study would concentrate
on the intermediate level. GT students are found for the most part in a heterogeneous
classroom because most public schools only pull out students to work for short times
(Kennedy, 1995). These students each learn in their way like the on-level and adaptive
learners.
The classroom is where the students get most of their content. They need their
teacher to direct the content to them. Due to many factors, this just is not always
possible. Most teachers do not plan enough to engage their accelerated students. A
national survey of classroom teachers found that they made only minor modifications to
As Johnnys mother found out there are different enrichment programs; each has
their challenges. What should Johnnys mother do? What is best for her child? Only
Johnnys mother can answer that but who is asking the parents who know their children
best?
4
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
Questions:
Which method of instruction works best in the eyes of the people who know the
student the best, the parents? Are pull out programs the best way to enrich GT
Summary:
Johnnys mother did her informal research study by talking to the other parents.
She found that students react differently to each method of instruction. It seems that the
type of instructional method that helps one gifted and talented student is not the same
for a different gifted and talented student. Learning styles are unique to students. Some
learn best visually or logically; some learn best by skipping a grade or going to a
specialized gifted classroom. How can we, as educators, find the right method of
enrichment for the GT students so that they are continually engaged in the learning
process?
Terms:
activities not ordinarily provided by the school I order to fully develop such
5
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
Accelerated learning is about having the student skip grades or those students who
take a pre-test determining they know the content. Those students who test out in a
go to a different classroom where the gifted teacher will have lessons for them. (Yang
classroom and works with your child as the class is working on a subject. (Yang and
Gentry, 2012)
Grade skipping means that the child has either skipped a complete grade level or is
6
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
Pull-out program? Maybe the best program is one of content or Grade Skipping. This
question has been asked for decades. There are many areas of the problem that need to
be discussed to determine which is best. Determining the best course of action for the
GT students is important. Educators cannot decide if teachers can differentiate for their
gifted students as well as differentiating for the adaptive minds or if the gifted students
should be accelerated from one grade level to another? There is much to think about
Research
discussion of the definitions. Strict definitions state that gifted students can be
identified by IQ scores started as early as 1926 with L.M. Terman in his work called
Genius studies of genius: Mental and physical traits of a thousand gifted children.
Layering on top of IQ to determine which students are gifted, Renzulli discusses how
Gifted behaviors consist of behaviors that reflect an interaction among three basic
clusters of human traits above-average ability, high levels of task commitment, and
Many students who are in the 99th percentile of test scores are seen as not
needing any added interaction from the teacher because those students already
7
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
understand the content. These students are called gifted. The problem with this is that
students who do not get that interaction of a teacher engaging them will not show
progress in their yearly reports. The progress is what is important to the learning
process as opposed to the level of understanding. Gifted students that dont progress
Students that dont feel engaged in the learning process can get bored with school
and feel like they do not belong. Too little engagement across the years of schooling will
cause students to dislike going to school and possibly consider dropping out. Nichole
Gurwell, Instructional Coach at Tonganoxie Elementary School, explained that she saw
this first hand with her child. Before her daughter was granted acceptance into the gifted
program, she was in the beginning stages of hating school. Mrs. Gurwell acknowledged
that in her capacity as Instructional Coach she has encountered gifted students that are
not being engaged enough and were growing a level of discomfort at school that could
A study on dropout rates found that students who are not engaged in the
classroom will lose interest and then eventually drop out of school. (Nowicki, Duke et
al., 2004) Those are the students that desire an instructor that understands their needs
so that their attention is grabbed. A 2014 study by Katie McClarty showed that the
dropout rate is between 18 percent and 24 percent of gifted students Even when
gifted students stay in school, many of them underachieve that is their actual
Imagine this visual; there are 100 students in a school. Ten of them are shown to be
8
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
gifted. If 18 percent of them drop out, that is 1.8 students who will drop out. That
sounds small until you realize that that is almost two students out of 10 who will not
make it through school. McClarty also mentions that many of those who do graduate
will not achieve their best. So, of those other eight students in our hypothetical grouping
of gifted students, many will not reach their potential. It is unclear the percentage that
makes up the underachieving many but with only 8 to work with even allowing one
gifted student to miss their potential is indeed unfortunate. All students should be
A parent of two gifted children in the article, Serving Gifted Through Inclusion:
A Parents Perspective, states that she worries about inclusion because the teachers did
not have the knowledge and training that they should have to engage the gifted children.
(Martin & Brodsky, 1996) On the other side of this coin is the teachers perspective. In
an article in the Roemer Review, Lisa Benson, a Middle School Teacher, claims that
inclusion puts undue pressure on the heterogeneous classroom teachers. They are
already overworked and trying to plan something for all the learner levels to do just
more work than the teachers have time. It is hard to say if the inclusion method or
pulling students out for focused instruction is the best. (Benson & Brodsky, 1996)
Should we also address the question of should the gifted students be enriched
within their grade level or allowed to skip full grades? Lulu Stedman gives her advice in
her book called Education of Gifted Children. Stedman says that to allow the students to
skip grade levels when they have shown that they have mastered the content would
provide them a disservice. Those students should still be allowed to mature with their
9
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
classmates. These gifted students still have much in common with their peers including
physical and social skills so they should continue growing up with their grade level
Inclusion in the heterogeneous classroom works best as some studies have shown
when the gifted students are grouped with those of similar ability. Using pre-
assessments to group students makes a lot more sense than grouping simply by age.
(Cramond & Brodskey, 1996; Rakow, 2012) The classroom teacher needs to provide
differentiation for all exceptional students in the classroom. This often does not happen
because some inclusion teachers do not like dealing with the gifted student, does not
have time, may not have the resources, or just doesnt know how to engage these
students. (Kennedy, 1995) With a lack of sufficient subject matter knowledge of the
heterogeneous classroom teacher, gifted students are often left with nothing to engage
them says Joyce VanTassel-Baska and Tamra Stambaugh in their article, Challenges
and Possibilities for Serving Gifted Learners in the Regular Classroom. On top of that,
they have noted that classroom management skills for differentiating for the gifted
learner as the primary cause for the lack of differentiation. The delicate balance between
giving an assignment that will engage all the levels of learners and having those students
become bored and act out in class is an ever-present challenge to what the teacher must
A rarely used method for educating gifted students is called Grade Skipping. This
means that the students take a test that shows if they perform with a high enough score
on a pre-test then there is no reason for the student to have to stay at their grade level.
10
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
There are a couple of ways for a student skip a grade. The obvious way is to move a
student from one grade level to a higher grade. An alternate way to have students skip
grades is by having the student accelerate in a subject. For example, a learner who gets a
high enough percentage right on a pre-test in math will be moved from their grade level
math class to a higher-grade level class. The benefits of this way of handling gifted
students are that the student is still with their classmates but can learn the upper-level
The drawbacks to Grade Skipping is that some students mentioned that their
maturity and sociability were affected. One student, Andrew Fowler, who is 17,
mentioned that he was worried the first year that he leveled up to a different grade.
Fowler said that by the end of the year he did not notice the change and skipped other
grades throughout his school career. In opposition to Fowler is Angela Carr, 34. Carr
was admitted to kindergarten at the age of 4 years. She advanced several grades and was
very young when she attended high school. Carr was adversely affected because she was
not mature enough to be at that level socially. She began to drink with her elder
classmates. It just depends on the student how many grade levels, if at all, should be
skipped. Their social and emotional growth is as important as their intellectual growth.
method is used in many schools for students who are exceptional, meaning gifted
learners or adaptive learners. The special education teacher either works in the
classroom with the heterogeneous teacher or pulls the exceptional students out of the
11
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
classroom to work in a specialized room. These special education teachers can spend a
few hours each week with these exceptional students. As Susan Rakow says, gifted
students are gifted all day long. (Rakow, 2012, p. 38) Gifted students are viewed in a
different way than their adaptive counterparts. Also, teachers who like and are
concerned about their gifted students will work harder for them. This is opposite of
those teachers who are not as worried about their gifted students because they feel that
those students do not need as much time. (Geffen, 1997) There are those that call this
method weak because the gifted students only get so much attention. (Winner, 1996)
There are many ways to educate the gifted students. Some are low in cost like
grouping the students by the ability within the inclusion classroom. Technology allows
for educational methods to grow and change rapidly. Students will soon be able to take
advantage of the one to one ratio for ipads or laptops that most districts will have. Since
each student would have their technological device, they will have access to more
information that could be used in a differentiated assignment that addresses their level
of ability. Working with students at a higher level can also be utilized with gifted
students. Working with a higher-level teacher, the inclusion teacher can have gifted
students partner with a higher-grade level student on a project allowing the gifted
The research is not conclusive regarding this topic. There are several methods
that students and parents can be involved in so that they can reach the top of their
learning abilities. Grade skipping and content skipping are similar, but they often leave
the student behind emotionally and socially. Inclusion is a great method so that the gap
12
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
between student learning and sociability is closed but the drawback is that inclusion
teachers are often unable to create lessons that allow them to do their best. The Pull-Out
method and Push-In method are also similar. The Pull Out and Push In methods permit
the student to be able to stay in the inclusion classroom with their grade level while they
have a specialized teacher who differentiates the lessons for them. The detriment to both
methods is that these specialized teachers only meet with their students for a few hours
each week. The rest of the learning time is spent without the level of differentiation that
these students need. These methods have their benefits, and all have drawbacks. Which
13
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to find out which GT method parents prefer. Gifted
and Talented students are often left behind when it comes to lesson creation. Some
teachers believe that since these GT students already understand the content that they
do not need to be engaged like their on-level and adaptive counterparts. The problem is
that these students are being left behind. Whether it is due to lack of desire to try to
create a lesson with engaging differentiation or if there is a lack of knowledge, the fact is
Methodology
prefer? Are Pull Out programs the best way to enrich GT students? What differentiation
works best for students in this demographic? These questions are worth investigating in
the hopes of discovering the best way to serve the GT community and create the leaders
of tomorrow.
is the research method that will be used. This study is quantitative because all the
answers are given as choices except for the comment section at the bottom which may or
may not be filled out by the participants. The survey will be completely online including
the informed consent. All the information given will be anonymous because the
14
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
Participants
The study members will be chosen randomly from a large pool by sending out
cover letters to GT parents of the districts that approve the study. The ages of the
parents will range between 18 years and 65 years old. Their children will be between 5
years and 11 years old. The criteria for participation will be that their student is currently
the survey community. The socio-economic status and ethnicity will vary as gifted and
talented students come from a wide range of areas. The reason for a survey of the
parents of the gifted and talented students is because they are the consumer. The
parents are the ones that are making the decisions for their student, so they are the
people who are seeing if the programs have been working. The parents are the ones who
see the yearly progress which is the point of enriching the students learning.
Procedures
By coordinating with Gifted and Talented teachers around the area, a letter will
be sent home with the students for their parents or caretakers. The parents and
guardians will receive the letter describing the study and that the information will be
used for a Masters research project only. The letter will advise what the study is about,
and that confidentiality is ensured. The letter will give an email address that the parents
can follow to take the survey. On the first page of the website, there will be a brief
description of the survey. On the bottom of the page, the parents will be advised that by
clicking the button that says I agree that they are giving consent for their responses to
15
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
be used in the study. The participants will be told that they may leave the study at any
point.
Instruments
The survey will have a few demographic questions for them to answer then there
Skipping, and Inclusion. After the description, there will be six more questions for the
I will store the data collected in a file folder on my laptop. Since there are no
names on informed consent letters, there will be no problem with confidentiality. Once
the study is over, the data will be deleted and then be recycled off the laptop.
Talented program?
8. How satisfied is your child with their progress in the current Gifted and Talented
program?
9. Thank you for filling out this brief survey. Your responses are confidential and
16
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
of time in the school day and limitations of the staff. Parents are in the best position to
determine if the GT program is successful for their student. This study was devised to
discover GT method do parents prefer. Some teachers believe that since these GT
students already understand the content that they do not need to be engaged like their
on-level and adaptive counterparts. GT students often do not meet their yearly progress
targets which means they are not being served completely by their schools.
Methodology
This is a quantitative study. The basis of this study is to find out what type of GT
program works best from the viewpoint of the parents of the GT students. Since parents
are busy, the study was designed to be quick and easy to fill out.
Participants
The request for participation went out to several school districts. One responded
no thank you and one responded yes. The rest of the districts did not respond. To gain
more responses, the questionnaire was sent out to a couple parents of past GT students
17
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
Results
Figures 4-1, 4-2, and 4-3 represent demographics. Of the nine respondents, six
GT students were described as male and three as female. The age ranges of the students
in the study were seven years old to 11 years old. The study found no respondents had
students ages five years old and six years old. All respondents said that English is their
first language.
0
Responses
Male Female
FIGURE 4-1
18
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
0
Responses
FIGURE 4-2
FIGURE 4-3
19
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
The next section had to do with which type of GT program the respondents
students were involved in and how long the students have been involved in GT
instruction. Each method was defined in the survey so that the respondents knew what
was being asked. Figure 4-4 shows the results. Three said that the method of instruction
for their students was inclusion. Four respondents said that their students were
involved in pull out programs at their school. One respondent reported that their
student was in a push in program. One respondent stated that their student was
The next question asked which method of instruction their students had been in
previously. One respondent stated that previously their student had been involved in an
inclusion program. Three respondents said that their students had been involved in pull
out programs. Three respondents said that their students had been involved in grade
skipping. No respondent mentioned that their student had previously been involved in a
Three respondents stated that their students had been involved in GT instruction
for three years. One respondent said that their student had been involved for two years.
Two respondents said that their students had been involved in GT instruction for three
years. There were no entries for four, five, or six years, but there were three respondents
who said that their students had been involved for seven years. See Figure 4-6.
20
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
0
Responses
FIGURE 4-4
0
Responses
FIGURE 4-5
21
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
0
Responses
FIGURE 4-6
The final section dealt with satisfaction level of the GT program. Not every parent
responded. On Figure 4-7, the graph shows there was one dissatisfaction response and
one satisfaction response. On the other hand, when it came to how the students felt all
respondents answered. One student noted being neutral about their satisfaction level.
Four stated they were satisfied and the last four noted that they were very satisfied with
their GT program.
22
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
How satisfied are you with your child's progress in their current Gifted & Talented program?
How satisfied is your child with their progress in their Gifted & Talented program?
5
0
Parent satisfaction Student satisfaction
FIGURE 4-7
A comment section was included and received one response. The respondent stated that,
Jeff entered the gifted ed program at age 7. Completed it as a 12 th grader. Did not
receive pull-out services passed 8th grade. Modifications made in high school focused on
23
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to discover the satisfaction level of the parents of
Gifted and Talented students. These are the people who know their students best.
Because they are our consumers, these are the people who know if the program is
working. Through the parents, GT students, we could find out if the program they are in
Methodology
A request was sent out to school districts around the Kansas City area asking to
send out a request for participation in the study. One district said no, one district said
yes, and the rest of the districts did not respond. Because of the low number of
respondents, Carolyn Doolittle, Ph.D. sent out the survey website to parents of Gifted
The website that the parents were directed to first explained the purpose of the
study and how the information would be used. This website advised that respondents
have the right to stop answering at any time and that all information will be completely
private. The reason this type of survey was used is because it could be anonymous, easy
to use, and quick to finish. The respondents are known to be busy so the survey was
24
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
Major Findings
The demographic questions of the study showed that there were more parents of
boys in GT programs that answered than girls. The ages of the students ranged from 7
years old to 11 years old. There were no respondents with students aged 5 years old or 6
years old. All respondents said that English was the first language of the home.
Most respondents stated that the current program their student is enrolled in is a
pull-out program with four entries. Three entries said that their students were involved
in an inclusion program. Push in program and grade skipping had one respondent each
claiming it as their students current program. When asked what program their student
previously had, three respondents said their student had been involved in a pull-out
program and three said their student had been involved in a grade skipping program.
One respondent states that their student had been in an inclusion program. No one
Three respondents said that their student had been involved in the GT program
for three years. One respondent said that their student had been in the program for two
years and two respondents said it was three years. The longest option of seven years in a
The satisfaction levels came next, first asking how satisfied the parents of the GT
students were. There were only two responses. One was satisfied and one was
dissatisfied. The satisfaction levels for the students spanned from one neutral reply, four
25
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
Conclusions
The difficulty with which I obtained my nine responses tells me that there is not a
lot of concern for this subset of students. Of the responses I did receive, I believe that
the programs are doing what they are designed to do. Nearly every respondent was
satisfied with the GT program their students are in. Only one parent responded
negatively about their satisfaction with their students GT program. Unfortunately, that
I believe that it is unfortunate that no more than nine people responded. There is
a lot of help spent on adaptive special education programs as well as gifted and talented
programs, but more care seems to be given to those who are falling behind due to their
learning disabilities.
Which GT program works the best as determined by the parents? Are pull-out
programs dominant in the world of GT programs? The results are inconclusive. The pool
Recommendations
students would be beneficial to discover their satisfaction level with their current
program. In addition, this follow up study should ask questions about what changes the
26
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
Bibliography
Benson, L., & Brodsky, R. (1996). Serving gifted students through inclusion: A teacher's
perspective. Roeper Review, 19(1), A-2.
Cloud, J., Badowski, C., Rubiner, B., & Scully, S. (2004). SAVING THE SMART
KIDS. Time, 164(13), 56-61.
Cramond, B., & Brodsky, R. (1996). Serving gifted students through inclusion in the
heterogeneously grouped classroom. Roeper Review, 19(1), A-1.
DeNISCO, A. (2015). How Schools Maximize Gifted Talent. Education Digest, 81(3), 42-
48.
Geffen, L. (1997). Recent doctoral dissertation research on gifted. Roeper Review, 20(1),
42.
Gurwell, N. (2016, March 24). Field Experience [Personal Interview].
Hendricks, C. (2013). Improving schools through action research: A reflective practice
approach, 3rd edition.
Jolly, J. (2005). Pioneering Definitions and Theoretical Positions in the Field of Gifted
Education, Gifted Child Today, 38-44.
Kennedy, D. M. (1995). Plain talk about creating a gifted-friendly classroom. Roeper
Review, 17(4), 232.
Martin, C., & Brodsky, R. (1996). Serving gifted students through inclusion: A parent's
perspective. Roeper Review, 19(1), A-3.
Matthews, M. S., PhD. (2008, February 19). What About Gifted Students Who Drop
Out? Retrieved March 27, 2016, from https://tip.duke.edu/node/872
McClarty, K. (2014, March 17). Theyll be Fine Educational Opportunities for Gifted
Learners. Retrieved March 27, 2016 from http://researchnetwork.pearson.com/college-
career-success/theyll-fine-educational-opportunities-gifted-learners.
Nowicki Jr., S., Duke, M. P., Sisney, S., Stricker, B., & Tyler, M. A. (2004). Reducing the
Drop-Out Rates of At-Risk High School Students: The Effective Learning Program
(ELP). Genetic, Social & General Psychology Monographs, 130(3), 225-239.
Rakow, S. (2012). Helping Gifted Learners SOAR. Educational Leadership, 69(5), 34-
40.
Renzulli, J.S. & Reis, S.M. (1997). The schoolwide enrichment model: A how-to guide for
education excellence (2nd ed.). Mansfield Center, CT: Creative Learning.
27
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
28
Amy Oliver
ED737
12/13/16
29