Gifted Atlanta

Legislation that would establish new standards for gifted education has been introduced in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate.

The TALENT Act (To Aid Gifted and High-Ability Learners by Empowering the Nation’s Teachers Act) was introduced in both houses of Congress in recent weeks. Elements of the bill would:

• require states, districts and schools to measure the academic growth and performance of high-ability students.
• support research into teaching methods that are most effective with gifted students.
• provide grants for teachers to learn new techniques to use with gifted students, with priority given to schools where high ability students are typically under-served.

The National Association of Gifted Children provides a summary of the bill on its web site, or you can read the full text of the House version or Senate version.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), one of the sponsors in the Senate, concluded his remarks introducing the bill with this statement:

For too long, Federal education policy has been so focused on preventing failure that we have neglected to promote and encourage success. We can no longer afford to ignore the needs of our brightest students and thus squander their potential. My legislation will put our country on track to tap that potential which is so essential to the future happiness of the students and the future prosperity of our Nation.

(If you have a minute, Sen. Grassley’s moving and pointed statement is worth reading in its entirety.)

The TALENT Act is in the Senate as S.857 and in the House as H.R. 1674. In both houses, the bill has been referred to the committee that handles education matters.

This legislation is sorely needed to help our gifted and talented students achieve at their best. I encourage you to voice your support for the TALENT Act. Here’s what you can do:

1. Contact our U.S. Senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, and ask them to cosponsor S.857, the TALENT Act. Sen. Isakson serves on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which has the bill now, so it’s also appropriate to encourage him to work with the committee to return the bill to the full House with a favorable report as soon as possible.
2. Contact your Representative in the U.S. House. (The “Find Your Representative” tool on the U.S. House web site makes it simple to locate and contact the right person.) Ask him or her to become a co-sponsor of H.R. 1674, the TALENT Act. No Representatives from Georgia are on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which has the bill.

I will be keeping an eye on both of these bills and will keep you posted on their progress.

I had posted previously that April 29, 2011 would be a legislative advocacy day coordinated by the Georgia Association for Gifted Children (GAGC). Looks like I got it wrong. Advocates for gifted education will not be converging on the capitol that day.

What is going to happen is that Gov. Nathan Deal is expected to sign a proclamation next week which will designate April 29, 2011 as Gifted Education Day in Georgia. While GAGC is not planning any activities for that day, they encourage grassroots recognition of the day.

So, it’s a good day to show your appreciation for gifted teachers, or to conduct awareness and advocacy activities with your legislator or school board member. GAGC has posted other suggested activities on its web site, although most of them look more appropriate for teachers than parents. (Click on the plus sign when you arrive at the linked page to see the information.)

Whether working on this blog or advocating for my family’s particular needs, thinking about the needs of highly capable children takes up a good bit of my mental real estate.

Even so, sometimes I need an infusion of enthusiasm, something to remind me why gifted education matters so much — to my child, my school, my country. Here are two articles I read recently that have helped me stay fired up.

• Education reform: the problem with helping everyone reach ‘average,’ an opinion piece which appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, penned by the president of the National Association for Gifted Children
• Myths of Science Education, from Science 2.0. This blog post gives a quick overview and links to a video from the Baltimore Public Schools which looks at 10 common myths — one might also call them excuses — about gifted education. The video is a little hokey, so you might opt to go straight to the source: NAGC’s list of Common Myths in Gifted Education.

If these inspire you as they do me, and if you’re wondering what you can do about it, here’s an idea: Mark your calendar for April 29, 2011. That will be when the Georgia Association for Gifted Children puts on Gifted Day at the capitol downtown. I will provide more details on the day as I get them.

Gifted Education Press Quarterly has posted its Spring 2011 issue. GEPQ is a free, online publication that focuses on high-level matters of gifted education policy and pedagogy.

The current issue includes an article on excuses that are commonly given for not allowing advanced students to fully develop their math ability — and why those excuses may not hold water; and an article on why gifted students need to be taught by gifted-certified teachers.

If you like GEPQ, you can sign up to be notified whenever a new issue is posted by sending an e-mail request to the publisher.

I just received an e-mail from Board of Education member Nancy Jester with a new schedule for the meetings for public input on redistricting. Everything has been pushed back due to the weather.

All meetings begin at 6:30 p.m.

• Miller Grove High School, Jan. 18
• Druid Hills Middle School, Jan. 19
• Chamblee High School, Jan. 20
• McNair High School, Jan. 25
• Bethune Middle School, Jan. 26
• Stone Mountain Middle School, Jan. 27

The time line for the county’s decision making process has also been pushed back. Nancy Jester says that Superintendent Ramona Tyson will present a recommendation to the board at its Feb. 7 meeting. Public hearings will be on March 1 and March 3, and the board will make a final decision on March 7.

NOTE: The schedule for public input meetings was affected by winter weather. See my Jan. 12 post for the new schedule.

The DeKalb County Board of Education is reviewing several possible redistricting and consolidation plans, some of which could change the landscape of magnet schools for high achievers.

The consultants hired by the board have presented two plans for the board’s consideration. Under the “decentralized plan,” all six of the county’s magnet schools for high achievers would remain open in their current locations. But under the “centralized plan,” all of the magnet schools for high achievers would be relocated to Avondale middle and high schools.

It’s not clear to me how many seats would be available in the centralized magnet location as compared with the number available in the current facilities. Certainly, we need every magnet seat we can get with demand for spaces already far exceeding supply. If anyone has this information, please let me know. I will continue to try to find out as well.

The school board has planned several public meetings to discuss the proposals. The meeting schedule is:

• Miller Grove High School on Jan. 11 (rescheduled to Jan. 24 due to snow)
• Druid Hills Middle School on Jan. 12
• Chamblee High School on Jan. 13
• McNair High School on Jan. 18
• Bethune Middle School on Jan. 19
• Stone Mountain Middle School on Jan. 20

All meetings begin at 6:30 p.m.

The board will hold a meeting on Jan. 31 to discuss the options. Formal public hearings will be held on Feb. 22 and 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the administrative building in Stone Mountain. The board is scheduled to make its decision on redistricting and consolidation at a meeting on Feb. 28.

I guess it’s good that I read other DeKalb blogs. It turns out the Atlanta Journal-Constitution got the date wrong on the legislative forum for DeKalb schools parents. The forum is Thursday, not Wednesday as previously posted. Time and place are correct — 7 p.m. at the administrative building. Please accept my apologies for having had this listed incorrectly.

CORRECTION: This meeting will be held Thursday, Nov. 18, NOT Wednesday the 17th. I got my incorrect information from the AJC.

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Want to see Georgia law become friendlier to gifted education? A good way to start is by developing a rapport with your local legislators.

This Wednesday offers the perfect opportunity to be introduced to the men and women from our county who create state policy. The DeKalb County PTA Council has invited DeKalb county parents and the DeKalb legislative contingent to meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the school administrative offices, located at 1701 Mountain Industrial Blvd. in Stone Mountain.

I got word today that the DeKalb legislative meeting scheduled for this Thursday, Oct. 21 at the Capitol has been CANCELED. Dr. Mark Elgart, president of SACS, has business in Washington, D.C., that day. They say they’ll reschedule. I’ll let you know when I hear more.