Equity and Excellence in Middle School

I've had little to no experience with middle schoolers, so I'm completely unfamiliar with middle school education. Apart from my experience as a middle schooler myself, I was completely unaware of what goals and ideals guide middle grades programs.

After a little research, I found that before the 1960s, there wasn't anything that differentiated middle school in preparing young minds for higher learning. At the time of the start of the middle school movement, psychologists and educators realized that middle schoolers were not "simply older elementary students nor younger high school students" (Armstrong, 2006). Instead, they were in a class all their own, with different needs, goals, and inevitable developmental milestones. The emergence of puberty, coupled with the increased rigor created a perfect storm for these students, ultimately resulting in requiring a different approach to their education. Specific changes to the instruction, curriculum, and administration were recommended, all to contribute to the academic, social, and emotional maturation of these children (Armstrong, 2006).

In order to reach these developing students, a great middle school will establish opportunities for middle school students to find mentors among the faculty. They will also give students flexibility with regard to their academics and the opportunity to work between disciplines. Most of all, though, these schools attempt to create "small communities of learners" to focus on the unique needs of each student.

To me, this sounds a lot like the ideals of a gifted program. So what is it about these two fields colliding that causes discord?

The problem lies in heterogeneous grouping—a technique that middle schools use to address the developmental needs of their students (Willard-Holt, n.d.). Unfortunately, in this setting, the needs of gifted students are not addressed. By taking a cooperative learning approach, it's likely that gifted children will not feel challenged, will end up doing all of the work, or teaching the rest of their group. Although the needs of middle schoolers are unique, the needs of a gifted middle schooler require even more attention and support. Without challenging material, gifted students feel like they are wasting their time and could potentially become behavioral issues. In addition, by being grouped with students that are so unlike them, gifted students could lose or become detached from their gifted peers (Willard-Holt, n.d.).

Although Rosseli and Irvin refer to a type of flexible grouping, ultimately gifted students would spend the majority of their day in a heterogeneous setting, working with students that are likely well below their ability level (Rosseli & Irvin, 2001). For many gifted students, ability levels are well beyond their years. And in my experience specifically, students who are identified as gifted and are challenged in the right environment typically behave well beyond their years, too. If education has anything to do with age, I believe it is important to take this into consideration.

Gross examines this in her article when she says, "It is now generally understood and accepted that a child's level of social and emotional development is more highly correlated with his mental age than with his chronological age" (Gross, 1989). This quote resonated with me, specifically because I've had this feeling all my life; I've always felt a little too old for my peers. This made relating to them difficult and isolating and, in my opinion, caused more social and emotional distress than anything else. By forcing gifted students to be in heterogenous groups with students that are far below their mental age, schools are doing a disservice to the children who require more than the average amount of rigor and challenge to grow. Because these students' mental ages do not match their chronological ages, they technically should not be grouped with peers that do not match their educational, social, and emotional growth rates (Gross, 1989).

From my experience, I benefit from working with like-minded people. That's not to say that there isn't anything to gain from working in a heterogenous group, but homogenous groups challenge you to be better, instill a healthy competitive spirit, and cause less social stress on students that may not know their place, yet.

Another potential rift between the middle school philosophy and the gifted philosophy is that some middle school programs slightly shift their focus from critical, abstract thinking to social and emotional development. This means that schools allow teachers to move away from challenging students too much in order to preserve "self-concept" (Rosseli & Irvin, 2001).

In my opinion, this seems like an awful idea. Although middle school self-concepts are more delicate than those of other age groups, it is a school's priority to focus on the educational development of a student. By not challenging students, asking them involved questions, and encouraging them to think critically and abstractly, teachers put their students at a disadvantage. Despite their unique emotional needs, middle schoolers need to progress educationally in order to meet the challenges in high school. With regard to gifted students, this philosophy just does not work. Research has shown that gifted students not only benefit from, but also enjoy a challenge (Willard-Holt, n.d.). In fact, more often than not, their self-concept is based entirely on their academic achievements and abilities.

So what is equity in education? And excellence? In my opinion, equity in education means that every student is provided with a fair education without bias. Fair has multiple meanings, but for educational purposes I think that it means every child is provided with an educational environment that meets their unique and specific needs. Excellence also has to do with fairness and making an effort to make our instruction accessible but individualized. When schools do not recognize that their definition of excellence is too rigid, they assume that success and excellence among their student body is expecting the same results from every student, regardless of their ability level.

Instead, it is important for educators and administrators to understand the fluidity of excellence within an educational environment. Excellence for an average student is not the same as excellence for a gifted student. What's more, levels of excellence might even be measured differently when it comes to these students.

So fair doesn't necessarily have to mean equal, and I think that's entirely acceptable! Instead, I think that, in practice, fairness and excellence means teachers differentiate their instruction to meet the unique needs of every child in their class—even if they aren't gifted—and I think that the middle school philosophy encourages teachers to do this. Because middle schoolers have such unique needs, it is important to consider those needs individually. However, it is also important to take it a step further and recognize when the fundamental ideals of a philosophy are not working for your students. If gifted students are not challenged by their teacher, this is not an equitable or excellent environment. Instead, it is a detrimental situation that could negatively influence a child's educational, social, emotional and behavioral development.

Resources

Armstrong, T. (2006). Middle Schools: Social, Emotional, and Metacognitive Growth. In The Best Schools. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Willard-Holt, C. (n.d.). Middle School Programs for Gifted Students. In PAGE Bulletin. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Penn State University.

Rosseli, H. C. & Irvin. L. (2001). Differing perspectives common ground: The middle school and gifted educational relationship. The Middle School Journal 32(3). pp.
26-35.

Gross, M. (1989) The search for intimacy? The forced-choice dilemma of gifted youth. Roeper Review, 11(4). Roeper City and county School.

Underserved Populations: Which is the most neglected?

Unfortunately, the gifted community is underserved as a whole. Gifted Education programs pale in comparison to their Special Education counterparts, simply because some people don't see or understand the need for them in all schools. Within the gifted community, however, several types of students are mislabeled, underrepresented, and underserved.

Minorities, females, underachievers, twice exceptional, and poverty stricken students represent a diverse range of abilities and require attention. While they are all underserved in comparison to the general education student or average gifted student, there is one population that needs the most support. By evaluating them individually, I hope to be able to come to a conclusion myself.

Females

Gifted females are an interesting population, simply because they face a few problems that undermine their abilities as learners. A few of these problems, identified by researchers Smutny & Blocksom are listed below:

• Gender stereotypes pervasive in society;
• Lack of role models;
• Declining confidence in their abilities;
• Mixed messages and conflicting expectations from teachers and parents; and 
• Peer pressure to hide their abilities and intelligence (Smutny, 1999)

Most of these issues are of the social nature. Gifted females are not challenged to break the mold and therefore hide their abilities or fall into patterns of underachievement. Because there are so many social pressures during a student's transformative years, "the desire for friends, a disinclination to stand out, fear of ridicule, along with the need for acceptance, often impel gifted girls to make their abilities appear ordinary or even nonexistent" (The Learning Environment, n.d.). Beyond the classroom, gifted females struggling with their identity will choose career paths that are not appropriate matches to their abilities (The Learning Environment, n.d.). 

Because it is important to growing students—especially females—to conform to social norms, girls with gifted abilities might not be identified, nor their abilities fully realized. 

Underachievers 

This population of gifted learners is most definitely the one I have the most experience with. My boyfriend of five years has struggled with underachievement—despite his wide range of abilities—his entire academic career. According to research, "about half of the gifted children who score in the top 5% of intellectual ability on individualized IQ tests do not demonstrate comparable school achievement" (Reis, McCoach, n.d.). So what causes this discrepancy? And is there something teachers aren't doing that encourages more and more capable students to perform at a lower level than they could?

Well, in the effort to define underachievement, three factors have been found to be the most prevalent in underachieving gifted students:

1. They have some physical, cognitive, or emotional issue that prevent them from achieving their full potential (Reis, McCoach, n.d.). 
2. There is a "mismatch" between a teacher and a student (Siegle & McCoach, 2001).
3. The student possesses low self-motivation, self-regulation, or self-efficacy
   (Reis & McCoach, 2000).

For my boyfriend, and I'm sure a lot of other gifted students, it was the environment in which he was learning. Despite being way beyond the academic level of any of his peers, he was never challenged, even in honors level and AP classes. Teachers would require him to do the same work other students were completing, even when he fully understood the material and had already moved on. Because his high ability went unnoticed, he continued to struggle with boredom in and out the classroom—playing games while teachers would lecture, never completing homework assignments, and constantly being distracted during classroom activities.

The only place I saw my boyfriend excel was in the science lab, and that was if he didn't have to do a lab write up about it. Eventually, he failed almost every class he attended in high school and dropped out of the traditional college setting to take classes at his own pace. On formative and summative assessments, he would score in the top percentage, if not at the top, of our class. On paper, it looked like he had never spent a day in school. Now, he works as a general contractor, supervising the construction of single family homes in Miami, Florida. This is, in my opinion, the first time that he has ever had the opportunity to learn independently, work in an area he is interested in, and produce something all his own—something gifted students should be challenged with their entire scholastic life.

I firmly believe that our school, no different than other schools without rigorous and extensive gifted programs, failed my boyfriend as a student. More often than not, students like him are labeled as "lazy" or "unmotivated," simply because teachers and programs are not meeting their needs. What's more is that students with disabilities and giftedness find this problem, too.

Twice Exceptional

These are the rare students that are highly knowledgeable and talented in certain areas, coupled with attention or learning disabilities that "thwart their development and obscure their gifted potential" (Baum, 2004). Because these students are identified with their disability at an early age, it is typical that their giftedness will be overlooked or go "unseen" for years. 

There are several types of twice exceptional students, including but not limited to students with ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome, and Learning Disabilities. Often times, teachers will find it difficult to tend to the needs of these children, simply because they require scaffolding in one area and increased rigor in another. For example, if a student is learning disabled in reading but gifted in math, that student will require extra support to be able to read the more challenging word problems he might face. 

Unfortunately, teachers—and even gifted specialists—struggle to properly support these learners, simply because there aren't very many of them.  

Poverty Stricken

Gifted students facing economic disparity are also neglected. Although we've read that genetics plays a role in giftedness, the "nature versus nurture debate" continues (Davis, 1985). Additional research has shown that "poverty often impedes development of children with respect to language, perception, curiosity, and self-efficacy" (Passow, 1981). Therefore, how do impoverished gifted students realize their full potential?

Sometimes, they don't. Some of these students lack access to educational opportunities, TV programs, and/or parental support. Without these, a gifted student's early interests and skills are not nurtured, but instead stifled (Passow, 1981). 

Minorities

Much like gifted children struck with poverty, minorities may also lack access to necessary opportunities that would encourage the development of gifted tendencies. In addition, it is possible that these children—and the parents of these children—would experience a language barrier which makes it difficult to understand the gifted services that are available to them.

Coming from a hispanic background, I know how difficult it is for parents of these children, who may not be able to speak fluently in English, to have conversations with teachers. It is possible that these parents have not been informed of the different options their child has, as far as their education goes.

On top of the possible language barrier, the actual gifted program itself does not encourage participation of minorities. Many believe that the process currently used to identify gifted children is culturally biased. It is possible that a combination of the following reasons are the cause of the underrepresentation of minorities in gifted programs:

• Narrow definition of giftedness;
• Choice of biased testing instruments (standardized tests);
• Use of teacher nomination forms that lack information on how students perform in spite racial biases; 
• Failure to consider the influence stereotypes have on test performance; and 
• Failure to use alternative and appropriate strategies to identify these learners (Dorn, 2009) 

As a result, some experts argue that gifted programs, in general, may discourage participation altogether (Dorn, 2009). 

Where We Are Lacking

In my opinion, Twice Exceptional students are the most underserved out of all the underserved gifted populations. Far too many nontraditional gifted students are neglected within gifted programs due to improper identification. Twice exceptional students, however, find the most frustration because their disability could lead experts to miss the gifted qualities these students possess. Additionally, many subjects go hand in hand—they require one another to gain deep understanding. If these students are struggling with reading, it is difficult for them to read and interpret the directions for other, more complicated assignments.

This unfortunate relationship is likely to cause frustration for a child. Although they can achieve more in one subject, it is another subject that hinders their progression. What's more? Teachers and administrators so rarely experience these students that they are completely unprepared to help them.

What to Do Now

The most important thing we can do for twice exceptional students, and all underserved populations of gifted students, is improve our identification process. It is unlikely that students in these populations would be identified as gifted through the traditional identification process (Baum, 2004).

Students like these may have low scores on standardized tests, may lack traits that would be indicative of giftedness, or may possess behavior issues that disqualify them from the gifted identification process.

I believe that it is important for teachers of all students to have some sort of training, whether it be a few hours or a complete certification, on how to handle and teach gifted children. Additionally, they should be hypersensitive to the qualities of nontraditional gifted students and be able to identify potential gifted children that display nontraditional gifted qualities.

References

Smutny, J. (1999). Gifted Girls. Retrieved September 16, 2015.

The Learning Environment. (n.d.). Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students. Retrieved September 16, 2015. 

Reis, S., & Mccoach, D. (n.d.). Underachievement in Gifted and Talented Students With Special Needs. Exceptionality, 113-125. 

Reis, S. M. & McCoach, D. B. (2000). The underachievement of gifted students: What do we know and where do we go? Gifted Child Quarterly, 44, 152-170.

Siegle, D. & McCoach, D. B. (2001). Promoting a positive achievement attitude with gifted and talented students. The social and emotional development of gifted children: What do we know? Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.

Baum, S. (2004). Introduction to Twice-Exceptional and Special Populations of Gifted Students. Retrieved from http://www.corwin.com/upm-data/7019_baum_intro.pdf 

Davis, G., Rimm, S., & Siegle, D. (1985). Education of the gifted and talented (Sixth ed., p. 47). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

Dorn, R. (2009). Addressing Underrepresentation of Student Populations in Gifted Programs.

Passow, H. (1981) The Nature of Giftedness and Talent. In Essential Readings in Gifted Education (2004). Corwin Press. pp. 1-12.

Should teachers of the gifted be gifted themselves?

It's questions like these that split the educational community into different schools of thought. On one side of the spectrum, Bray argues that it is a fundamental requirement for teachers of the gifted to be gifted themselves (Bray, 1988). On the opposite side of the spectrum, the authors of our textbook argue that students agree the "personal—social qualities of the teacher were more important than their intellectual qualities (Davis, 1985). But, before we get into making a decision about which side holds the best argument, it's important to understand what it really means—by definition—to be gifted and talented.

In my search for the perfect definition of gifted children, three stood out to me as the most relevant (National Association for Gifted Children, n.d.):

• “Gifted individuals are those who demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude (defined as an exceptional ability to reason and learn) or competence (documented performance or achievement in top 10% or rarer) in one or more domains. Domains include any structured area of activity with its own symbol system (e.g., mathematics, music, language) and/or set of sensorimotor skills (e.g., painting, dance, sports).” (National Association for Gifted Children)
• "The term ‘gifted and talented,” when used with respect to students, children, or youth, means students, children, or youth who give evidence of high achievement capability in such areas as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who need services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities." (No Child Left Behind Act, Federal)
• “Academically or intellectually gifted students” exhibit high performance capability in intellectual areas, specific academic fields, or in both intellectual areas and specific academic fields. Academically or intellectually gifted students require differentiated educational services beyond those ordinarily provided by the regular educational program. Outstanding abilities are present in students from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor." (North Carolina) 

Each of these brings a unique perspective to this fluid definition, which has been modified so many times since its inception. The national definition does what most do not and explicitly identifies the different domains of giftedness. The federal definition adds that students require additional support, which cannot be provided in a traditional classroom setting. And, finally, North Carolina's definition qualifies that giftedness can be present in all types of students.

Therefore, my definition of a gifted child is as follows: Gifted children are students from all cultural and economic groups who have achieved exceptional levels of aptitude or competence in one or more domains. These domains include academic fields, areas of activity with their own symbol system (mathematics, music, language) and/or set of sensorimotor skills (painting, dance, sports). These kinds of children require services that are not normally provided by their schools in order to fully realize their potential.

Despite defining what a gifted child is, no where in any definition I found did it say how these students should be taught and who should be teaching them. Unfortunately, this is where experts come to a standstill. Fortunately, they all can agree that these teachers should possess a few qualities that meet the needs of gifted learners.

Qualities of a Teacher for the Gifted

What is it that makes a teacher qualified to teach gifted students? In an article, Who Should Teach The Gifted, Imogene Ramsey, an elementary education professor at Eastern Kentucky University, referenced Barbara Clark's seven "Personal Characteristics of Effective Teachers of the Gifted" to shed light on this question (Ramsey, 1990):

1. Understand the characteristics, needs, and problems of the gifted; Gifted teachers must be familiar with gifted students, understand that there are several different types, and that they are all uniquely gifted. Because they are all so unlike each other, they require individual attention. These teachers must be able to creatively differentiate lesson plans, come up with intriguing and captivating projects, and appeal to the distinct interests of each child. In addition, gifted teachers must understand the issues that gifted learners face. Boredom, feelings of isolation, and social anxiety are problems that they should be ready to confront.
2. Develop a curriculum through which individual needs can be met and group interaction nurtured; Because it is possible for these students to excel in so many different disciplines, it is important for teachers of gifted learners to understand the academic goals of each student and establish a plan to achieve them. These plans are likely to not look alike, simply because each student might be functioning at a different level than the next. In addition, gifted teachers should strive to make interdisciplinary connections, so that students with different interests may interact and socialize. Sometimes, gifted children "may develop an adult-like manner with others" so it is important that they practice working in a group in order to develop collaborative skills (Roedell, 1984). 
3. Create an environment in which the gifted feel safe and yet challenged to know and be who they are; Often times, gifted students struggle with their identity—they feel as though they do not fit the social norm. This is especially prevalent in middle and high school, but permeates every level of education. Research shows that gifted females "are less likely thank boys to take advantage of opportunities to accelerate their mathematics education" (Roedell, 1984). This is because these students want to "fulfill the role expectations" of the traditional males and females that surround them (Roedell, 1984). As a teacher of the gifted, it is important to foster relationships with students in and environment which encourages them to be themselves. 
4. Help learners acquire skills in higher levels of cognitive thinking, mind and body integration, self-actualization, intuitive development, and self-evaluation; Teachers of gifted children should be able to motivate their students to think critically and at the highest level of Bloom's Taxonomy—creating something original and innovative to display their knowledge. By establishing an atmosphere that encourages independent development, where students are in control of their learning and have the opportunity to self-evaluate, students have the opportunity to acquire these skills and put them to use. 
5. Nurture creativity; Gifted teachers must push beyond the "killers of intrinsic interest and creativity" in the classroom and allow students to explore their areas of interest. This is extremely important to both gifted and general education students alike, as "there is a direct link between the motivational orientation brought by a student to a task and the likelihood of her being creative at that task, and it is the environment that in large part shapes that motivational orientation" (Hennessey, 2004). Therefore, it is essential to a student's motivation that gifted teachers nurture an environment that breeds creativity. 
6. Encourage a sense of social awareness and responsibility; Although this is important for all teachers to do, it is especially essential that gifted learners understand humility and community responsibility. Because it is common for gifted learners to feel isolated as a result of their gifted tendencies, it is a teacher's job to teach their students social awareness. Students should be encouraged to feel responsible for their community, their classroom, and their school. 
7. Relate to and communicate with colleagues and parents; As a teacher, it is already immensely important to develop relationships with colleagues and parents to provide the best education to your students. With gifted students in particular, developing relationships with parents might provide insight into student personalities, quirks, and social tendencies. In addition to nurturing relationships with their parents, colleagues are equally as important. If a student has an interest in something that is unfamiliar, there is a chance that there is someone in your learning network that could provide background knowledge about the topic, furthering your understanding and improving your ability to teach the subject to a student. 

Whether or not a teacher has a class of gifted students, these seven qualities serve as great guidelines or goals. Having worked with gifted students through a program, Breakthrough Miami, I've found that these specific qualities help students in your care expand the breadth of knowledge they have and succeed both socially and academically. So, why can't just any teacher have these qualities?

I think they can. Ultimately, if you're a good teacher, organized, can expertly differentiate lesson plans, and work well with children who are gifted, with a few courses and certification you can teach them. That being said, I think non-gifted individuals teaching gifted students comes with an age limit.

Elementary School and Beyond

When gifted students are so young, it's unlikely that their knowledge will surpass their teacher's. Therefore, I don't believe that it is necessary for teachers—at the elementary level—to have been labeled as gifted. However, as students progress through their academic career, graduate to middle school, and then high school, it is critical that they are challenged as much as possible. Without this, teachers are, essentially, wasting their student's time.

Richard Feynman, the late theoretical physicist, was gifted. In his book, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, he explains a time in high school where his physics teacher—who was not gifted—allowed him to independently learn from college textbooks in the back of the classroom. After he would finish a chapter, Feynman and his teacher would discuss the topics and then he would move on to the next (Feynman, 1985). In my opinion, this was a disservice to Feynman. Although he was eventually awarded with several accolades, including the Nobel Prize in Physics and the Albert Einstein Award (Feynman, 1985), Feynman's talents were not challenged with a gifted education.

When students like Feynman exist in a classroom, I believe it is only right to require that a teacher who is gifted runs the classroom. Not only will this give the students someone to emulate, but it will also challenge them intellectually and require them to go above and beyond what would be expected of them from a general education teacher.

Conclusion

Like in any community, rifts are bound to form in ours. Despite the several schools of thought, it is important for us to think about the students how teachers can best suit their needs. If it was left up to me, the decision of whether a teacher should be gifted in order to teach gifted students would depend on a wide variety of qualities—the ages of the students being the most important. Teachers, like students, come in all types and with different levels of interest and ability. It is the administrators job to capitalize on teacher traits that suit gifted learners best and use those teachers to cultivate an academically rigorous, genuinely accepting and understanding environment in which gifted students can excel.


References
Bray, J. L. 1988. Characteristics of G/C/T Teachers. Gifted Child Today. 

Davis, G., & Rimm, S. (1985). Education of the gifted and talented. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. 

National Association for Gifted Children. (n.d.). Definitions of Giftedness. Retrieved September 16, 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources/definitions-giftedness

Ramsey, I. (1990). Who Should Teach the Gifted? The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 351-354. 

Roedell, W. (1984). Vulnerabilities of highly gifted children. Roeper Review, 127-130.

Hennessey, B A. (2004). Developing creativity in gifted children: The central importance of motivation and classroom climate. University of Connecticut, The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented.

Feynman, R., & Leighton, R. (1985). "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a curious character. New York: W.W. Norton.