Gifted Education in America
Intro: Gifted education is a rarely thought about topic, especially if one does not have children identified as such, or are not gifted themselves. According to the National Association for Gifted Children, gifted and talented students make up between six and ten percent of the school population, which totals three to five million students. Despite this, gifted and talented learners are often bored and unstimulated in a normal classroom setting, leading to them not developing to their full academic potential. Not all school districts have gifted education, and when they do it isn't always implemented properly. Therefore, teachers should be required to have training in gifted/special needs education, and schools …show more content…
It is usually teachers that notice signs of giftedness and recommend the student for testing, although parents can request testing as well. As the National Association for Gifted Children puts it, “Gifted individuals are those who demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude... or competence... in one or more domains. Domains include any structured area of activity with its own symbol system... and/or set of sensorimotor skills...” Most often, gifted children will be identified in an area of study (what the NAGC refers to as having a "symbol system"), such as math, English, or foreign languages. There are very few children identified as gifted in art or sports, as they are seen as a non-academic area, and therefore simply a talent. Regardless of where the student's giftedness is identified, they are all given the same basic support in a gifted education …show more content…
This is a necessary requirement because all teachers will most likely have a child that qualifies as gifted and/or special needs at least once in their career. According to Michigan State University's website, students enrolled to become elementary teachers do not have to take any courses related to gifted education. Students must take a course about teaching "Diverse Learners", but it is unclear whether that is referencing different learning styles or different classroom needs, such as special needs, gifted, and twice-exceptional students would have. Not even gifted education teachers have streamlined education on the matter, “Since no national degree or certification requirements for gifted educators exist, all policy and funding mandates come from the state and local levels”. All teachers, whether or not they are specializing in gifted education, should learn about gifted students
Intro: Gifted education is a rarely thought about topic, especially if one does not have children identified as such, or are not gifted themselves. According to the National Association for Gifted Children, gifted and talented students make up between six and ten percent of the school population, which totals three to five million students. Despite this, gifted and talented learners are often bored and unstimulated in a normal classroom setting, leading to them not developing to their full academic potential. Not all school districts have gifted education, and when they do it isn't always implemented properly. Therefore, teachers should be required to have training in gifted/special needs education, and schools …show more content…
It is usually teachers that notice signs of giftedness and recommend the student for testing, although parents can request testing as well. As the National Association for Gifted Children puts it, “Gifted individuals are those who demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude... or competence... in one or more domains. Domains include any structured area of activity with its own symbol system... and/or set of sensorimotor skills...” Most often, gifted children will be identified in an area of study (what the NAGC refers to as having a "symbol system"), such as math, English, or foreign languages. There are very few children identified as gifted in art or sports, as they are seen as a non-academic area, and therefore simply a talent. Regardless of where the student's giftedness is identified, they are all given the same basic support in a gifted education …show more content…
This is a necessary requirement because all teachers will most likely have a child that qualifies as gifted and/or special needs at least once in their career. According to Michigan State University's website, students enrolled to become elementary teachers do not have to take any courses related to gifted education. Students must take a course about teaching "Diverse Learners", but it is unclear whether that is referencing different learning styles or different classroom needs, such as special needs, gifted, and twice-exceptional students would have. Not even gifted education teachers have streamlined education on the matter, “Since no national degree or certification requirements for gifted educators exist, all policy and funding mandates come from the state and local levels”. All teachers, whether or not they are specializing in gifted education, should learn about gifted students