Christine L. Weber

A Lack of Awareness and Emphasis in Preservice Teacher Training Preconceived Beliefs About the Gifted and Talented

Gifted and talented (GT) learners in most classroom settings endure unchallenging curriculum, a slow pace of instruction, and a state of ignorance by many of their general education teachers. The authors wanted to know how in-service teachers, preservice teacher candidates, and preservice education students viewed GT learners. The authors also wanted to know how their respondents felt about teacher training specific to the nature and needs of GT learners. Information was gathered via pre/postcourse questionnaires to describe existing beliefs and assumptions that individuals in various phases of teacher development held regarding GT learners. Findings suggest that the preconceived beliefs held by individuals about GT learners guide the willingness and approaches used to teach children more so than specific training in the nature/needs of learners.

Educating Parents of Gifted Children: Designing Effective Workshops for Changing Parent Perceptions.

The focus of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a series of free workshops for parents of gifted children. The parent education workshops provided research-based information as recognized by experts in the field of counseling gifted children. Content areas include the characteristics of gifted children, identification, appropriate education, and parenting practices. Differences between the means of the pretest and posttest content questions indicated that the workshops were effective in educating parents. The findings support that parent workshops offer an option for providing quality information that parents need in raising their gifted children.

Implementing Differentiation A School’s Journey

The focus of this case study is to provide an overview of a private school’s journey toward implementing differentiation in their classrooms. An introduction to the school along with background information leads to a relevant need to implement teaching strategies that ensure the success of students who are capable of learning above grade level. The journey that the school takes begins with putting differentiation into practice and describing, in a three-pathway approach, the direction taken for the implementation process. What is learned, along with specific and general issues to consider, exemplifies this work in progress. Helpful resources provide guidance to others interested in starting a similar journey.

A Tale of Two Principals

T he role of the principal as it relates to the education of gifted and talented children in programs and schools has been discussed in a variety of articles related to desired skills, competencies, or characteristics (Booth & Brown, 1985; Dart, 1986; Marshall, Ramirez, Plinske, & Veal, 1998; Norton & Zeilinger, 1983; Roeper, 1986; Taylor, 1987). Yet, the research is neither extensive nor recent, especially pertaining to the role of the elementary administrator of schools for gifted learners. A brief summary of these articles focuses on the key features of the successful administrator in charge of running a gifted program within the school setting or running an entire school for gifted learners. Awareness is defined as a key responsibility because it impacts the administrator’s knowledge about the traits of gifted children, sensitivity to the community, and whether or not the local curriculum is designed to meet the needs of its gifted learners (Booth & Brown, 1985). Collaborative administration, which empowers the teacher and encourages thoughtful risk taking, is viewed as a way to strengthen schools (Dart, 1986). Administrators can also create conditions that enable gifted children to thrive by establishing a learning community where the articulation of learning principles and conditions can be shared (Marshall, Ramirez, Plinske, & Veal, 1998). The style of leadership of the principal and the change from being at the top of the hierarchy to a more facilitative role of group processes ensure that the administrator is an equal member of the community while still maintaining a leadership position (Roeper, 1986). Finally, Norton and Zeilinger (1983) identified in the literature 12 leadership role functions necessary for principals in programs for the gifted (see Figure 1). The functions ranged from planning and leadership, financing, and staffing, to communication and evaluation with specific competencies addressed for each.