Tonya R. Moon

Differentiating Instruction in Response to Student Readiness, Interest, and Learning Profile in Academically Diverse Classrooms: A Review of Literature.

Both the current school reform and standards movements call for enhanced quality of instruction for all learners. Recent emphases on heterogeneity, special education inclusion, and reduction in out-of-class services for gifted learners, combined with escalations in cultural diversity in classrooms, make the challenge of serving academically diverse learners in regular classrooms seem an inevitable part of a teachers role. Nonetheless, indications are that most teachers make few proactive modifications based on learner variance. This review of literature examines a need for “differentiated” or academically responsive instruction. It provides support in theory and research for differentiating instruction based on a model of addressing student readiness, interest, and learning profile for a broad range of learners in mixed-ability classroom settings.

Exploring the Relationship between Fidelity of Implementation and Academic Achievement in a Third-Grade Gifted Curriculum: A Mixed-Methods Study.

This study used sequential mixed-methods analyses to investigate the effectiveness of a research-based language arts curriculum for gifted third graders. Using analytic induction, researchers found that teachers’ beliefs and expectations (time, sense of autonomy, expectations for students, professional expertise) influenced the degree to which they implemented the research intervention with fidelity to its design. Next, maximum variation sampling and quantitative analysis of student outcomes determined that postassessment achievement test scores are higher for students in classrooms with teachers who show high fidelity or adherence to the intervention.

Development of Authentic Assessments for the Middle School Classroom

This article discusses the rationale for, and explicates the process used in, developing differentiated authentic assessments for middle school classrooms (many of which contain gifted students) that are aligned with state academic standards. The assessments were developed based on learner-centered psychological principles and revised based on a content validation study involving a panel of 46 experts representing a variety of educational professionals. In addition to the content validation study of the assessments, interrater reliability estimates based on Kappa were calculated using student responses to the assessments in classrooms in two states. Results provide evidence that these types of assessments can provide quantifiable information about student learning, as well as inform the instructional process.

Curricular Modifications, Family Outreach, and a Mentoring Program: Impacts on Achievement and Gifted Identification in High-Risk Primary Students

Project Support to Affirm Rising Talent (START) was a collaborative research effort between a university and a large urban school district. While the project had multiple purposes, the focus of this article is to report the efficacy of specific interventions (mentoring, parental involvement, and multicultural curricula) on academic achievement of primary grade students from low-socioeconomic environments who participated in the project. Quantitative results suggest that the interventions had no statistically significant effect on student achievement in any grade. However, by the end of the project, students, typically identified as at-risk, were on grade level.

How Well are We Addressing Academic Diversity in the Middle School

Diversity is a hallmark of middle level learners. Middle schoolers range from childlike to adult-like, from socially awkward to socially adept, from emotionally insecure to brim ming with confidence, and from concrete to abstract in thinking—sometimes seemingly all in the same student on the same day. Further, the middle school population includes both sexes, mem bers of many cultures, students representing a panoply of interests, students with a full range of learning pro files, as well as students who struggle greatly with acad emics, and those for whom academics mirror advanced scholastic talent. While addressing the needs of such a wide range of learners is daunting, it also offers unlimit ed opportunity to develop flexible and responsive class rooms.

Evaluation Utilization: A Review of the Literature with Implications for Gifted Education.

Although evaluations of education programs are conducted for a variety of reasons, there is always the expectation that findings will be used in some way. However, the utility of evaluation findings may be affected by factors related to evaluation context which are out of the evaluators control (such as economic and political concerns), and by factors which may be at least to some degree within the control of the evaluator (such as evaluator competence, evaluation design, identification of and communication with audiences, and clarity and quality of the evaluation report). Unique goals of programs for gifted learners provide special challenges to evaluators. Findings from the general literature of evaluation utilization offer guidance to evaluators of gifted programs regarding factors which may increase the likelihood that evaluation findings will be used to produce program change, but there is a clear need for research delineating specific factors which may facilitate or impede utilization of findings from evaluations of programs for the gifted.

What Works in Gifted Education Documenting the Effects of an Integrated Curricular/Instructional Model for Gifted Students

The heart of effective programming for gifted students lies in the integration of advanced curricula with effective instructional strategies to develop leaning activities that will enhance student learning outcomes. However, empirical evidence of the effectiveness of units based on such curricular and instructional interventions from large-scale experimental studies in multiple settings are limited. To document the effectiveness of units that integrated the principles from curricular and instructional models in the field of gifted education, two language arts units for gifted third graders were developed and tested in a randomized cluster design. Multilevel analyses of data collected from more than 200 classrooms document statistically significant differences favoring the treatment group over the comparison group on standards-referenced assessments.

Sorting the Wheat from the Chaff: What Makes for Good Evidence of Effectiveness in the Literature in Gifted Education?.

To provide an overview of the specific components that must be considered when making decisions about research in the field of gifted education, the authors describe and evaluate the three types of evidence— speculative or anecdotal, theoretical, and empirical—commonly offered in the literature of the field. Empirical, or evidence-based, research can be quantitative or qualitative (or mixed methods); it also can be interventional or non-interventional. An explanation and example of each type of empirical evidence are provided, along with key guidelines for reviewing and judging each one. Next, the authors offer general considerations for evaluating specific components of research, regardless of the type of study (e.g., source of evidence, research design, research questions, effect size, sample, instrumentation). Considerations for judging meta-analyses are also offered.

Exploring Teacher Beliefs and Use of Acceleration, Ability Grouping, and Formative Assessment.

Few academic interventions for gifted students have generated more empirical support than acceleration and ability grouping, and formative assessment is advocated as a tool that educators can use to appropriately integrate accelerative practices and ability grouping into the classroom. However, the empirical support for accelerative practices, ability grouping, and formative assessment does not always translate into practice. This qualitative study sought to explore how teacher expectations about student ability influenced teacher use of accelerative practices, ability grouping, and formative assessment. The findings indicate that the availability and use of formative assessments, coupled with high teacher expectations about student ability, support teacher use of best practices in pacing and grouping strategies.

Characteristics of Students’ Mathematical Promise When Engaging With Problem-Based Learning Units in Primary Classrooms

The purpose of this qualitative study was to provide empirical evidence of the extent to which the types of tasks recommended by Sheffield for eliciting characteristics of mathematical promise allowed for the manifestation of these characteristics in primary-grade students within a problem-based learning (PBL) context. Data included student work collected from two mathematics PBL units, teacher interviews, surveys used by teachers to identify mathematically promising students and video-recorded classroom observations. Data analysis followed Miles and Huberman’s data reduction method with findings reported as themes. Results indicate that students, including those from underserved populations, exhibit characteristics aligned with attributes signifying mathematical promise as proposed by Sheffield within a PBL context.