But how will we serve them now?

With some certainty emerging about the “look” of Texas public schools next year, gifted education leaders must review current practices, adapt our models, and ensure that each of our students learns something new every day.

Published in

Academity | Opinionating

8 min readJul 27, 2020

Texas schools serve students identified as gifted through (5) program models: Full-time inclusion, push-in, pull-out, full-time gifted only, and special day schools or programs. Below is a description of each during traditional school times. These models are not the extent to which schools and districts serve students, as many employ other options (acceleration, for instance). They were selected as they align with district-level indicator codes provided by the Texas Education Agency’s district certification process.

But what happens to these programming styles now? What will they look like as schools return to a world where in-person attendance, transitions, and groupings may be limited? What will or could these services look like remotely? The final sections are devoted to just that: how will we serve gifted students now?

Gifted Education in Traditional Times

Below are conventional models to service gifted students. Districts and campuses typically utilize a combination of the following.

What might this look like in a COVID-19 world?

Districts and schools will resume full-time in-person instruction in the coming months; some may return only remotely, either in synchronous or asynchronous modes, and many will return as a combination, or blend of in-person and remote options. We will look at the adaptations, modifications, and ideas necessary to continue in-person services and the two modes of remote learning: synchronous and asynchronous. Finally, I’d like to reflect on some of the positives and lessons learned from experiencing and providing gifted education within a pandemic.

In-Person Learning Environment

Click the images to view the likely issues and considerations that must be taken.

Remote Learning Environments

Districts must also offer a remote learning option to families. Whereas many of the gifted education service models will need to adapt significantly, some service options like acceleration could be much more easily implemented. For example, transportation might no longer be an issue if a student required acceleration; they could simply be enrolled and attend the next grade level remote course offering. Additionally, students may not feel as limited in course options with greater ease in exploring other options, like the Texas Virtual Network courses or University of Texas ISD and Texas Tech University ISD already established distance options. However, there is concern in the parent community that our twice-exceptional learners (those students identified as gifted but who also face learning or developmental challenges and disabilities) will be especially affected by the challenges inherent to remote learning. Thus, it is recommended that parents and educators work even more closely to ensure the proper accommodations are in place so that the academic needs are still being met.

Finally, with experts and mentors more accessible than ever, a move to remote learning for some students may finally allow the time needed to dive deeply into projects and performances that could change the world.

Remote Learning Environment — Synchronous

As defined by TEA, “synchronous instruction requires all participants to be present at the same time, virtually. Examples can include, live interactive classes with students & teachers participating in real-time, teacher-supported work time on video conference calls, scheduled and timed online tests.”

Click the images below to view the likely issues and considerations that must be taken.

Remote Learning Environment — Asynchronous

Per TEA, asynchronous instruction is defined as, “[i]nstruction that does not require having the instructor and student engagement at the same time. In this method, students learn from instruction that is not necessarily being delivered in-person or in real-time. This type of instruction may include various forms of digital and online learning, such as prerecorded video lessons or game-based learning tasks that students complete on their own, and pre-assigned work and formative assessments made available to students on paper.”

Closing Thoughts

The lessons we are learning now and those still left to learn from COVID-19 will forever change gifted education. There will be never before seen cuts to public education as a result of this pandemic. Now is the time for gifted educators to fine-tune programming and plan for the eventualities. In general, there were no contingency plans for long-term school or business closures. The business world, the state, and local school districts have learned their lesson. Arrangements are being made for the likely scenarios of the new school year. Where is gifted education in those plans? Do you have a seat at the table in your organization? If not, what are your plans?

It is time to be proactive. It is not time to allow providing gifted educational services to become a waiver item. Students with academic and intellectual talents deserve what every child does: the opportunity to learn something new, every day. They deserve teachers trained to understand their nature and needs. They deserve to have their eccentricities, ideas, and intensities honored and respected. And like other special populations, they deserve to have their special educational needs met.

We do this by ensuring that the programming and services we provide align to the Texas State Plan and the current research in the field. We must ensure a Fidelity of Services in our district through defensible programming.

Finally, because I do not want to sound downright alarmist, now is also the time that risk-taking and experiments are being embraced. Now is the time to try the new things we always wrote off.

And if they don’t work, blame COVID-19. Am I right?

Jokes aside, distance or remote learning, flexible schooling — whatever we want to call it — can encourage truly amazing learning for our gifted students. We need only to look so far as Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY), Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP), and the many other talent development programs that have been successfully reaching students remotely for decades.

The COVID-19 pandemic has opened doors. How many coordinators have felt pushback (or pushed back) when the idea of letting students meet virtually with a mentor or expert was presented? How many wanted to allow students to learn at whatever pace necessary but knew the constraints of the physical classroom were not going to enable it? How many elementary students were ready for middle school or junior high math but remained stuck at their home campus because of a lack of transportation or capacity? How crazy is it to now suggest that a student in need of acceleration attend class virtually? Not so crazy. Remote learning and the lessons gathered from it could very well be Hermione Granger’s Time-Turner for some of our students. (Read more in Duke TIP’s handout, Being High-Achieving Does Not Mean Students Are Learning as Much as They Could Be in School).

As a field, let us harness these changes and own them. Let us make them work for us. Let us be proactive so that when things go back to normal, more than ever, we can ensure that each of our students learns something new every day.

References

Texas Education Agency. “District Level Indicator Code.” Gifted Talented Education, Texas Education Agency, 2019, tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/GT%20District%20Level%20Coding%202019.pdf.

Texas Education Agency. “Guidance for Interpreting the Expectations of the Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted/Talented Students.” Gifted/ Talented Education, Texas Education Agency. tea.texas.gov/academics/special-student-populations/gifted-and-talented-education/guidance-for-interpreting-the-expectations-of-the-texas-state-plan-for-the-education-of-gifted/talented-students.

Texas Education Agency. “Start Strong 2020–21: Preparing for Remote Instruction.” COVID-19 Support: Closure Guidance & Communication, Texas Education Agency, 23 June 2020, tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/covid/overview_of_remote_instruction_guidance_for_sy_20–21.pdf.

Texas Education Agency. “SY 20–21 Attendance and Enrollment FAQ.” COVID-19 Support: Closure Guidance & Communication, Texas Education Agency, 23 June 2020, tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/covid/sy_2020–21_attendance_and_enrollment_faq_remote_only.pdf.