District Administration - August 2007 - (Page 24)

ResearchCorner ESSENTIALS ON EDUCATION DATA and RESEARCH ANALYSIS Ability Grouping and Acceleration in Gifted Education By Carla Thomas McClure HICH OF THE FOLLOW ing statements about gifted education are true? (1) The term gifted means various things to various people. (2) K12 teachers generally express negative attitudes toward gifted students. (3) Among the high school dropouts in your district, some are likely to be gifted. (4) Students with learning disabilities can also be gifted. (5) White and Asian students are overrepresented in gifted programs. (6) Some education stakeholders believe that gifted students are best served in special programs, some advocate including them in regular classrooms, and others argue for schoolwide enrichment programs. (7) Most of the research on ability grouping among gifted students was conducted more than a decade ago. (8) Deﬁnitions of giftedness vary from state to state, as do guidelines for providing gifted education; implementation is most often a district administrator’s responsibility. According to the available evidence, all of these statements are true. Diverse opinions about gifted education and how to deﬁne giftedness seem to be the norm. Each of the issues mentioned above certainly merits discussion. However, the following results from research groups focus on the eﬀects of ability grouping and acceleration on the academic and social welfare of students identiﬁed as gifted. Academically, gifted and talented students suﬀer when placed in classes covering grade-level material only, but these students gain academic beneﬁts when placed in advanced and enriched classes, according to researcher James Kulik (2004). Kulik reached this conclusion 24 August 2007 W after conducting two meta-analyses. The ﬁrst involved 23 studies that compared the achievement of students of the same age and intelligence in accelerated versus nonaccelerated classes. In all 23 studies, the students in accelerated classes performed Deﬁnitions of Giftedness National Association for Gifted Children A gifted person shows, or has the potential for showing, an exceptional level of performance in one or more areas of expression. U.S. Department of Education 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. These include areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in speciﬁc academic ﬁelds, and students who need services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school, in order to fully develop those capabilities. Columbus Group Giftedness is asynchronous development in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm. This asynchrony increases with higher intellectual capacity. The uniqueness of the gifted renders them particularly vulnerable and requires modiﬁcations in parenting, teaching and counseling in order for them to develop optimally. better than those in nonaccelerated classes on subject-matter tests, usually “by about one year on a grade-equivalent scale.” The second meta-analysis involved 25 studies of enriched classes for talented students. In 22 of these studies, the students in enriched classes outperformed those in regular, mixed-ability classes. On average, those in enriched classes gained 1.4 years on a grade-equivalent scale, while those in regular classes gained one year. Kulik concluded that “overall, the positive eﬀects of accelerated and enriched classes on student learning are probably due to curricular diﬀerentiation.” Experimental studies of grouping support Kulik’s conclusion. These studies suggest that ability grouping alone has no signiﬁcant eﬀect on learning. But grouping accompanied by appropriate curricular changes can make a diﬀerence. The strongest eﬀects on student achievement result from accelerated and enriched instruction that make considerable adjustments for students’ learning rates. Moderate eﬀects on student achievement result from moderate adjustments in the curriculum for both cross-grade and withinclass programs. The eﬀects of grouping on students’ self-esteem has been studied and debated for years. In 1992, Kulik conducted a meta-analysis of 13 studies examining the eﬀects of grouping on self-esteem. He found that on average, students of high ability tended to lose a bit of their selfesteem when placed in classes with others of equal ability. Slow learners, however, got a slight boost in self-esteem when they attended classes with others of equal ability. Some researchers (e.g., March and District Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - August 2007

Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Technology Update
Curriculum Update
Inside the Law
Research Corner
Computer Literature
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Bus Money
DIBELS Draws Doers & Doubters
Report from EduComm 2007
Ins and Outs of Outsourcing
Curriculum Clearance
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
New Products
Problem Solution
Online Edge
Speaking Out
Professional Opinion
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - August 2007