In this issue:
Dare to Differentiate
Gifted Professional
Development
Opportunities
Upcoming Meetings:
New Crew Online
Meeting (11/16/15)
Elementary Gifted
Contact Meeting
(1/25/16)
Middle/High Online
Gifted Contact
Meeting (1/11/16)
Important Dates:
November 1:
Deadline to Submit
Competition Reim‐
bursement Form
January 21: PBL Se‐
ries Continuation
(Register through
PD&E)
The Brainy
Planet
BuildCognitiveCapacityThroughEngagement
Over the past two years, the Accelerated Programs & Gifted Ed office has been tracking the impact of poverty on gifted identification. Already the data is beginning to tell a story, and we would love to share what we are learning with your school. While we are committed to learning from our data, we also want to learn from current re‐search. Teachers who attended the Fall Gifted Contact Meeting received a copy of Eric Jen‐sen’s book Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind. In the book, Jensen argues that children who grow up poor are less like to have “the crucial thinking processes that manage other thinking processes, including problem solving, critical thinking, processing speed, attention, self‐control and working memory” (53). He further asserts that high‐quality classroom in‐struction can build on these core processes, which will then allow us to develop the talent of these students and help them reach their full academic potential. In chapter four, Jensen fo‐cuses on five key actions that allow teachers to build this vital cognitive capacity that students from poverty are often lacking. 1. Build attention skills. Jensen argues that a child’s early attention skills are predictive of
later success both in school and in life and that students from poverty typically have weaker attention spans. Short term workaround strategies include increasing buy‐in, using prediction, pausing and chunking, engaging in a fast physical activity and using re‐directs. Long Term solutions include getting students moving, providing practice, teach‐ing students study skills, using high‐interest reading material, and conducting quick writes.
2. Teach problem solving and critical thinking. Students from poverty typically do not have experience with the type of critical problem solving expected in school, so teach‐ers must help these children’s brains learn how to think critically and analytically. Possi‐ble solutions include modeling and scaffolding, promoting collaborative problem solv‐ing, teaching transferable models for problem solving, and creating team competitions.
3. Train working memory. A strong working memory predicts future performance in mathematics as well as student performance in attentional tasks, reading comprehen‐sion, and reasoning and problem solving. According to Jensen, “working memory at age 5 is a greater predictor of academic success than IQ is at age 10 (Alloway & Allo‐way)” (60). Unfortunately, students from poverty typically have poorer working memo‐ries than students with a higher socio‐economic status. Possible solutions include prac‐ticing recall, using word baskets/file folders/number bags, reviewing increasingly larger chunks of content and focusing on sound/songs relevant to the content.
4. Develop processing speed. Mental processing includes the learned skills of collecting, sorting, summarizing, calculating, organizing and analyzing. As Jensen points out, stu‐dents from a low socio‐economic status are more likely than their higher‐SES peers to have auditory processing and language deficits both of which impact processing speed. Possible solutions include having students “show and shout,” making body angles, cre‐ating a learning list, scrambling stories, and using posted models.
5. Foster self‐control. Children raised in poverty tend to have greater impulsivity which ultimately leads to behavior issues. To help develop self‐control, Jensen recommends using time delays for classroom question‐and‐answer time, using reverse active cues, teaching self‐control and teaching the power of micro‐goals
For further information on building cognitive capacity through engagement, see chapter four of Eric Jensen’s book Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind.
Jensen, Eric. Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind. ASCD: Alexandria, VA. 2013.
Volume III, Issue I
Gifted Professional Development Series 2015‐2016:
Various instructors lead individual 3 hour ses‐sions throughout the school year on K‐12 topics that include, but are not limited to, enrichment, differentiation, gifted testing, strategies for AP English Language/Literature, and problem solv‐ing. To register for individual sessions, search “gifted” in PD&E. Teachers may register 1 or more sessions, and each session earns 3 contact hours.
Differentiation & Rigor: Kristen Drake leads professional development
sessions tailored to the local school’s needs which can include topics such as differentiation and increasing rigor through PBL, questioning, choice and technology.
Coaching Cycle: Kristen Drake works with teachers in the coach‐
ing cycle, which can include observations, col‐laborative planning and model lessons.
Impact of Poverty on Gifted Identification: Julia Osborne &/or Kelly Snyder meet with the local school administrative staff or gifted teams to discuss local school data as it relates to pov‐erty & gifted identification as well as focus on maximizing the potential of all students.
Gifted 101 for Administrative Teams: Julia Osborne &/or Kelly Snyder meet with the local school administrative staff to discuss the knowledge & tools necessary to build an effec‐tive gifted program that will benefit not only the gifted students in the school but also the high achieving students who are not gifted identified.
Let Us Help:
Professional
Development
Opportunities
According to the 2013 report “Talent on the Sidelines: Excellence Gaps & America’s Persistent Talent Underclass,” multiple stud‐ies provide us with the following information: Students from low‐income families are much less likely to attend college or complete their degree than children from
wealthy families. High‐achieving low‐income students are equally likely to attend college as low‐scoring high‐income students. The underrepresentation of low‐income and minority students at selective universities is particularly acute. Even if they do attend colleges, highly able but less affluent students wind up going to lower quality postsecondary institu‐
tions than their talents would suggest. The failure of the U.S. educational system to properly nurture students from disadvantaged backgrounds may be an impor‐
tant contributor to the low proportion of U.S. students entering science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
As of 2013, the US was 23rd in the share of its workers with a STEM degree, and the share of native‐born U.S. STEM PhD’s has declined from about 3/4 to just over half over the last several decades.
The continuing failure to cultivate high ability students from all backgrounds could have a serious impact on U.S. innovation and economic performance.
What this research tells us is that we must pay attention and work to overcome the role poverty plays in widening the excellence gap. According to the 2011 and 2012 editions of the NCES Condition of Education, half of the student population in 17 states are eligible for free or reduced price lunch. Further, 35 states have over 40% of their students eligible for free or reduced lunch. Dur‐ing the 2014‐2015 school year, the GaDOE reported Georgia’s free‐reduced lunch rate at 62.18%. In Gwinnett, the free‐reduced lunch rate during the 2014‐2015 school year was 54.20%. All of these numbers tell us that if we are to remain internationally competitive as a nation, we must maximize the potential of all of our students. Plucker, Dr. Jonathan (UCONN), Dr. Jacob Hardesty (DePauw) and Dr. Nathan Burroughs (Michigan State). “Talent on the Sidelines: Excellence Gaps & America’s Persistent Talent Underclass.” 2013.
TheExcellenceGapandPoverty
Dare to Differentiate…
Ruby Payne’s 9 Strategies to Help Raise the Achievement of
Students Living in Poverty
For all students, but especially for our low socio‐economic students, education provides choices. According to Ruby Payne, students from families with little formal education often learn rules about how to speak, behave and acquire knowledge that conflict with how learning happens in school. For many students from poverty, formal schooling may present challenges that teachers need to rec‐ognize and help the students overcome. She recommends these nine interventions in raising achievement for low‐income students. 1. Build Relationships of Respect. Teachers must insist on high quality work and offer support.
2. Make Beginning Learning Relational. When a student is learn‐ing something new, the learning should happen in a supportive context in a collaborative culture. Whenever possible, introduce new learning through paired assignments or cooperative groups.
3. Teach Students to Speak in Formal Register. Children in fami‐lies receiving welfare hear approximately 10 million words by age three but children whose parents were classified as profes‐sional heard approximately 30 million in that same period. Teachers should help students learn to communicate through consultative (mix of formal and casual) and formal (language of school/business) registers.
4. Assess Each Student’s Resources. One way to define poverty and wealth is the degree to which a child has access to the fol‐lowing eight resources: financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, support systems, relationships/role models, and knowl‐edge of unspoken rules. Interventions that require students to draw on resources they do not possess will not work.
5. Teach the Hidden Rules of School. Students need to know dif‐ferent rules to survive in different environments. Students who
come from poverty may know the actions and rules that allow them to thrive in their environments, but those actions and rules may clash with the school rules. Teach the students the difference between the two sets of rules.
6. Monitor Progress and Plan Interventions. Chart student per‐formance and disaggregate data by subgroups and individuals. Plan to use the instructional strategies that have the highest payoff for the amount of time needed to do the activity. Use rubrics and benchmark tests to identify how well students are mastering standards and discuss the results and help the stu‐dents set appropriate goals.
7. Translate the Concrete into the Abstract. Mental models en‐able students to make connections between something con‐crete and a representational idea. Mental models include sto‐ries, analogies and visual representations.
8. Teach Students How to Ask Questions. Questions are a princi‐pal tool to gain access to information, and knowing how to ask questions yields a huge payoff in achievement. Students who cannot ask good questions have many academic struggles.
9. Forge Relationships with Parents. Because low‐income parents are so overwhelmed with surviving their daily lives, they often cannot devote time to their children’s schooling. Even when time is available, the parent may not know how to support the child’s learning. It is essential that teachers create a welcoming atmosphere at school for parents.
For more information on Ruby Payne’s “Nine Powerful Practices,” please visit: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational‐leadership/apr08/vol65/num07/Nine‐Powerful‐Practices.aspx .
Peak testing season is right around the corner! To best
prepare, be sure to look at your test inventory and order
materials as needed. The Test Request Form is on the
Comm Center, and you will email the form to Rita Shue.
The time to order is now!
Your bookkeeper needs a copy of the Competition Reimbursement Form to submit with your receipt!