Law to enhance gifted education

Best practices, staff training targets of measure

Connecticut not only has one of the nation’s largest achievement gaps, but also an excellence gap.

So say advocates of gifted education who hope a bill recently signed into law by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will narrow the disparity between school districts when it comes to serving top students.

“Gifted and talented students’ academic and social emotional needs have long been neglected by our state,” said Bianka Kortlan-Cox, a vice president of the Connecticut Association for the Gifted. “This law, putting gifted and talented education on the legislative map, will hopefully with time level the playing field for all gifted throughout the state.”

The new law, which took effect Saturday, won’t spend a dime more on gifted education and imposes no new mandates on the state’s 166 school districts.

It does authorize the state Department of Education to retain a gifted and talented specialist. It also calls for state guidelines to be developed to help districts with best practices and staff training by Jan. 1, 2018.

“I think the new legislation will shine a much-needed light on the situation in Connecticut for gifted students, and help educators and parents to understand what these students need to reach their potential,” said Katie Augustyn, whose son went through the Westport school system.

Westport had a pull-out system in which students received some gifted instruction. It was helpful, Augustyn said, but not nearly enough.

“Regular ed teachers also need to be trained in meeting the needs of gifted students,” she said.

Inconsistent designation

Kortlan-Cox, whose group advocates for gifted students, said that while statistically 10 percent of all students fall into the gifted category, nearly one-third of Connecticut school districts fail to report any, despite a state law requiring them to do so. And a majority of districts have no gifted programs or activities.

“Giftedness should not be a

function of your income or your ZIP code,” Kortlan-Cox said.

Neither should it be assumed that just because someone is bright they will be OK without any special type of education, she said. If ignored, socio-emotional needs of gifted students can lead to isolation and bullying, Kortlan-Cox said.

“For too long, these students have been overlooked.” said M. Rene Islas, executive director of the National Association for Gifted Children . His group once characterized Connecticut as one of the most inhospitable states for highpotential kids.

Islas said Connecticut is taking an important step with the new law in recognizing the special needs of bright students, particularly those who are economically disadvantaged, from minority groups, or who are learning English as a second language.

Advocates hope the attention will reduce the socalled Excellence Gap between the percentage of high-income and non-minority students on standardized test and their lowincome and minority counterparts.

What exists now

“Very few districts do anything at the moment, with the exception of financially independent communities,” Kortlan-Cox said of Connecticut.

While Norwalk identifies close to 10 percent of its students as being gifted, Stamford, Waterbury and Norwich reported none to the state, according to a Connecticut Association for the Gifted report.

“If implemented properly, this is a much-needed shot in the arm for districts such as Bridgeport who have TAG programs in only a few schools and very little resources to support the ones that they do have,” said Ron Rapice, one of five people in the Bridgeport school district designated as “gifted teachers.”

In Bridgeport, students receive the designation of gifted at the end of third grade, after they are recommended and tested. About 60 accepted students attend Winthrop School, where they spend one day a week in a classroom where the Joseph Renzulli model — named after a University of Connecticut pioneer in gifted education — is used. There are also bilingual gifted classrooms at Batalla and Marin, and a sciencebased program at Clatyor.

Last year, despite severe budget cuts, the school district managed to cling to the program.

The state, in anticipation of the new law, already has someone assigned to gifted education, Gilbert Andrada. He was appointed in 2015. State officials said a goodfaith attempt would be made to ensure that the guidelines are developed, as well as a list of best practices.

“Having in place a formal set of guidelines on best practices for supporting the social and emotional needs of gifted and talented students will certainly be helpful,” said Milford Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Feser. It is good to know that the (state) will also be giving focused attention to teacher training and professional development to better assist these students in their learning.”

Through Andrada, a survey developed in partnership with UConn’s National Center for Research on Gifted Education has been sent to all district superintendents seeking information on what is being done for gifted and talented students. The surveys are due back by July 21.