SEEKING OUT THE ‘GIFTED’
Research suggests schools have evaluated hundreds of kids inaccurately
Thousands of so-called gifted Alberta students may be ordinary kids after all, new research suggests.
Dozens of children that schools had designated as “gifted” fell short of the standard when tested by University of Alberta researchers.
In a study looking at 148 children over four years, the educational psychologists also concluded gifted children don’t get what they need when schools give them harder work, and more of it, instead of fostering their individual talents.
“It’s a huge issue; they have to take some action,” said educational psychology researcher Prof. George Georgiou.
Including unexceptional children in specialty classes with the truly gifted is too taxing for teachers and could hamper students’ success, he said. Failing to tailor lessons to gifted children’s talents may also torpedo their interest in school.
“They might lose their motivation. That’s the worst thing that can happen in schools.”
Georgiou’s master’s student, Kristy Dunn, began the study in 2012 asking technical questions about whether gifted readers were any different from average students on cognitive tests that gauged their ability to problem solve, focus and sequence events, among other challenges.
There are many tests to measure types of giftedness, and still no consensus on a global definition of what makes a person gifted, Dunn’s thesis said. However, most researchers consider an overall IQ test score of 130 or above to be a standard measure, Georgiou said. A student who scores between 85 and 115 on IQ tests is considered average.
When Georgiou and Dunn tested the IQ of gifted children in grades 4, 5 and 6 in three unidentified schools in the Edmonton area, the results surprised them. Just 16 per cent of the 113 children designated as gifted scored above 130 on all IQ measures.
How gifted children are identified depends on the school, the student, and the teacher, Georgiou said — and that’s a problem. He also found schools use inconsistent cutoff scores to decide who is gifted and qualifies for special programming. Some use 120 as their threshold, and others use 125.
The pair have not yet published their results.
DISPARATE SYSTEMS OF SEGREGATION AND INCLUSION
Edmonton’s two largest school systems have remarkably different approaches to educating exceptional students.
Edmonton Catholic Schools’ philosophy is one of inclusion. Students are not often assessed for giftedness. Just nine of the district’s 40,000 students bear the label. There are no separate programs for gifted students, and talented kids are never removed from regular classes.
“Our concern isn’t really putting a code on a student. Our idea is, how do we program appropriately, and make learning accessible to every student,” said Barb Brochu, the district’s manager of inclusive education.
Students don’t need to be labelled as gifted to receive extra lessons or enrichment, she said.
In contrast, there are 1,608 students identified as gifted in Edmonton Public Schools — nearly two per cent of the district’s 92,000 pupils. Eight junior highs and four elementary schools have accelerated programs for exceptional students.
Other schools teach gifted students in breakout groups outside of the regular classroom — sometimes with a mix of grade levels, said Heather Raymond, Edmonton public’s manager for inclusive learning. Some students may get personalized assignments or projects in their regular classes.
Although students don’t need to be labelled to get extra enrichment, they do need to be tested before enrolling in the academic challenge program, she said.
Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs are offered by both districts to high school students who want a more demanding slate of classes.
How and when both districts assess children for giftedness varies.
Catholic schools look for some combination of teacher and parent feedback, achievement test results, reading grade levels and occasionally, a psychologist or learning coach’s assessment.
At Crestwood public school, which hosts an academic alternative program, “there’s no one track” to giftedness, principal Venta Kabzems said. Teachers sometimes nominate students, or parents come forward. They look at academic test results, and a psychologist will sometimes do cognitive tests on a student — mainly to identify their strengths. They use IQ tests “rarely.”
The public district, whose students were not involved in Georgiou and Dunn’s study, avoids testing to pinpoint exceptional students because children can practice for the tests, skewing the results, Kabzems said. How quickly you administer tests can also influence a student’s performance, she said. Furthermore, there’s little point testing younger children, as a six-year-old may just be developing faster than her classmates.
Then, there is the pushy parent factor. Having their child termed “gifted” is a status symbol for some, Kabzems said. Making sure families are satisfied with the child’s school program usually prevents parents demanding their child be tested and labelled, she said.
“Every single parent in the school thinks their child is bright.”
There are also families who eschew testing and purposefully avoid having their bright child labelled or segregated into a special class, Raymond said.
Despite Georgiou’s critiques, administrators disagree exceptional kids’ needs are neglected — even in diverse classrooms including students with learning disabilities, behavioural disorders, cognitive disabilities, English language learners and children living in poverty.
With the provincially driven education movement for students to pose and research their own questions, and more time built into some school schedules for individual learning, it’s become more manageable to foster students’ interests and skills, said Tim Cusack, assistant superintendent of learning services at Edmonton Catholic Schools.
Georgiou subscribes to a different theory. Ideally, he said, truly gifted children should be grouped with classmates who have similar exceptional abilities, regardless of their age. He admits that can be a challenge for schools to schedule.
He also acknowledges IQ tests have flaws. Regardless of what tool schools use to pinpoint exceptional students, they should at least be consistent across school districts, and use the same cut-off scores. Although parent and teacher opinions can be part of the decision, they should be used in combination with an objective test.
“We talk about the poor readers … but we never talk about the cream of the crop — our brightest kids.”