Spring Branch ISD school meets needs of ‘profoundly gifted’ students
Program caters to students with genius-level IQs who don’t always fit the mold
The Spring Branch Academic Institute is a school within a school. Located in a hidden-away section of the second floor at Stratford High School, the program’s mission is to provide a tailored education for students whom some might not consider particularly “at risk” — those with genius-level IQs.
Institute director Lynne Barry said “highly” gifted children, such as the more than 100 kindergarten-through ninth- grade students in her charge, are different even from their peers enrolled in school programs for gifted students. In addition to their academic requirements, Barry said some also have unique social and emotional needs that can’t be adequately addressed in a conventional classroom.
“Can they do the work? Absolutely. Are they motivated to do the work? Not always. Are they sometimes behavior problems? Absolutely,” she said. “They sometimes are not tolerant of those who they don’t see as smart as they are.”
The Spring Branch Academic Institute is wrapping up its sixth year. Tenth grade students will be added to the mix in the fall and the plan is to continue adding until seniors can be graduate from the program. Barry said there are few public programs designed specifically to meet the needs of what they refer to as “profoundly gifted” students. While most people are in the 85 to 115 range on an IQ test, the requirement to enroll in SBAI is 145 or genius level.
Barry said the district is forward thinking in providing options for its students. Spring Branch has several other “choice” schools available, including Westchester Academy,
an International Baccalaureate program, Phoenix Academy which offers accelerated schooling, and Cornerstone Academy, which emphasizes project-based learning. The district also offers a wide array of other educational programs including pre-AP courses and bilingual education.
“There are a lot of different ways that Spring Branch meets the needs of kids,” Barry said. “We meet their academic needs while making sure their social and emotional needs are met as well.”
She doesn’t believe Spring Branch ISD is sacrificing anything for their other students in favor of the relative few at the Spring Branch Academic Institute. Barry, who taught in a traditional elementary classroom setting before joining
SBAI this year, said schools tend to teach “to the middle” and then focus on the students lagging behind. Too often ignored in some areas are students like the ones she is now working with.
“We’re targeting a group that is traditionally treated as, ‘Oh, they’ll be OK,’” she said. “They aren’t always OK and they aren’t always reaching their potential.”
The need to develop the Spring Branch Academic Institute began when parents in the district said their children’s needs weren’t being met, even with standard gifted-and-talented programs. If your child was highly gifted and you wanted them to succeed, the only option was a private education.
“This was really driven by parents. The Spring Branch school board has been open to this kind of idea,” said Jim Lefeber, the program’s assistant director.
Shelby Blackwood, 13, a seventh-grader in the program was falling behind in the regular classroom before being admitted to the Spring Branch Academic Institute.
“It just wasn’t enough there,” she said.
The institute runs on a sevenperiod class schedule, even for the youngest kindergarten-age students. They aren’t completely segregated from those in more traditional classrooms. The students are bused back to their home campuses for lunch and elective classes.
“Half the time with us, half the time with their age peers,” Barry said. “They love band and orchestra and their electives over there.”
While admitting it may be a generalization, Barry said students in the program tend to have three basic characteristics. They are intense, they are sensitive and they are perfectionists. In a traditional classroom setting, sometimes they’ll be the teacher’s pet or a student able to seemingly absorb the information with little effort. But not always, she warned.
“Sometimes it swings the opposite. Because they’re bored, they won’t listen or they’ll challenge authority,” Barry said.
Some students in the genius level range have asynchronous development issues. Some may be superior at math but lack social skills.
“That can present a problem in a classroom,” Barry said.
Kelly Treleaven, one of the teachers at SBAI, said highly gifted students like hers are considered at-risk for depression and suicide. With no peers in a traditional classroom setting, they can be the target of bullying and isolation, she said.
“In traditional schools they are not having their needs met. I’m glad we have this program,” she said.
Danny Hill, 13, strongly agreed, saying he was glad to spend much of his school day around other kids in his same situation.
“They kind of ‘get you,’” he said.
The Spring Branch Academic Institute is the kind of school where a fifth grade student constructs a model of a DNA chain as part of a class project while other similarly-aged children are taking Algebra 2 classes. Treleaven has been forced to create individual classes for young students in the program who simply went beyond the book.
“If you’re two years ahead in English, you might be out of weighted credits when you get to high school,” she said.
Because the student to teacher ratio is small — only about 10 to one — Treleaven said she has an opportunity to connect with her students that wouldn’t be possible in a classroom setting. Once a month, she brings her students together in a circle to gauge their social and emotional needs. It is an environment where tears are sometimes shed.
“They share some really personal, meaningful things,” Treleaven said. “Even though they’re advanced, they’re still in middle school bodies.”