Gifted Voices from Rural America (original) (raw)
Related papers
Gifted Education in Rural Schools: A National Assessment
1999
This report's introductory section notes that both rural and gifted education have received relatively little funding and national attention, and few studies have considered the two issues in tandem. As a first step in the process of strengthening the education of gifted rural students, this report assesses the current state of gifted rural education.
Perceived Challenges for Rural Gifted Education
Gifted Child Today, 2020
Rural communities and school systems are the heart of many states across the nation. Yet, many of the challenges facing rural gifted education remain unanswered. There is limited research or policy focused on gifted students, teachers of the gifted, or gifted programming in rural settings. Understanding how culture defines rural communities and influences educational decisions is key in overcoming challenges within gifted programs. This study seeks to explore some of the perceived challenges and the influence of rural culture in providing gifted services in four rural school districts in Texas. Findings highlight the struggles of rural gifted programs to identify and serve gifted students. These struggles fall into three categories: limited funding, limited time, and limited resources available for gifted programs.
Challenges Facing Rural Schools: Implications for Gifted Students.
Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 2009
In this paper, we discuss the implications for gifted students of challenges facing rural schools. We explore 4 challenges with particular relevance to rural schools: (a) declining population, (b) persistent po erty, (c) changing demographics, and (d) ongoing accountability requirements. Recommendations positioned to address these challenges include pro iding special instruction using distance education, making use of broad definitions of giftedness, making use of various acceleration strategies, and encouraging talented students to plan for meaningful careers in their home communities.
Exploring Gifted Education Program and Practice in Rural Appalachia
The literature on rural gifted programs is growing, but understandings of programmatic features and the teachers within the gifted programs in rural Appalachia are still largely underdeveloped. Through an exploratory case study of three rural Appalachian gifted programs, this study provides a glimpse into their organizational structures and the teachers' experiences and perceptions. The illustrative findings indicate that teachers utilized their resources and knowledge to manufacture their gifted curricula and expressed competing narratives of place and globality. Also, misassumptions and unsupported practices in this rural place negatively influenced teacher retention. Implications and future steps are addressed.
Rural Gifted Education: Enhancing Service Delivery
2000
Devising appropriate service delivery for gifted individuals is never an easy task and is especially challenging in rural areas. Characteristics of rural schools may be both barriers and benefits to gifted education. Limited numbers may mean that programming options for gifted students are unfeasible, but small schools and classes make individuation for any student easier, teachers know their students well, and cross-age grouping may be an option. Limited resources may be a problem, but rural people often have learned to make creative use of what they have. Adherence to tradition may hinder recognition of the need for a differentiated curriculum, but shared values and a sense of community can create the safe environment that gifted learners need to blossom. Systematic planning is needed to develop a coherent set of services. Drawing on currently available provisions for gifted learners and on a needs assessment, the planning committee should design the basic components of the gifted program to be compatible with school and community needs. Components include: a definition that encompasses identified needs; a mission statement; identification process; objectives; framework drawn from one or more program models; and methods for service delivery. Grouping options are discussed, as well as the choice among enrichment options, acceleration options, and ability grouping. Other plan components include the scope and sequence of the gifted curriculum, program evaluation, and building community support. (Contains 16 references.) (SV) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Project Spring II: Identifying Rural Disadvantaged and Ethnically Diverse Gifted Students
1996
This manual was developed as part of a project to identify and serve the needs of gifted and talented economically disadvantaged students (grades 3-8) from ethnically diverse populations. Section 1 presents a leader's manual for a workshop designed to help teachers understand that many gifted students are not being identified for program intervention with traditional identification procedures and that innovative procedures must be used to find bright children in all cultures and populai.ions. The workshop examines traditional identification procedures and characteristics of gifted children, characteristics of students from rural and economically disadvantaged backgrounds who are Hispanic and African American, and the role of teachers in identifying these hidden gifted students through the use of innovative identification methods. Project SPRING (Special Populations Rural Information Network for the Gifted), at Indiana University, has developed methods to identify the following underserved rural disadvantaged gifted populations: Appalachian (White) children in Indiana, Hispanic children in New Mexico, and African American children in South Carolina. To identify these diverse groups, culturally specific assessments and procedures were developed and field tested by Project SPRING. The Identification Awareness Workshop considers culturally specific information on rural disadvantaged gifted children, while examining characteristics that are recognizable in the classroom. Rural Communities Overhead/Handout #4-Rural Communities In the past decade major economic and social forces have profoundly affected rural communities. Traditional rural occupations of farming, fishing, logging, ore extraction, and small manufacturing that once supported the majority of rural residents provide only one-third of rural employment today. Such service-producing industries as tourism, insurance, and real estate now account for nearly two-thirds of rural employment. 12 6 The 1990 U.S. Census found that family income in rural counties is less than 75 percent of that in metropolitan counties. The jobless rate in nonmetropolitan counties is now 40 percent higher than in metropolitan counties-a rise of almost 35 percent since 1980. Declining income, lack of job opportunities, poor health care, and underfunded schools in much of rural America have resulted in a significant rural exodus, particularly of many young families with roots in the community going back several generations. Rural schools, like all schools, face many problems, but in rural areas the difficulties relate mainly to size, distance, and resources. Lower tax bases and smaller school populations translate into less money, fewer programs, fewer teacher specialists in subject areas, and less money spent on technology and materials. Distance impedes installation of simple technological tools, such as additional telephone lines into school buildings; it restricts field trips and cultural resources for students and families; it inflates expenses for all enrichment activities. Lack of readily available resources, both monetary and cultural, severely limits educational services in rural areas. Economically Disadvantaged Overhead/Handout #5-Economically Disadvantaged For some children the lack of money in families that are economically disadvantaged: Limits the purchase of toys, equipment, books, and writing tools. Restricts visits to museums, historical sites, new geographic areas, and meeting people who are different from themselves. Narrows the opportunity for challenging experiences. Parents in these families are easily preoccupied with earning money for necessities and find that: Their expectations for better things are frustrated. They are likely to have a minimal amount of formal schooling and lack information necessary to help their own children. Characteristics Gifted students from a rural and economically disadvantaged background exhibit characteristics that are different from those of the traditional gifted student. These special populations are usually overlooked when selection is based on IQ scores and achievement test cutoffs. These children's distinctive characteristics may be viewed as both positive and negative within the context of formal education. AppalachianIndiana Overhead/Handout #6-Characteristics of Rural Disadvantaged Appalachian Gifted Children 10 Summary of Special Populations: Rural Disadvantaged Gifted Gifted Hispanic and African American children from the populations examined exhibit many traits and behaviors in common with the group of Appalachian gifted children. Additionally, the two former groups demonstrate characteristics that are specific to their cultures and communities. Oral storytelling (#2, Overhead/Handout 9), for example, is valued as a means to record and report history, and also to entertain and teach important lessons about life. Other distinctions are: Hispanic: Show a preference for kinesthetic modality.
Theory & Practice in Rural Education, 2020
Nationwide, Black students are underrepresented in gifted and talented education and advanced learner programs. These tragic outcomes occur in all demographic communities: urban, suburban, and rural. As a result, the academic and psychosocial supports needed by gifted Black students are overlooked, disregarded, and underdeveloped. Rural communities are frequently depicted as remote, lacking in social and academic experiences and opportunities, and predominantly White and economically disadvantaged. For gifted and talented Black students, these characterizations contribute to feelings of isolation and alienation in school on a daily basis. Despite their high intellectual potential, they are constantly victimized by racially oppressive conditions in society that cause stress and anxiety. The Black rural community, including Black gifted and talented students, is almost invisible in scholarship that discusses rural education in the United States. This article explores the nature of the...
Country Living: Benefits and Barriers for Gifted Learners
1999
Gifted and talented children have cognitive and affective characteristics that set them apart from their more typical classmates. These characteristics may be particularly problematic in rural areas where stability, traditional values, small schools, and self-sufficiency can be at once a barrier and a support. This paper discusses the characteristics, needs, and identification of gifted learners, as well as the barriers and benefits offered to them by rural communities. Rural students as a group have different educational and life experiences than their urban and suburban peers. As a result, gifted rural students may be underidentified by standardized tests with an urban bias. Identification and appropriate instruction of gifted rural females are also influenced by social bias and stereotypical expectations. Barriers to gifted education in rural areas may include limited school finances, lack of qualified educators, problematic grouping arrangements due to the small number of gifted...
Journal for the Education of the Gifted
this case study describes a rural school district's efforts to identify historically underrepresented gifted students (HUGS) more effectively than in the past. the district developed new policy; disseminated the policy with lists of characteristics of HUGS; provided a workshop for first-grade teachers to encourage early referrals; and provided alternative tests to students who were referred for evaluation and who scored at least one standard deviation above the mean on an individually administered comprehensive intelligence test, but who did not score high enough to qualify for placement according to state regulations. of the historically underrepresented children referred for testing, 29% qualified for placement in the gifted program. the county's efforts appeared to increase placement of HUGS; however, the new policy excluded some HUGS who would have been identified under the old policy. Consequently, the county made a decision to combine elements of the new and old policies.
The Status of Gifted Education in New Jersey: Analysis of the 1988-89 Gifted Education Survey
1990
The document reports findings of a 1988-89 survey of ill school districts in New Jersey to determine the status of gifted education. Major findings included the following: a total of 122,626 New Jersey students were identified and served during the 1988-89 school year; a larger percentage (11.3%) of the total school population was served than in the previousyear; the number of urban students served more than doubled from the previous year; the most common program provided students in grades 2-6 is a pull-out program whereas the most common program provided gifted students in grades 7-12 is enrichment in the regular classroom; all school districts use multiple criteria to identify gifted students; teacher nomination and standardized achievement test scores are the most common methods used for gifted identification in grades PreK-9, whereas teacher nomination and report card grades are the most common identification methods used in grades 10-12; in grades PreK-8, there is a higher percentage (56%) of gifted program teachers than other program teachers (44%) with the reverse being true in grades 9-12. The survey form is attached. (DB)