Gifted in USA 2008

For a little more than 3 weeks in May and June this year I was able to immerse myself in the education of gifted children in the USA, attending the Wallace International Research Symposium in Iowa, visiting the Centre for Talent Development at Northwestern University at Evanston IL and schools for the gifted in 3 states. I was then also able to join the teams from Australia competing at the Future Problem Solving Program International Competition in Michigan where they matched their skills with teams from around the USA and countries in the Asia Pacific region.

 As Perth is the most isolated city in the world, finding out what is happening in other parts of the world provides a wider context and an infusion of new ideas on meeting the needs of gifted children.

Click the photos in each section for a larger view

The Wallace Research Symposium is a biannual gathering at the Belin Blank Centre at the University of Iowa where teachers, academics, psychologists and other professionals meet and share the latest in research in gifted education. This was my second visit to the Wallace Symposium and this time I was prepared. My overwhelming impression in 2006 was that the delegate list was like a walking bibliography – so many of the researchers I had read and quoted in my studies were there, happily mixing and sharing insights with everyone from world renowned experts to under-graduate students. This time I was a little less awed perhaps but still delighted to find that I was sharing a car to the airport with Joyce Van Tassel-Baska and Gagne, to chat over breakfast with Nancy Robinson, then hear the wisdom of James Gallagher, to recognise amongst the presenters and audience Nick Colangelo, Donna Ford, Camilla Benbow, Karen Rogers, Michael Sayler and so many others, to tune my ear to the different accents from parts of the USA and other countries. This year there were 50 Templeton International Fellows who had intensive training in addition to the Symposium also attending.

Highlights of the intensive 3 days included:

We are all familiar with the DMTG so i was interested to see what changes were going to form the update that Francoys launched at Wallace. While on the surface it doesn’t look like major changes, there is a lot more depth below now. The visual of the model (when it is widely available) wont look too different, but a lot of thought has gone into it to make sure it fitted with more recent thinking in a number of areas.

Changes to the catalysts: the Intrapersonal catalysts are now overlaid on the Environmental catalysts. Gagné reasoned that the environmental catalysts often (but not always) effect the intrapersonal catalysts and allows for the direct impact on the developmental process of Environmental catalysts. Intrapersonal catalysts act as a filtering unit, we start early to pick and choose as influences are evaluated and filtered by the talentee.

Gagné described the changes to the Developmental Process are a major elaboration. He has separated this section into 3 major sub-components - Activities, Progress and Investment. His current definition of the talent development process is that it is the systematic pursuit by talentees (Gagne’s invented word) over a significant period of time of a structured program of activities leading to a specific excellence goal. There must be a goal.

The Developmental Process is the macro perspective, looking from the beginning natural ability to the goal. Activities includes access (identification, selection etc), content and specific learning activities and formal learning. Progress includes generic or specific stages of development, pace (how fast the improvement compared to others), and turning points (can be positive or negative). Investment includes time, money and energy in deliberate practice.

There are other additions which he described as ‘basements’ to the model which take into account genetics and behavioural phenotypes. The ‘basements’ were an attempt to strike a balance between general for the teachers but sufficiently academic for those who want to look more deeply.

Centre for Talent Development  Northwestern University, IL

The CTD was established 25 years and offers a wide range of programs and services for families, for gifted children and for teachers. The budget for services is $10mil a year…………

 Programs include Saturday Enrichment Programs in 3 locations for students from K – Yr 9; Gifted Learning Links, distance learning programs with courses available to students from Year 3 – 12 from USA and around the world; a Civic Leadership Institute for high school students during the summer and a number of week long service learning field study programs, Academic Talent Search opportunities, conferences; summer programs, resources, ………. it must be something to do with the size of the population…….

The school was originally housed in the mansion house on the property, the original assembly area is the magnificent old Ballroom. Buildings were added for the Middle School and more recently a green building program has been completed. Trees cut down to accommodate the new buildings were milled and the timber was used in the buildings. The library and canteen area each have a green living roof, the roof of the administration area and classrooms house a photovoltaic array. Water run off is caught and recycled, all the building materials were selected with sustainability in mind.

A major new feature of the school is their Innovation Lab which has been established in conjunction with the D-School (school of design) at Stanford University. This purpose built space is used by students from Kindergarten through to 8^th Grade and a comprehensive scope and sequence for design thinking is being developed with a focus on creative thinking and problem solving. Also part of this scope and sequence are the planned introduction of the elements of decision making skills. The woman who will become the Director of the Innovations Lab this September is currently the Kindergarten teacher and also has a degree in Electrical Engineering. Not your typical Kindergarten teacher………

Also part of the Innovations Lab is a system that allows real time tracking of water and electricity usage in the school and students are involved in resource management as a result.

Another feature that sets this school apart from others is that a Social and Emotional curriculum runs alongside other more traditional subject areas. These lessons are scheduled weekly for Lower School and twice a week for Middle school and cover a wide range of issues appropriate to different stages of development. I was able to observe a 6^th Grade class in action and was amazed by the maturity of these students and the way that they supported each other and offered ideas to help resolve issues raised in the group. The key elements of this course revolve around respect and confidentiality.

Class sizes at Nueva are 20 or less and 4 times the number of students apply and meet the entry criteria as there are places for. Children are invited to attend for a visit and selection is made by a panel of about 6 staff members who observe children before places are offered for students who appear to be the best fit for the style of learning in the school. Most children start in Pre-K or K and few places become available until Middle School (Grade 5) where another 10 students are added.

For more about the school visit www.nuevaschool.org  Click the photos below for a larger view

Innovation Lab, classrooms and Admin building	Library on right, looking towards the canteen area. Both have a green living roof	Timber used in these buildings was milled from treees on site
Admin and Innovation Lab building	Middle School buildings. These wil be retrofitted for energy efficiency	Art works on display

Quest Academy, Illinois

Physically Quest Academy is a little unusual in that it is housed in a converted public library building. A gymnasium has been added and although there is public space nearby, the school doesn’t have any fields or outdoor grounds, just a play area for the K’s.

 I was fortunate to wander in and out of classrooms around the school during my visit and speak to children at different levels. The 1^st Grade classes were studying Australia and preparing for Aussie Day with a barbecue and Anzac biscuits the following week so they had lots of questions to ask. The Middle School classes are arranged so that Maths and Science is integrated and S&E and English are integrated. The 7^th Grade students were preparing for a History fair with displays on Civil Rights.

 Like Nueva, the classrooms were informal, each had a comfortable lounge chair somewhere in the classroom, one had an area set up as a log cabin as they were studying the civil war period. This school also accommodated students from Kindergarten (6 years) through to 8^th Grade, the end of Middle School. Many of these students go on to selective schools in the Chicago area including the Science and Arts Academy.

 Also like Nueva there was a focus on individuality and creativity with excellent facilities for music and art for all students. I was fortunate to be at the school the day of the final rehearsal for the Spring Concert where the band, the orchestra and several choirs were performing. The orchestra was conducted by a parent volunteer and included extremely talented students from 4^th Grade to 8^th Grade plus a couple of faculty members. The choirs who sang a number of songs from the Pacific Rim (which included singing in 8 languages) were also prepared and conducted by a parent and were outstanding. One choir had been invited to perform as part of a massed choir in Hawaii over the summer.

For more information about Quest Academy visit their website at www.questacademy.org

 
(apologies about the quality of these photos. they were taken on my phone as my camera was not working)
 

The Roper School, Michigan

It was an amazing experience to be able to visit the school established to reflect the values the Roepers felt so important and one that I had read about in so many contexts.

 Annemarie and George Roeper started The Roeper School in 1941 after arriving in the US as refugees from Germany. Annemarie Roeper will turn 90 in August this year and although she is now retired and lives in California, she is still involved in the school attending Graduation every year and remaining involved and visiting at other times.

 The Roeper School provides and extraordinary education experience with the benefits of a challenging environment designed to foster the children’s special gifts. Fundamental to the schools is an atmosphere that encourages a love of learning and personal growth in intellectual, social/emotional and physical aspects, preparing students to belong and contribute to the world of tomorrow.

 Most evident was a sense of calm in the school. There are virtually no ‘rules’ as such. The commitment to justice rather than power that is part of the school philosophy was clearly evident in the respect and courtesy the students showed each other, the staff and visitors.

 The school grounds cover 13 acres and include an area of natural vegetation with a stream which provides opportunities for nature learning as well as environmental projects that involve not only the school community but the local community as well.

 Classes were originally held in the downstairs rooms of the main house (now the Administration centre) where the Roepers lived, expanding to other buildings over time. There are now 620 gifted students enrolled at Roeper from Stage 1 – Grade 12 (3 – 18 years) from across a range of ethnic, racial and economic backgrounds.

 The Lower School is organised in stages with each stage covering 2 year levels. Classes are multi aged within each level with class sizes of approximately 16 students each with 2 trained teachers. Starting in Kindergarten students have some choice (within guidelines) of the content they study, with an increasing amount of choice as they progress through the stages. The home room groups serve as the centres for language arts, S&E and maths with specialists taking classes in science, music, French, art, dance, PE, library and computer skills. The small numbers, high staff ratio and choice within an organised structure means that the children have a very personalised education and teachers generally work with 4 students in core subject areas at a time. The home room class group meets at the beginning and end of each day.

 The buildings for Stage II are a network of domed shaped buildings with windows at child level. The Stage III and IV students are housed in another block nearby which includes computer labs, science labs and other specialist areas.

 The Middle School and Senior School students are located on a separate campus a few miles away. The program for these students continues to provide individualisation in instruction as well as choice. Opportunities for advanced level work, independent study, internships, mentorships, flexibility of assessment and opportunities to pursue areas of passion are all accommodated within a well defined curricular structure. In some high school classes it was difficult to work out who the teacher was as students and teachers interacted, scaffolded each other and shared their views.

 Young children entering Roeper School are not required to sit an IQ test. In the early years the Qualitative Assessment method developed by the Ropers is used to gauge how gifted a child may be and to determine how suited they will be to this educational setting. An IQ test (administered out side the school) follows some years later as confirmation. For students joining the school at Middle School or High School, the interview/qualitative assessment also forms an important part of the entry process and admissions staff are well trained in the characteristics of giftedness and its many disguises.

 The benefits of considering the emotional well being of the child as of primary importance and which lays the foundation for intellectual learning and responsible citizenship are clear at this school.

 While the philosophy of the Roeper School has been firmly in place from its inception, there are elements that could be translated to other schools. It could be difficult though to convince some that fewer rules can actually lead to such a calm and respectful community……….

For more information about the school and its philosophy and programs visit www.roeper.org

Welcome to the Roeper School	The original home and school buildings now used as the Administration centre	Stage II Domes (photo Nicci Johnson)
Looking out of a Stage II classroom (photo Nicci Johnson)	Trojan Horse play equipment. (photo Nicci Johnson)	Part of the stream and rehabilitation area at Roeper School
Re-establishing native vegatation in the area		Personalised schedules for each child (photo Nicci Johnson)

Future Problem Solving International Competition

The International competition for Future Problem Solving was held at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. The university campus is enormous. The 2000 or so competitors, coaches and support crew were housed in student dorms, meals were organised in 3 sittings and there was activity everywhere.

 There were teams competing in 3 divisions of the booklet competition, in Community Problem Solving, individual booklets, scenario writing, the competition for alternates (reserves) as well as the one for adults. The Australian teams who are invited to attend the International Competition are the 2 top scoring teams in each division at our National Competition. US teams competing seemed to be those who performed best in each state competition. There were also teams from New Zealand, Singapore, Korea, Japan and Malaysia (and possibly other countries I have overlooked) and with 60 or more teams in each of the competitive booklet divisions competition was strong. The topic for the booklet competition this year was Child Labour.

Following the booklet competition conducted on the Friday morning, each team had to prepare a 4 minute skit demonstrating their action plan which was presented during the afternoon. The highest scoring teams then competed against each other the following day in the final of the Action Plan competition.

The Community Problem Solving Fair held after the judging was completed was a showcase of all the CmPS projects and was a busy event . The display from the Blacktown Girls High School team was excellent and they were later awarded (huge) trophy for Grand Champions in their division.

 There was also time for the kids to meet kids from other places, to trade souvenirs and to get involved in games out doors.

 There were a number of teams from Australia at the competition with the team from Penrhos College the only team from WA. They earned a place in the finals of the Action Plan skit competition and were also placed 10^th overall in their division in the booklet competition. A wonderful result!

 You can see the results for the other teams from Australia by clicking here. For more information about Future Problem Solving in Australia click here.

Derrin Cramer Copyright © 2008  Thinking Ahead Extension Workshops  All rights reserved. Revised: 27-06-08.