In Silicon Valley and businesses across the nation, gifted students are transforming into the leaders of the next generation. According to a study at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, gifted students only step out of the shadows after graduation. During school, they are the invisible students in classrooms. Despite efforts to change the situation, modern schools lack the courses, teachers and motivational techniques to drive exceptional students onward. Instead, gifted schools can provide these children with what public schools cannot.
Gifted Children Are Left Out of the Classroom
In the study, Professor David Lubinski looked at 300 gifted children from the age of 13 until age 38. During this time, he tracked their accomplishments in school and in the workforce. From the 30-year study, Lubinski found that 203 of the children earned a master’s degree and an impressive 142 of the children garnered a doctoral degree. They were more likely to become leaders at Fortune 500 companies, presidential advisers, doctors and noteworthy software engineers.
While the future was bright for these children, researchers found that there were exceptionally difficult roadblocks placed before them along the way. Gifted students were placed in settings that did not allow them to learn as rapidly or copiously as they were able to. Gifted students were often able to master the information in the first day. Once they figured it out, the teachers would move on from the gifted students to focus on the other students who were unable to learn new information. As a result, the gifted students were chronically frustrated by lack of learning opportunities and simplistic coursework.
While the gifted students in the study were still capable of succeeding and doing well in their courses, they were unable to meet their full potential. AP classes, accelerated programs and challenging coursework are all necessary for gifted students to reach their true potential. Without a challenge, students with high IQs will be unable to fulfill their academic potential. The best way to challenge and motivate gifted learners is to send them to gifted schools that specialize in exclusively gifted coursework.
Programs Are Required for Learning Disabilities
Currently, schools are required to have programs in place for students with learning disabilities. Due to legislation like the No Child Left Behind Act, the focus has been on getting every student up to grade level. Unfortunately, this means that there are no federally mandated programs for gifted students. More intelligent students are less likely to have academic courses and opportunities that match their needs. Studies show that simply speeding up coursework can be enough to challenge gifted learners, but even this option is unavailable at many schools.
Public education seems incapable of meeting the challenge. When 34 nations from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development were given the PISA exams in 2012, the United States scored 27th for math, 17th for reading and 20th in science. These numbers hide a more insidious problem. Compared to other nations, poor Americans were significantly less likely to achieve the top scores on the PISA exam. Only 9 percent of poor Americans cracked the top two tiers. In Canada, 16 percent of students reached the same level. An additional 40 percent of poor students in Singapore were able to reach the same level.
This study suggests that American public schools are failing students. Unable to attend another school or seek out additional courses, poor students are rapidly falling behind their peers in other nations. Gifted learners must be challenged in their academic program, but the studies show that relatively few students receive the attention, accelerated coursework or motivation that they need. In order to get the support that gifted learners need in order to be successful, a child should be enrolled in a gifted school.
Sources:
http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2014/01/gifted-children-study/
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-bright-students-left-behind-1440024541
http://universityofcalifornia.edu/news/nation-risk-how-gifted-low-income-kids-are-left-behind
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday-commentary/20140321-are-we-neglecting-the-education-of-gifted-children.ece
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