Oregon Charter Schools Conference

1. Oregon Charter Schools Conference TALENTED AND GIFTED CHILDREN IN CHARTER SCHOOLS Rebecca Blocher Talented and Gifted Education Specialist Oregon Department of Education 503-947-5931 Rebecca.blocher@state.or.us

2. We think that we know these students because of our assumptions. • What does the public generally think about gifted learners? • What are your assumptions? • How does this really play out in the child’s life? • Is the child just “bright” and not gifted? Our Assumptions The Reality from Winebrenner Handout

3. The National and Oregon Views of Talented and Gifted Education • TAG is not nationally supported at the federal level! There is no federal funding. • Each state defines its own criteria for services and identification. • Identification categories and instructional requirements are defined by each state’s statutes and laws/rules. • Gifted programs are required K – 12 • TAG is defined by Oregon Statutes ORS 343.391 through 343.413 “The Oregon Talented and Gifted Education Act” • Oregon Administrative Rules are 581-022-1310 through 581-022-1941 • Identification requires a 97%tile threshold on a nationally normed test, exception: “potential to perform” • Must have a “body of evidence” toID NATIONAL TAG STATE OF OREGON

4. Overview of Today’s Topics • Your school’s charter agreement • Does it include services to identify and to serve TAG students? • Identification Categories • Body of Evidence for Identification • Appropriate Instruction for TAG Students • Procedures for TAG questions to ODE

5. TAG Identification Categories • Gifted children exist in all races and ethnic groups, and in all socio-economic groups. We have YET to discover many of them. TAG CATEGORIES IN OREGON: • General Intellectual - GIA • Academic Mathematics • Academic Reading • “Potential to Perform”

6. “Potential to Perform” • This category is locally defined by districts • “Potential” also requires the BOE with multiple criteria • May use standard error of measurement • The student could be culturally and linguistically diverse, twice-exceptional, or economically disadvantaged • Best practice to “Watch” and “Enrich” in this potential to perform category • Give these students opportunities to “step up” to realize their potential

7. Body of EvidenceWhat should be included? • A nationally normed test demonstrating 97%tile - however, no single test, measure or score shall be the sole criterion for identification. ODE has a list of approved instruments for TAG identification. Please email me if you need the list. • Districts shall collect behavioral, learning and performance information and include the information in all procedures for the identification of students. • The information for TAG identification may also include academic history: grades, portfolio assessment records or other progress reports and other achievement information • One caveat about “under achievement” – Grades may be low but innate ability high

8. Instruction for TAG Students Instruction for TAG students should be in all areas of the individual student’s categories of identification. • General Intellectual is high ability in all domains of learning – GIA = “just plain smart” • Reading identified should be accelerated in reading, writing and all language arts • Math identified should be accelerated in math Math is the most sequential area for acceleration.

9. Instructional Guiding Principles • RATE AND LEVEL OF INSTRUCTION (Oregon Administrative Rule 581-022-1330 Programs and Services for Talented and Gifted Students • “The instruction provided to identified students shall be designed to accommodate their assessed levels of learning and their accelerated rates of learning.” OAR: 581-022-1330 (4)

10. Instruction for Identified TAG students • TAG instruction is more than “Enrichment” although enrichment can capture student’s in their passionate area of interest. • Examples are: Young Writer’s Conferences, or competitions such as Odyssey of the Mind, Future Problem Solving, Science and Environmental studies, Junior Great Books • Most importantly, TAG instruction cannot be limited to field trips and pizza parties!

11. TAG INSTRUCTIONAL RATE AND LEVEL • LEVEL OF LEARNING: Level is the student’s instructional level in the curriculum and the place where the student will encounter knowledge and skills not yet learned or mastered. Level is more than advanced grade level; it involves complexity and sophisticated concepts. • RATE OF LEARNING: Rate is a measure of the pace at which the student successfully progresses through the curriculum after being placed at an appropriate instructional level. (A student’s rate of learning will vary depending on the subject, point in the learning process, degree of interest, level of difficulty, learning style, and area(s) of TAG identification.)

12. Best Practices for K -2 Identification • Parent view of giftedness at an early age • Current Practice Tests online = Parent test prep • Issue: How early to test? How frequently? • The case for “early and precocious learners”- evident precocity. It’s true! Fundamentally, Talented and Gifted is a “needs based” program.

13. Procedures when parents contact ODE • ODE reviews the parent concerns/questions. • ODE calls the district/school to determine the basis for the parent concerns/questions. • The truth is usually somewhere in the middle • The sun shines only my kid! • It is important to underline that TAG is a needs-based program with qualifying criteria.

14. Do you have follow up questions today? Rebecca Blocher Oregon Department of Education 503-947-5931 Rebecca.blocher@state.or.us Please contact me with questions. I am happy to help you and gifted children.