Curriculum Issues

Diagnostic Assessment of the Functional Level of Skills and Resultant Modification of Curriculum

At every grade level, the core curriculum must be remodeled to respond more appropriately to the needs of the gifted learner. Such an effort is best effected by the use of a diagnostic tool given at the beginning of the year to assess the functional level of gifted students and to streamline curriculum based on the results. Doing ongoing formative assessment is also recommended to assure that students are not only gaining needed competencies but also progressing at a rate commensurate with need.

Grouping Gifted Learners, Using a Research-Based Approach via Cluster, Pull-Out, or Self-Contained Classes

Research on grouping gifted learners suggests the importance of using one of the models found to be effective in this regard. These approaches include cluster grouping, pull-out classes, special classes, and self-contained classes or schools for the gifted. All of these forms of grouping suggest that students can grow significantly when such grouping approaches are coupled with differentiated curriculum (see Kulik & Kulik, 1992; Rogers, 2016). Making this work in reality rather than theory is tricky business. It means that educators must overcome their reluctance to group gifted learners together at the same time they use differentiated practices to promote growth in learning. When so many teachers are not trained in differentiation practices to the levels necessary to sustain differentiated instruction daily, the models for differentiation are compromised. Only when appropriate grouping is matched to effective differentiation practice can learning results work as planned.

Using Research-Based Materials

Although it is admirable to think that teachers can and should develop curriculum from scratch for gifted learners, it is more effective and efficient to employ materials that have been specifically designed for these learners and tested for effectiveness in promoting learning with them. The materials are available for use in remodeling as well as adapted implementation. Even with employing these materials, additional units of study may need to be developed, especially for use in self-contained programs. The lack of materials that teachers can use in trying to differentiate curriculum is an oversight that again can prove disastrous in implementation. Every teacher at every level should have model materials that already are differentiated in meaningful ways and address the goals of the gifted program.

Targeting Instruction in Areas of Advanced Learning Capacity

Not all gifted students need advanced instruction in all areas of learning. Sometimes, their academic preferences and aptitudes cause them to gravitate as early as middle school toward the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines of science and math or the social sciences or the humanities. Programs and curricula should try to provide the optimal match to a student’s interests and aptitudes, unleashing greater motivation and desire for learning as a result.

Providing at Least 2 Hr per Week of Grouped Instruction

Contact time is a critical variable in deciding how to implement curriculum effectively. Less than 2 hr per week in a grouped learning context limits the authentic learning of the gifted to a great extent. More ideally, half or more of gifted student time should be spent with others of equal or greater ability. Cluster-grouped classrooms easily make the contact time issue moot as identified gifted students can receive targeted instruction at any point during the instructional day. However, many cluster grouped settings underutilize the grouping pattern in place and do not provide sufficient learning time of gifted students together, especially in their area of strength.

Providing Both Direct and Facilitated Instruction

Too often, we associate learning for the gifted as independent or at most facilitated by a coach on the sidelines. In reality, research suggests that gifted learners benefit from both direct and facilitated learning. Thus, teachers must have key strategies to use with these learners that enhance their learning through direct instruction coupled with strong inquiry-based discussion and problem-solving activities. Independent research should be coupled with group research. Reading activities should be coupled with discussion groups such as Socratic seminars. Project work should be paired with relevant teaching sessions on aspects of the processes and content to be learned.

Assessing Advanced Learning Through Performance-Based Assessments and/or Portfolios

While differentiated curriculum is important, so too is a differentiated assessment approach. Two models for assessment provide authentic results to gauge gifted student growth in learning. These two approaches are performance-based assessments that ask students to demonstrate the qualities of higher level thinking, problem solving, creative response, and articulation of their thinking in a given task demand. Sometimes, these assessments are project-based, requiring multiple days for completions, and sometimes they are more truncated in time, requiring student response in a short class period of 50 min. Rubrics typically focus on the important learning dimensions identified in unit outcomes. A second assessment approach that is useful to employ with the gifted is a portfolio that captures key learning that has occurred during a given period of time. Often students can select their best work and offer an explanation for their choice and the nature of learning accrued. Portfolios can be showcased with parents and community, allowing deeper insights into the learning process that gifted students are experiencing (VanTassel-Baska & Hubbard, 2016).

Once these implementation issues have been addressed through putting in place a system for ongoing progress, then student outcomes for the curriculum have a chance to be realized. Monitoring the work of curriculum differentiation is a full-time job, not one to be left to chance or to the vagaries of busy administrators whose attention to the gifted program is scant. Our best learners deserve the best set of opportunities we can plan and deliver.