Acceleration Strategies For Teaching Gifted Learners

Presents practical strategies for developing appropriate curriculum for accelerated gifted children, explaining how acceleration can be employed in all classroom levels and subject areas.

"Smutny has assembled a group of colleagues who bring very practical and useful insights to this issue and suggest practices that will make the use of this important curricular modification justifiable, manageable, and, most of all, normal. Acceleration is not treated as a strategy of last resort but as a logical and reasonable way to acknowledge and provide for the growth and continuous progress of all children. By broadening the idea of acceleration as a way to meet academic, emotional, and social needs, the book turns the concerns about acceleration into strengths." —Barbara Clark, Professor Emeritus, California State University, Los Angeles "A well-written, extremely useful guide for parents and educators who wish to provide gifted students an opportunity to learn at a pace and level appropriate to their abilities. Offers valuable insight on the social and emotional aspects of effective acceleration." —Jan Davidson, President and Cofounder, Davidson Institute for Talent Development Coauthor, Genius Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds Raise the bar on accelerated learning and discover new possibilities that go beyond minimum proficiency! Written for K–5 teachers, this practical guide corrects misunderstandings in the field of acceleration and provides the tools necessary to effectively determine the most appropriate learning options for gifted students. Through real-life stories, well-known authors in gifted education Joan Franklin Smutny, Sally Y. Walker, and Elizabeth A. Meckstroth, dispel the common myths about acceleration and describe what it is, what forms it takes, and what it can do for gifted learners—intellectually, socially, and emotionally. Presenting nuts-and-bolts guidance, this valuable resource provides: Numerous case studies, helpful checklists, and reproducible forms Prevailing theories and current research Social-emotional aspects of acceleration practices Instructional strategies for implementation in various school settings Learning opportunities for underserved groups, such as multicultural and urban students Bibliographies and helpful Web sites Offering a new perspective on how prevailing attitudes have deprived students of opportunities to develop their talents, Acceleration for Gifted Learners, K–5, directly reflects the 2004 Templeton Report in validating the urgency to meet gifted students′ needs.

Proven Strategies That Work for Teaching Gifted and Advanced Learners is a collection of research-based strategies designed for advanced learners in cluster-grouped general education as well as those in self-contained classes for gifted students. The strategies focus on key areas of importance to educators, including assessment, content, instruction, and acceleration of learning. The book is not intended as a textbook, but rather is designed for educators who are looking for strategies they can implement in real-life situations. The strategies encompass a wide variety of topics. The accompanying forms and reproducibles are user-friendly resources designed to help teachers maximize their students' learning. For educators who work with advanced learners, these materials should become a basic, “go-to” resource. Grades 3-8

Gifted and accelerated readers are often not a part of reading instruction in a traditional or inclusive classroom. Their needs go unattended in favor of those who struggle with basic reading and foundational skills. All children should have the opportunity to grow in their knowledge and skills in literacy. This book provides teachers who have one or more gifted/accelerated or those who are "keenly interested" students in their class ways in which they can differentiate reading instruction that is equitable. Literacy Strategies for Gifted and Accelerated Readers provides educators with practical, research-based strategies and advice to address the unique needs of gifted readers. Attention to required specially designed instruction that aligns to both the content standards and the NAGC PreK-12 Gifted Programming Standards ensures that gifted readers make progress through literacy instruction. This book provides insight and expertise to general education teachers, teachers of the gifted, special education teachers, homeschool educators, professional developers, and higher education faculty.

The expert guide to grouping and acceleration practices for gifted and talented students! The most influential works on acceleration and grouping practices for the gifted are gathered in this volume, which covers concerns about the effectiveness of such techniques, presents research on the optimal conditions and methods for the utilization of grouping and/or acceleration, and describes effective programmatic initiatives. Key features include: A detailed accounting of the history of acceleration and grouping practices and their effectiveness by field leader Linda E. Brody Examples of successful grouping and acceleration practices specifically designed to meet the needs of gifted students in the regular classroom setting Numerous suggestions for putting the research findings to use Designed with the busy educator in mind, a variety of grouping and acceleration models are studied in this ready-reference, followed by recommendations for implementation that will ensure appropriately challenging educational opportunities for gifted and talented students. The ERGE Series: The National Association for Gifted Children series Essential Readings in Gifted Education is a 12-volume collection of seminal articles from Gifted Child Quarterly. Put the knowledge and power of more than 25 years of research on giftedness and talent into your hands with the leading theories, studies, and findings the experts in the field have to offer.

This text draws on data from a five-year longitudinal study focusing on gifted education programs in high poverty rural areas in the US. It provides a framework for the use of place-based interventions to effectively serve gifted students, reduce opportunity gaps, and address stereotype threat. Recognizing that gifted learners are often underrepresented in rural contexts, the text adopts a social justice lens to outline the unique challenges of fostering advanced education in rural school districts. Using opportunities to learn and best practices in gifted education to inform interventions and practice, the text offers in-depth explanation of how place-based approaches can be used to identify gifted students and ensure that curricula are designed to respect the setting, students, and teachers. The text is structured into three parts, providing the reader with a logical and comprehensive progression through theoretical foundations, the practicalities of implementation, and the process and outcomes of measuring and validating outcomes. Given its unique approach to gifted education programs, this book will prove to be an indispensable and timely resource for scholars working to develop gifted education and educational interventions with and for rural schools.

Presents practical strategies for developing appropriate curriculum for accelerated gifted children, explaining how acceleration can be employed in all classroom levels and subject areas.

Accelerated learning, isn't that just for gifted students? Accelerating the Learning of All Students: Cultivating Culture Change in Schools, Classrooms, and Individuals answers that question while providing a vivid description of what happens at the school, classroom, and individual levels when people attempt to extend efforts to accelerate learning to all students. The book begins with a definition of accelerated learning and provides a vivid description of efforts to accelerate the learning of three populations of students: those identified as gifted, those identified as low-achieving, and all students. The book then examines the assumptions shaping school, classroom, and individual efforts to accelerate the learning of all students. Written by a pair of educators, one trained in gifted and talented education and the other in cultura anthropology, this book provides teachers, parents, administrators, and researchers with insight into why we continue to fail so many students and how we can cultivate change in schools, classrooms, and individuals so that all students receive the enriched, challenging learning experiences typically reserved only for students identified as gifted.

Preparations - Evaluation - Instruction - Individuals and systems - Pace and content - Enrichment - Instructional format - Social implications___

Revised and updated edition helps educators increase rigor and depth for all advanced and gifted learners to fulfill their potential. With increasing numbers of students receiving gifted services every year, it’s more important than ever for differentiated instruction to go beyond adjusting content levels, task complexity, or product choice—it must truly challenge and support learners on all levels: academic, social, and emotional. This award-winning resource in the field of gifted education has been revised and updated to include: a discussion of underserved learners—particularly English language learners, students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and economically disadvantaged students updated information on learning standards, MTSS, and universal screening new guidelines for honors courses a focus on scholarly questioning, ethics, and empathy a novel new strategy to increase curricular depth and complexity information on learning orientations new research on neurological differences of gifted learners the pros and cons of co-teaching and how to assess its progress new tools to increase achievement, plus a discussion of “underlearning” the benefits of coaching and lesson study the authors’ perspectives on and guidelines for grading Downloadable digital content includes customizable reproducible forms and a PDF presentation; a free PLC/Book Study Guide for use in professional development is also available.