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Gifted Advocacy
"If our children do not get the opportunity to learn all they are able
to learn, it is because not enough people insist on appropriate education for
them. As parents we must organize to become a respected and sizable force
which can make a difference." Gina Ginsberg Riggs, "A Call for
Parent Advocacy," Understanding
Our Gifted, March/April 1996
The
reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in
trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the
unreasonable man. – George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (1903),
Gifted Education Quotes
-
 Being Smart About Gifted Children: A Guidebook For Parents And Educators
by Dona J. Matthews and Joanne F. Foster
- Practical strategies for the education of exceptionally high ability (a.k.a.
gifted) children. After addressing all the questions, debates and
arguments about nature vs. nurture, elitism, testing, creativity, and more...
all that's left is to serve the child's educational needs!
Click for Amazon or
Amazon.co.uk
-
Davidson
Institute Guidebooks
- Davidson Institute offers free guidebooks for parents and other gifted
education advocates, to improve their advocacy efforts. Don't miss
these great resources! Currently available guidebooks include
,
-
 Empowering Gifted Minds: Educational Advocacy That Works
by Barbara Gilman
- Empowering Gifted Minds discusses the many questions parents ask (or
should ask!) in the years after learning their child is gifted, offering
answers, ideas, and sometimes, more questions to ask. See my detailed review
on Amazon... or
Amazon.co.uk
- 'Harm'
and the Gifted Student
by Todd McIntyre
- For a gifted student, harm occurs over time. Parents must understand that
their child can be in a 'pretty good, not that bad' gifted educational
situation which causes harm. Parents must come to recognize that harm can
occur. Harm may be the unintentional result of a well-intentioned system. To
prevent harm parents must participate...
-
 Genius
Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds
by Jan and Bob
Davidson, with Laura Vanderkam
- The Davidsons, creators of educational software and founders of a
nonprofit foundation that helps educate gifted children, offer an absorbing
look at how our nation is neglecting children of exceptional intelligence. The
Davidsons make a compelling case for re-approaching giftedness as a potential
disability (to give more attention to gifted kids) and an even stronger
argument for parents, teachers and citizens to consider the potential loss to
American society in the costliest imaginable terms. For excerpts and
review, visit Genius Denied
or
Amazon.co.uk
-
Reforming
Gifted Education: Matching the Program to the Child
by Karen Rogers
- THE book for parents and educators, for planning the educational program
for a gifted child. Everything you need to prepare, negotiate, and
execute the best possible educational option for each child. Read
DITD review...
-
 Wrightslaw:
From Emotions to Advocacy: The Special Education Survival Guide
by Peter W. D. Wright and Pamela Darr Wright
- This book will teach you how to plan, prepare, organize and get quality
special education services. In this comprehensive, easy-to-read book, you
will learn your child's disability and educational needs, how to create a
simple method for organizing your child s file and devising a master plan
for your child's special education. You will understand parent-school
conflict, how to create paper trails and effective letter writing...
While not explicitly for twice exceptional kids, it is perfect for their
parents and advocates
- Advocacy
101
- The Special Education Survival Guide by Pam & Pete Wright. Although
written for special ed, it's just as useful for gifted and twice exceptional
students. Includes articles...
Mistakes
People Make: Advocates,
Mistakes
People Make - Parents,
Mistakes
People Make - Schools, and
Mistakes
People Make: Independent Evaluators, plus more...
- Advocating for a Grade Skip: A Portfolio of
Research by Sandy Mixson
- A parent's recipe for successful advocacy!
- Advocating
for Talented Youth by Ann Robinson and Sidney M. Moon
- Reports of successful advocacy come from every corner of the country, and
parents are often key players in securing educational opportunities for their
gifted children
- Assertiveness and Effective Parent Advocacy by Marie Sherrett
- Innovative ideas that have worked for other parents...
-
Becoming
An Advocate for Your Gifted Student: An Interview with Carol Morreale
- Advocacy is influencing decision-makers. You can advocate for your child
on many levels... The best advocacy is when parents explain their child’s
needs, helping decision-makers to understand who their child is and how they
operate...
- The
Best of Both Worlds by Carol Danz, California Association for the
Gifted, 1999
- Imagine being granted the opportunity to provide enrichment for your
gifted children at home one or two days a week, while they continue to
receive the benefits of their public school experience... (requires Adobe Reader)
- The
Blame Game! Are School Problems the Kids' Fault? by Pamela Darr Wright,
Wrightslaw
- They think Brian’s school problems are my fault... The school
psychologist said Shannon's learning problems were her fault, that she was
lazy and unmotivated and we had to pressure her to work harder...
- When a child has trouble learning or behaving in school, the source of the
child's problem can usually be traced to one or more of five causes (though
written about special education, this applies equally well to gifted
education)
- Blending Gifted Education
and School Reform (ERIC Digest #525) by Gail E. Hanninen
- A process for assuring that the unique needs of students who are gifted
are addressed within the context of systemic reform...
- The
challenge of being gifted by Laura Vanderkam
- Thousands of students have attended new public schools for the gifted that
have sprouted across the country during the past two decades. More than a
dozen states now fund residential high schools for the gifted...
- A Civil Rights Action for Gifted
Children
by Wenda Sheard
- Unfortunately, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. We
have lost.
- Read the actual filling...
LEILA J. LEVI, LEVI M.
CLANCY, a minor v. JACK O’CONNELL, in his official capacity as
Superintendent of Education for the State of California.
QUESTIONS PRESENTED FOR REVIEW
1. Does the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) expressly
preclude any determination that an extremely gifted child is a “special needs”
child capable of being qualified for funding related to his or her individual
educational needs?
2. Does the No Child Left Behind Act (“NCLBA”) exclude extremely gifted children
from receiving a publicly funded education? In a an age discrimination complaint Leila Levi filed on August 19, 1999,
with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, she outlined
discrimination her son has suffered. The advocacy continues...
Amended
Complaint for Declaratory Relief and/or for Write of Mandate: Damages for
Violation of Civil Rights
- "[LC] LEVI CLANCY is a highly gifted child who is 14 years of age. He
is of the mandatory attendance age for minors under the age of 16. If he does
not attend school, he is a truant under law. [C] cannot attend a traditional
K-12 school because the schools operated by the CDE, and [C’s] local district,
are ill-equipped and unsuitable for highly gifted children and will actually
cause more harm to him than if he simply did not attend. Specifically, they
cannot provide for his specific psycho-social and academic needs...." (requires Adobe Reader)
- California
Department of Education Refuses to Provide Free Education to Child Prodigy
and Lawsuit
Seeks State-Funded Education for Child Prodigy: Possible Landmark Case Could
Have Ramifications for U.S. Approach to Public Education While offering a
free and equal education to special education and regular students, the CDE
refuses to provide a free education to a 14-year-old highly gifted child...
-
Communicating
Effectively With Your Gifted Child's School by Joan Franklin Smutny
- Begin with your child, Background information, What kinds of program
options exist?, Begin with the teacher, Be diplomatic but firm... a parents'
guide to successful advocacy...
- Crisis!
Emergency! Help! First Steps for the Parent Attorney or Advocate by
Peter W. D. Wright
- The parent’s initial telephone call to the special education attorney is
almost always precipitated by an emergency situation. The crisis may be that
the public school has stated that they... Written for special ed., this
article applies nearly as well to gifted!
- Dealing with Schools reprinted from MonTAGe,
by Valorie J. King
- Several great essays for gifted parents dealing with the schools,
including "Gifted? I See No Gifted Children Here!," "What's Really Going On
Here?," and "In the Principal's Office"
- Denial
of Eligibility Because of Gifted Intellectual Ability and/or Lack of Failure
- The U.S. Department of Education, in a written response to questions from
the Learning Disabilities Association of North Carolina, stated that "...each
child who is evaluated for a suspected learning disability must be measured
against his or her own expected performance, and not against some arbitrary
general standard." Even an intellectually gifted student may be
considered for eligibility for special education.
- Do I Stay or
Do I Go? by Meredith Warshaw
- It is important that we teach our children both lessons - that when things
get tough, we try to fix the situation, and that when the situation is
unsalvageable, we look for other alternatives and make the best choice we can.
-
Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- Sometimes advocacy has to begin with getting answers to questions already
asked. In the United States, if your child has had testing, you are
entitled to copies of the full results, including IQ / standard scores,
percentiles, age and grade equivalent scores, and much more... but sometimes
you may need to cite this federal law to get them
Getting
Change in the System by Monique Prevost Lloyd
Getting Past No:
Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation and
Getting To Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by William
Ury and Getting to Yes co-author Roger Fisher, of the Program on Negotiation
at Harvard Law School
A guide to successful negotiation shows readers how to stay cool under
pressure, stand up for themselves without provoking opposition, deal with
underhanded tactics, find mutually agreeable options, and more...
Gifted
Education: Deceived, Denied and in Crisis By Rebecca Sausner in
District Administration
Why gifted ed still matters and what you can do to improve your district's
offerings...
Gifted Mandates, by
state or province... collected by Carolyn K.
Does your state or province mandate gifted education? Gifted IEPs? Who
can you contact for more local information...
How
to Become an Educational Advocate by Carolyn K.
There are two ways to do everything. The easy way, and the hard way.
Everyone who knows me, knows I can never do anything the easy way...
How Squid
Got Skipped: The Book of Squid by Marjorie
The preparation, the meeting, the decision, and the "Book of Squid"... one
parent's successful advocacy story
Improving
Schools: One Person is a Fruitcake, 50 People are a Powerful Organization
on Wrightslaw
A simple reminder...
Individuals
with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004
Visit Wrightslaw for the law itself, commentary, guidance and more... (law
requires Adobe Reader)
 Infinity
and Zebra Stripes: Life with Gifted Children by Wendy Skinner
This book offers sage words for beginning parents and seasoned insights
for those more experienced, including teachers. Skinner's unvarnished
chronicle of life with 2 gifted children strikes just the right balance.
More importantly, this rewarding little book highlights the responsibility
of parents to reach out for information, stay aware of the bigger picture,
and not leave the development of gifted children to chance...
Know Your Legal Rights in
Gifted Education (ERIC Digest #541)
Gifted American school children have very limited protections under state
and federal laws...
Learn
to Ask Questions, Get Services by Laurie from New York
Tips for non-confrontational parents
The
Least Restrictive Environment Mandate: How Has It Been Defined by the Courts?
(ERIC Digest #629)
"To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities. ...
should be educated with children who are not disabled, and ... special
classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities
from the regular educational environment should occur only when the nature or
severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the
use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily..."
The
Least-Worst Educational Option
by Carolyn K.
As parents, we are faced with many choices regarding our children.
What's the best choice? Sometimes it's easy - one choice is clearly
"better" than another. But many times, the choice is not so obvious...
National
Association for Gifted Children Position Statements
...on Ability Grouping, Acceleration, Affective Needs, Teacher
Competencies, Cooperative Learning, Differentiation, Fine Arts Education, GLBT
Students, Graduate Programs, Inclusion, Concomitant Gifts and Learning
Disabilities, NAGC-NMSA Joint Position Statement, Mandates, Pre-service
Teacher Programs, and Tests...
National Excellence: A Case for
Developing America's Talent October 1993
U.S. Department of Education - Office of Educational Research and
Improvement study of the "quiet crisis" that continues in how we
educate top students
Parent
Advocates: Creating Opportunities for Gifted Students
CTD interviewed two parents... Tell us about your advocacy efforts.
What have you accomplished? How did you start your parent groups? How
have you advocated individually for your own children? (also available in
Adobe Acrobat newsletter, click for Adobe Reader)
Parent's
Unofficial Guide to Gifted IEPs and Gifted IEP Meetings by Todd McIntyre
and Wayne Mery
Although written for Pennsylvania's parents, this detailed essay contains
great advocacy information for parents everywhere. This guide will
help you, as a parent, understand your options and prepare you to make
informed decisions regarding the direction of that course. Don't miss
Todd's extra credit assignment on Present
Levels of Educational Performance (PLEPs)!
Paving
the Way for Achievement: How one family met their student's unique educational
needs
Realizing early on that their middle school had no courses for
above-average students and that their high school didn't offer advanced
placement courses, the Chapman family used creativity, persistence, and
problem-solving skills to meet their son John's academic needs in a small
district... (also available in
Adobe Acrobat newsletter, click for Adobe Reader)
Present
Levels of Educational Performance (PLEPs) by Todd McIntyre
How do you determine a student's Present Levels of Educational Performance
(PLEP) prior to the Gifted meetings? How does that PLEP correlate to
the district's curriculum? What's the role of state standardized tests
in determining the student's PLEP? Though written for folks dealing
with Pennsylvania mandate, it has valuable information for all parents of
gifted students...
Prisoners Of
Time
Report of the National Education Commission on Time and Learning,
April 1994
Public Relations: A
Necessary Tool for Advocacy in Gifted Education (ERIC Digest #542) by
Frances A. Karnes and Joan D. Lewis
Without building the knowledge base for understanding the unique needs and
educational methods of gifted education, advocacy is likely to meet with
limited success
Research
Should Inform Practice by E. Jean Gubbins
We [educators] should consult research studies, to ensure that purposeful
change is made
School
Reform and Gifted Education by Monique Prevost Lloyd
Many educational practices currently in vogue under the umbrella of school
reform work against gifted students...
Social Statistics
Briefing Room at Whitehouse.gov
A number of educational test results, including TIMSS, trends in academic
progress, trends in drop-out rates, etc.
Student
talks board into boosting gifted program by Evan Brandt,
Pottstown Mercury
Saying the district had ignored "the best and the brightest" in the high
school, Lindgren (the student), who praised the gifted program at Pottsgrove
Middle School, told the board, "We dare you to make us think."
Lindgren accomplished what the school teachers and administrators had not!
The
spill-over effect: an advocacy strategy by Sandra N. Kaplan, in
Gifted Child Today
The spill-over effect is intended to gather support for gifted education
by illustrating where and when it can provide meaningfully and successfully
for the education of students in other programs
Stand
Up for Your Gifted Child: How to Make the Most of Kids' Strengths at School
and at Home by Joan Franklin Smutny
If you think your gifted child isn't getting the education he or she
needs, this book is for you. It helps you recognize your child's gifts,
understand his or her problems at school, find out your district's policy on
gifted education, explore various options, communicate effectively with the
school and district, and provide enrichment at home
Supporting Gifted
Education Through Advocacy (ERIC Digest #494) by Sandra L. Berger
Understanding the process and avoiding the pitfalls...
The Tea and Terrorist
Society - Parent Advocacy at the District Level by Monique Lloyd
Many parents feel powerless when dealing with their public schools; this
is especially true of parents with highly gifted children
Ten
Tips for Parents of Students by Monique Lloyd
TIMSS - Third International
Mathematics and Science Study
TIMSS data has been collected in 1995, 1999, and 2003, for the largest international
study of student achievement...
Using
their words to support our advocacy efforts by Sandra N. Kaplan, in
Gifted Child Today
In today's political climate to understand that good campaigning is
redefining the common language of the times for your own political benefits.
We can build our advocacy efforts on the common language used by policymakers
in general education to the advantage of gifted education...
Using
Public Relations Strategies to Advocate for Gifted Programming in Your
School by Kevin Besnoy, in
Gifted Child Today
All teachers who work with high-ability students must establish advocacy
and public relations strategies for their program. Articles have been
written detailing how to advocate at the district, state, and national
levels. However, gifted educators now need to advocate for gifted
programming at the local school level. They must be willing to reach out to
their colleagues within their school building through a systematic,
continuous program to gather support for gifted programming...
What Works! by Monique Lloyd
Innovative ideas that have worked for other parents...
You can start a
gifted school! We did!! by Elizabeth & Larry Bruce, Gateways
School
Have you reached the end of your rope trying to get the local school
district to accommodate the needs of your gifted child? Are you tired of
explaining why enrichment classes aren’t enough for a boy who’s shutting
down from the sheer boredom of the other 33 ½ hours of excruciating drill
and repetition?
Last updated
June 24, 2008
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