The Harford County Citizen Advisory Council for Gifted Education meets once a month and serves to advise the Board of Education in matters concerning gifted education.

These matters include:

    ●  Supporting the operating budget of the gifted education program.
    ●  Alerting the Board of Education to specific needs and/or changes for gifted and talented education programs.
    ●  Providing leadership support of gifted programs.
    ●  Making community resources accessible for gifted education programs.

Monthy meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month from 6:30 - 8:00 at the Board of Education in Bel Air.

Current Members

    ●  Dr. Paul Tanenbaum - Chair
    ●  Dr. Cheryl Bolstad
    ●  Ms. Stephanie F. Cassedy
    ●  Ms. Pamelyn G. Lindsey
    ●  Ms. Susan G. Luecke-Schnuck
    ●  Ms. Erinn Izzo
    ●  Mr. David Bongivanni
    ●  Ms. Deborah Oliver-Davis
    ●  Ms. Manolya Bayar
    ●  Mr. Michael Schul
    ●  Dr. Kathleen Baker-Brosh
    ●  Ms. Diane Targarona
    ●  Mrs. Ruth Rich - Board of Education Representative
    ●  Ms. Emily Cowie - Student Representative
    ●  Mrs. Joan Cable - Enrichment teacher
    ●  Dr. Jeanne Paynter - MSDE Specialist in Gifted Education

Anyone interested in joining the CAC can submit a letter of interest to the name and address below. Names will be brought to the Board of Education each October. Meetings are open to the public.

Teri Kranefeld
102 South Hickory Avenue
Bel Air, MD 21014

Current Charge

Develop a research based policy to offer high school credit to middle school students.

Report to the Board of Education

Background Information...

The Board’s charge to the committee was to “develop a research-based model for meeting the needs of gifted and talented students in grades six through eight in alignment with the levels-of-service framework.” Because a relatively small fraction of the committee membership are educators but we all wished to provide a product that could be useful to the Board and the school system, we decided in consultation with Ms. Rich—our Board liaison—to take a somewhat reduced interpretation of our charge and bring it more into line with our abilities and resources as a volunteer group. Rather than attempt to address all of the details involved in the complete development of a program, we settled on producing from the research a set of attributes that any strong program should demonstrate. We are confident that those in the system with training and experience in program development will be able to build from this specification a program to meet the Board’s intent. To develop our specification we decomposed the charge into four categories: curriculum, professional development, implementation, and program evaluation. Sections 2 through 5 discuss these categories and enumerate the particular attributes required of a solid levels-of-service program for the middle grades. In section 6 we provide some concluding remarks, and in section 7 we provide references to the research on which we base our findings.

Discussion...

1. Curriculum

Ellin Keene writes that “we learn most effectively when we learn a few important concepts at a time, taught in depth over a long period, and apply them in a variety of texts and contexts.” Thus some of the essential properties of any program of instruction for gifted students are that it be challenging; that it make use of both acceleration and enrichment; that it provide instruction that is truly and strongly differentiated for each student’s needs; that it be adaptable to accommodate individual students’ interests, readiness, and learning styles; that it be focused on the key concepts and driven by the best pedagogical principles; and that it include as an integral element continual assessment of both student and program performance.

The curriculum must motivate students and foster in them the attitude that knowledge is worth pursuing. To that end, the program must make broad use of curriculum compaction to avoid frustrating these students and wasting their time. Similarly, for students for whom grade skipping is appropriate the program must provide such accommodations as careful articulation with the high schools. It should also feature many opportunities for collaborative learning, since for these students in particular helping peers learn material is often a very effective means of solidifying their own understanding. A key element of the adaptability mentioned above is learning that is initiated and directed by the students themselves, which not only builds on the curiosity, aptitude and enthusiasm of the students, but also shifts students from passively receiving topics of others’ selection to collaborating with teachers and peers in education as an active exploration. It is vitally important that the program be multidisciplinary and include the arts throughout. Beyond their profound value in their own right, the arts and the varieties of creativity associated with them are unambiguously linked to successful creativity in academic endeavors as well. Similarly, strong opportunities for study of world languages are both highly effective in strengthening reading and writing skills and also essential for success in the globalized world that these students will soon be entering.

Some specific elements that have proven successful include Socratic seminars, debate, independent study, mentorships, and extracurricular activities. Particular programs to consider include Destination ImagiNation, MathCounts, and Junior Great Books.

2. Professional Development To prepare teachers to deliver these services, we recommend a combination of instructor-led training (ILT), embedded staff development, in-service days, and web-based training (WBT). The introduction to the methodology and requirements of GT education may be provided through ILT and more in-depth examples and particular skills through WBT. It is important to note that MSDE is currently developing a Specialist in Gifted Education Certification. While this certification will be voluntary, it is expected that colleges will offer more courses to meet the increased demand.

3. Implementation

The National Association for Gifted Children point out that gifted education programs must meet the following criteria: services must be directed by appropriately qualified personnel; teachers must be knowledgeable and passionate about gifted education—and they must be properly trained; and materials must be up to date and at a level appropriate for gifted learners. We also looked at criteria from MSDE and at programs in Baltimore, Frederick, and Fairfax Counties, and Virginia City. Several conclusions were generated out of the research we conducted. First, a G&T Specialist must be assigned to each middle school. The purpose of this teacher will be to act as a resource for classroom teachers, conduct professional development, and lead the committee responsible for identify services for students. Secondly, we strongly recommend that consideration be made to offer high school credit to middle students completing high school level curriculum. Currently 21 of 24 counties offer some form of this.

Lastly, students should be cluster grouped in order to narrow the range of differentiation for teachers. This could include cross-grade level grouping. We considered three methods of achieving these standards.

    ●  GT Classes. The smallest scale at which such cluster grouping should be considered.
    ●  GT Teams. Since many—though certainly not all—gifted learners are gifted in more than one subject area, it might well be appropriate to cluster the GT students into teams. To accommodate this variability, the teachers on these teams should be able, with some attention to scheduling, to provide advanced instruction during some periods and a more typical level during others.
    ●  Magnet Schools. An intriguing concept that we strongly urge be carefully considered is a small number of county-wide magnet schools for gifted middle school students. An ideal program would make use of the possibly soon to be vacated facilities at John Archer, an idea that offers several strong advantages. Because it is next door to Harford Technical High School, it could leverage the existing county-wide bus routes without significant additional cost. This location would also make it fairly simple for accelerated students to take classes or find mentors at either Harford Tech or Harford Community College. Such magnet schools would also make it possible through curriculum compaction for some students to complete middle school in two years.

4. Program Evaluation

In the words of the director of the GT program in the Fayetteville, Arkansas public schools, evaluation should be thought of “as a way to strengthen your program, not threaten it.” To achieve this reasonable goal and to provide the Board and administrators the kind of information they’ll need to manage a successful program, the evaluation process must be based on clear performance metrics and reflect the goals of the program and the desired outcomes; it must support fair comparisons of the performance of students receiving services and those not, and it must support longitudinal studies of both of these groups; it should support cost-benefit analyses; and it should provide the basis for modifications and improvements to the program. Besides the performance of students, other factors that should be evaluated are the performance of teachers and principals, students’ level of satisfaction and engagement, and feedback from students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders—whether through such structured mechanisms as surveys or free-form comments.

5. Conclusion

Board Goal Two states “Every child achieves personal and academic growth.” This is a goal we have taken seriously as we researched each aspect of this proposal. A middle-school GT program with these attributes should not be tremendously expensive to put in place when compared to developing the full potential of our highest performing students. It requires some changes, but should mesh nicely with Harford County Schools’ overall plans for middle-school reform. And most importantly, it will be a remarkable service for a population that has been chronically under-served but constitutes one of our nation’s greatest treasures. Let no one squander this opportunity.

Superintendent’s Recommendation...

Develop a research based policy to offer high school credit to middle school students.