I’ve found that the more I can understand the perspective of teachers and administrators, the better I can do in achieving an effective educational path for my kids.
When my daughter was in 2nd grade, I began reading up on her rights to an education in public school. I was directed to the term Free and Appropriate Education. This is not a term that is helpful when discussing gifted services. This is a reference to federal special education law, which does not address the needs of gifted students.
State Guidelines: Become familiar with your state laws, guidelines, and regulations. Start here, but realize that a good amount of that information is out of date. Click on your state to find links to the relevant state departments of education. Read the text of the regulations as they apply to your situation. Our state department of education is better than most in publishing the regulations, and it contains not just the regulations on gifted identification, the rules that the districts must follow in identifying, tracking, and serving, but also the rules on whole-grade and subject accelerations. Also important to us is that the state guidelines directly tackle the "maturity" issue in accelerations, directly stating that immaturity is not a barrier to subject acceleration, only whether or not the child is able to function i
My state does not require gifted services, but it does establish the process districts must follow if they do offer services. Some important information for me on subject accelerations, for instance, has been the delineation of which standardized tests my kids are to be taking. Because student performance on these tests is of primary important for the schools, it has helped that I could anticipate these issues, think through the implications, and offer my perspective. Other key information that can be attained at the state level is a list of tests that are acceptable for gifted identification and their cutoff scores. While my district has been reluctant to accept private testing on tests different than the ones the district uses, being able to point to the specific state guidelines has gotten results.
Local Guidelines: Once you are familiar with the state level guidelines, you need to read the district guidelines. Knowing the state rules here is important, because you’ll now know what you’re looking for! Our district regulations were on the website, filed under Administration -> Intervention services. I note, however, that this information is no longer there. At this point, a parent will have to contact the district to get that information. Going to the superintendent’s office will always work. In this district, a phone call there would direct me to the director of intervention services, who would send me the information.
Hmm, I should report that the gifted services information has disappeared from the website.
When my daughter was in 2nd grade, I began reading up on her rights to an education in public school. I was directed to the term Free and Appropriate Education. This is not a term that is helpful when discussing gifted services. This is a reference to federal special education law, which does not address the needs of gifted students.
State Guidelines: Become familiar with your state laws, guidelines, and regulations. Start here, but realize that a good amount of that information is out of date. Click on your state to find links to the relevant state departments of education. Read the text of the regulations as they apply to your situation. Our state department of education is better than most in publishing the regulations, and it contains not just the regulations on gifted identification, the rules that the districts must follow in identifying, tracking, and serving, but also the rules on whole-grade and subject accelerations. Also important to us is that the state guidelines directly tackle the "maturity" issue in accelerations, directly stating that immaturity is not a barrier to subject acceleration, only whether or not the child is able to function i
My state does not require gifted services, but it does establish the process districts must follow if they do offer services. Some important information for me on subject accelerations, for instance, has been the delineation of which standardized tests my kids are to be taking. Because student performance on these tests is of primary important for the schools, it has helped that I could anticipate these issues, think through the implications, and offer my perspective. Other key information that can be attained at the state level is a list of tests that are acceptable for gifted identification and their cutoff scores. While my district has been reluctant to accept private testing on tests different than the ones the district uses, being able to point to the specific state guidelines has gotten results.
Local Guidelines: Once you are familiar with the state level guidelines, you need to read the district guidelines. Knowing the state rules here is important, because you’ll now know what you’re looking for! Our district regulations were on the website, filed under Administration -> Intervention services. I note, however, that this information is no longer there. At this point, a parent will have to contact the district to get that information. Going to the superintendent’s office will always work. In this district, a phone call there would direct me to the director of intervention services, who would send me the information.
Hmm, I should report that the gifted services information has disappeared from the website.