Dear Friends,
As many of you know, I enrolled in ASU’s Gifted Education master’s program in August of 2013. I have learned more than I ever imagined about our gifted kids, and their welfare and education have become my passion. I breathe it, I sleep it, I write it, and most important—I believe in it.
Gifted kids are a special breed. Caught between adult intellectual abilities and childlike social skills, they come to public education with complicated needs. Some are teacher pleasers, while others are so bored with what is being taught that they become disruptions in class. Some need accelerated teaching, while others crave slowing things down and digging deep into the core of complicated subjects.
Public education is in flux. Common Core State Standards, standardized testing, No Child Left Behind—it’s hard to know what is best in the classrooms. While MPS learners in the bottom 2% of the achievement scale (or two years behind grade level) are afforded government-funded special education, MPS elementary students in the top 2% (or two to four years ahead of grade level) are generally expected to adjust to grade-level curriculum in a program devoid of any financial support. The problem is that gifted kids aren’t gifted just once a week. They’re gifted all day, every day, and requiring a gifted child to slow down their learning process is as unfair to them as it is to require a student on the bottom of the scale to think at the pace of the fastest student—it isn’t mentally possible for either child.
MPS is the largest school district in the state, and while programs are in place that should address the needs of our gifted kids, these programs often fall short of the intended goals. Students and parents are deserting MPS (and public school altogether) as they desperately search for a program that will fit the unique needs of gifted kids. Other districts in the state have created programs that do serve these unique needs—even in these budget-conscious times. My dream is to turn things around—to make MPS the state’s standard for gifted education and meeting the needs of the gifted.
I’m here to tell you that it’s possible. I am putting together presentations for the Gifted Education Department’s curriculum and instruction administrators—including a plan to do the following: 1) formally evaluate the current program, 2) create a “vision committee” (a committee that includes parents) to discuss improvement, 3) increase teacher training and understanding of the gifted in their classes, 4) increase the amount of time gifted kids receive appropriate curriculum every day, with gifted programs in place at every school, and 5) provide individual gifted kids with the support and acceptance they need to reach their highest potential. While still in the beginning stages, my hope is that all will be in order so that I can present this information at the beginning of August.
I am asking for your help.
First and foremost, we need to get the attention of those in charge, and parents are the perfect people to do it. Who better understands the needs of our kids? Who better sees how these needs are currently not being met? Who better? There is no one better. As a group that will advocate for the special needs of gifted kids, we can be a strong voice for those who need to hear.
I have formed a group called For Mesa’s Gifted Kids that needs your support. If we can assemble a core group that is asking for change, then I hope the administration will listen. Starting with the tabs across the top of this page, please take the time to read through this website and sign the petition, adding your voice that MPS should reevaluate how our gifted kids’ needs are being met. More resources are located in the side bar.
Other districts in the valley have faced similar issues, and with the help of parents, school board members, and gifted education administrators, programs in districts like Paradise Valley, Gilbert, Tucson, and Deer Valley have become magnets for the gifted. As untenable as it may sound in the era of high stakes testing and No Child Left Behind, I know that this transformation is possible.
Jenny Denton
As many of you know, I enrolled in ASU’s Gifted Education master’s program in August of 2013. I have learned more than I ever imagined about our gifted kids, and their welfare and education have become my passion. I breathe it, I sleep it, I write it, and most important—I believe in it.
Gifted kids are a special breed. Caught between adult intellectual abilities and childlike social skills, they come to public education with complicated needs. Some are teacher pleasers, while others are so bored with what is being taught that they become disruptions in class. Some need accelerated teaching, while others crave slowing things down and digging deep into the core of complicated subjects.
Public education is in flux. Common Core State Standards, standardized testing, No Child Left Behind—it’s hard to know what is best in the classrooms. While MPS learners in the bottom 2% of the achievement scale (or two years behind grade level) are afforded government-funded special education, MPS elementary students in the top 2% (or two to four years ahead of grade level) are generally expected to adjust to grade-level curriculum in a program devoid of any financial support. The problem is that gifted kids aren’t gifted just once a week. They’re gifted all day, every day, and requiring a gifted child to slow down their learning process is as unfair to them as it is to require a student on the bottom of the scale to think at the pace of the fastest student—it isn’t mentally possible for either child.
MPS is the largest school district in the state, and while programs are in place that should address the needs of our gifted kids, these programs often fall short of the intended goals. Students and parents are deserting MPS (and public school altogether) as they desperately search for a program that will fit the unique needs of gifted kids. Other districts in the state have created programs that do serve these unique needs—even in these budget-conscious times. My dream is to turn things around—to make MPS the state’s standard for gifted education and meeting the needs of the gifted.
I’m here to tell you that it’s possible. I am putting together presentations for the Gifted Education Department’s curriculum and instruction administrators—including a plan to do the following: 1) formally evaluate the current program, 2) create a “vision committee” (a committee that includes parents) to discuss improvement, 3) increase teacher training and understanding of the gifted in their classes, 4) increase the amount of time gifted kids receive appropriate curriculum every day, with gifted programs in place at every school, and 5) provide individual gifted kids with the support and acceptance they need to reach their highest potential. While still in the beginning stages, my hope is that all will be in order so that I can present this information at the beginning of August.
I am asking for your help.
First and foremost, we need to get the attention of those in charge, and parents are the perfect people to do it. Who better understands the needs of our kids? Who better sees how these needs are currently not being met? Who better? There is no one better. As a group that will advocate for the special needs of gifted kids, we can be a strong voice for those who need to hear.
I have formed a group called For Mesa’s Gifted Kids that needs your support. If we can assemble a core group that is asking for change, then I hope the administration will listen. Starting with the tabs across the top of this page, please take the time to read through this website and sign the petition, adding your voice that MPS should reevaluate how our gifted kids’ needs are being met. More resources are located in the side bar.
Other districts in the valley have faced similar issues, and with the help of parents, school board members, and gifted education administrators, programs in districts like Paradise Valley, Gilbert, Tucson, and Deer Valley have become magnets for the gifted. As untenable as it may sound in the era of high stakes testing and No Child Left Behind, I know that this transformation is possible.
Jenny Denton
