The state of Florida has an excellent program for gifted and exceptional students, K-12, not least due to the work of Florida’s Association for the Gifted (2011). This program is comprehensive and needs comprehensive explanation as to its goals, intents and functions.
The mission, as stated by the Florida Association for the Gifted (2010), is to bolster “the proficiency of all students within one seamless, efficient system, by providing them with the opportunity to expand their knowledge and skills through learning opportunities and research valued by students, parents, and communities, and to maintain an accountability system that measures student progress toward the following goals: Highest student achievement; Seamless articulation and maximum access; Skilled workforce and economic development; Quality efficient services”. This is connected to a broader vision. American students are in many ways falling behind world students, even Chinese and Indian students. India in particular is graduating more science students than even the EU and China (D-Sector, 2009)! The United States needs to close its educational achievement gap. However, to do so will require funding and providing resources so that gifted students don’t languish in boredom, ahead of their classmates and having no resources to continue to advance. The vision of Plan B or Plan II, which is a Pre K-20 plan that aims to guide gifted students from the entrance to the school system out through graduate school and has been codified by state legislative mandates such as Section 1003.01, Section 1003.21 and Section 1012.42, is to create a means to qualitatively transform the nature of Florida schools so that they are fit for 21st century education.
All students need special attention and care. But gifted students who, for whatever reason (whether it be innate intelligence or highly educated parents who make sure to augment their child’s education with home teaching and tutors), are ahead in educational indicators and progress of other students, need a particular kind of special attention and care. In some ways, they need just as much special guidance as do under-performing students; indeed, gifted students can often rebel, get into trouble or see grades drop because they become detached and bored! Plan B tries to fix that problem and head that risk off preemptively by making sure that gifted students get the resources and attention they need.
Plan B defines a gifted student as “one who has superior intelligence and is capable of high academic performance” (Florida Association for the Gifted, 2010, 8). This is ascertained by evaluation measures such as standardized testing and, ideally, counseling.
Plan B begins at the district level. “Each district will develop a plan for meeting the needs of students who are gifted” (Florida Association for the Gifted, 2010, 9). It distinguishes itself from other Gifted programs like GATE by focusing not only on cognitive and educational needs but also social and emotional needs of gifted students. Gifted students are often picked on or misunderstood because of their talents. And many suffer in developing social skills. Plan B tries to rectify that. There are six steps for each district’s implementation: The Mission Statement, which offers a specialized focus for that district; Identification, wherein districts create their standards and mechanisms to find gifted students; Placement and Development of the Educational Plan, where those gifted students are actually placed in honors classes and programs and given a special educational plan; Service Delivery, which involves not only normal classroom instruction but also creating instructional materials specifically for the Plan B programs and providing logistical and institutional support such as counseling; Personnel Preparation, where teachers and administrators throughout the system are given the tools to identify and teach students and have professional development provided; and Parent and Community Involvement, where the district spells out expectations for involvement from the community and provides means for that involvement. This plan should not be created in a top-down, opaque fashion but should involve constant community involvement through PTAs, Boosters, etc.
Students may begin to be nominated and evaluated for participation through several means. Standardized testing may suggest them to become part of the program. Like all gifted programs, students may enter or leave the program at any time throughout the course and do not have to be committed into it at a particular age. Parents, teachers, school personnel, coaches, community members, extended family, and students themselves or their peers may nominate a student for participation. This means that nomination standards should be easily available through pamphlets, at orientation meetings and on the school website. Students are then screened into the program through a per-district policy that should include some or all of the following: Grades and GPA, teacher recommendations, portfolios of work such as art or sculpture, prior standardized tests, a specific standardized test made in a proprietary fashion for the particular Plan B, behavioral and trait lists, Kingore’s Inventory, the Gifted Evaluation Scale, the Gifted Rating Scale, etc.
With this program instituted, Florida’s schools should see a development of their best students so that the best students do not take resources for lower-performing children and do not see their potential squandered.
Works Cited
D-Sector (2009). India has more science graduates than in US, EU or China. Web.
Florida Association for the Gifted (2011). Home Page. Web.
Florida Association for the Gifted (2010). Florida’s State Plan for the Education of the Gifted. Web.