Hi! From Canada....where does "gifted" fit into the US system?

Parents Forum
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<p>Hi, neighbours, I am from Ontario Canada and recently came across this site thank goodness as I am learning so much about the American system! I now know all about "hooks" "safeties" "SAT vs ACT" "legacies" "EA" and so forth, and I am still eager to learn more, hence the question.</p>

<p>My son is currently in grade 11 and is in both the french immersion and gifted programs in his high school. Here in Ontario, kids who show high intelligence go through testing (Whesl. 4 IQ test) and those that score in the top 2 percentile (just like Mensa) can go into the "gifted" program. This often starts in grade 4 and kids get bused to feeder schools that offer the enriched and special needs courses. Since my son was tested well after being in french immersion (starts in senior K), we felt it more important for him to stay in french immersion as the gifted program/french immersion were mutually exclusive and he could not do both. In high school he can take both, which he has for the last 2.5 years.</p>

<p>Gifted programs have a different learning modality, but the tests and exams are the same as the regular courses. I am not entirely convinced "gifted" programs are superior or an advantage, as my son has only been in the system for the last 2.5 years. </p>

<p>From my research into the US system, I don't readily see a similar program - does one exist? We also have some AP courses - not necessarily offered within the regular high school system, so I know gifted is not the same as AP. In any event, I am trying to determine how the gifted programs are evaluated for US schools. I suspect the same.</p>

<p>Many thanks in advance, or as my Ojibway grandparents would say, "Chi-Meegwetch".</p>

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<p>While younger students in the US may be put in “gifted” classes or experiences, that usually ends with the start of high school. In high school, the “gifted” kids are just expected to take honors, AP courses, and the most rigorous courses offered. Many of these kids will also pursue college credits during high school through dual enrollment if available. Then, maybe they score perfect 4.0 or better GPAs, 2400 on the SAT, etc, and get into IVY’s, but not always. Many gifted kids may also not like testing, take a gap year and not go to college, decide to study a trade, or whatever. A few might go to college while in elementary or middle school, but that is rare, some may home school, some may un-school, and some may not have the money to attend college and work.</p>

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<p>Our system isn’t that cohesive. There very well may be high schools like you describe, but I don’t know of them. Usually, gifted students feed their needs with extra-curriculars, summer programs, AP/IB, grade skips, and/or dual enrollment. Recent laws have stressed bring all children up to standards, and those combined with budget cuts often make the gifted programs go away.</p>

<p>There are more gifted programs in the younger grades, before IB/AP/dual enrollment are available, but they vary in quality and prevalence as well.</p>

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<p>There is no unified program for gifted and talented education in the US–such things are determined on a state-by-state and sometimes local level. Some states provide funding for gifted education while others have unfunded mandates. Programs range from fantastic to nonexistent. If you are interested in a state-by-state comparison you can find it at [NAGC</a> - Gifted By State - Gifted by State](<a href=“http://www.nagc.org/DataMapbyState.aspx]NAGC”>http://www.nagc.org/DataMapbyState.aspx)</p>

<p>Personally I find it amazing that we (the US) as a society don’t feel it is important to invest in the education of our brightest students. I have no problem with helping those with disabilities or challenges, but nurturing the gifted kids would have such a huge payoff in terms of eventual benefits to society.</p>

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<p>It varies a lot between different schools. Some use IQ test cutoffs, but the IQ test is not standard- some may use Wechsler, some may use OLSAT or various other tests. The cutoff IQ may vary between different states, school districts. Some programs may use scoring in a certain percentile on a standardized test. Some seem to be based on how much the student’s parents push to get them into the program. </p>

<p>Testing may begin in elementary school and programs may be enrichment, acceleration or something else. By high school, there tend to be fewer gifted programs, but there are honors and AP classes. There are public schools where students have to pass a test to be admitted ( some of the better known ones in the US are Bronx High School of Science, Stuyvesant, and Thomas Jefferson). Many private schools also require admissions tests. These types of schools may also offer a more accelerated curriculum. </p>

<p>Some families also do gifted programs on their own such as EPGY or CTY. So, in general there is no standard path for gifted education.</p>

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<p>I believe that Gifted Education is better protected by law in Canada than in the U.S., starting from the Special Education laws in each country. As I recall, Canadian law listed Giftedness along with a long list of disabilities, and required provinces to provide education services for the entire list.</p>

<p>As Americans, when we lived in Ontario and sent our children through public schools there, we discovered all that. I am not sure whether these were provincial or federal laws, but this certainly made local school boards in Ontario very alert to providing some form of Gifted services. Some boards were more extensive than others. When provincial budgets were strained, the strongest programs in the province had to fight for their lives at hearings.</p>

<p>We lived in two cities of Ontario, and enjoyed congregated gifted all-day classrooms with bus into the center of the city, starting in Grade One. For Grade Five, more children were tested across the city, resulting in more children served at decentralized congregated gifted classrooms located a bit closer to their home addresses.</p>

<p>I regretted that we had to decide at age 6 between (all day) French Immersion versus Gifted Education in English. We made the trade-off, and appreciated that Gifted programs at least taught “Core French” for an hour daily, same as all regular education programs. </p>

<p>Gifted elementary programs in many American schools are the “pull-out” model, where students are tested and, if qualified, might be taken out of the regular class several times weekly for special projects. Sometimes this is with an itinerant Gifted Education teacher who serves several schools. </p>

<p>Americans - especially in some big cities – may have more options at Middle and High School levels, as noted above (magnet academic schools, special STEM high schools with entry exams, performing arts schools by auditiion).</p>

<p>The congregated gifted classroom model at a young age is more unusual here. And I doubt anything equals the language strength that those French Immersion programs provide for an officially bilingual country. If you had some of both, you can take pride in your education thus far!</p>

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<p>Thanks, meegwetch, my northern neighbors. Our systems are not that similar, but not that different and I thank you for that useful info. I do love to learn, and yes I am learning alot . I know, my son will be educated a lot further than I, I just hope (like you) he finds good employment prospects along the way. Smiles from Canada!</p>