ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 15, 1997 TAG: 9704150048
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Reporter's Notebook
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE
What does it mean to be challenged?
Does it mean developing your own goals or following strict guidelines? Can children be more challenged if grouped with others of equal intelligence or do they excel in a group of mixed abilities and talents?
Will the parents of some gifted children and the Montgomery County School system ever reach an agreement on these questions?
More than 70 people who attended a gifted education discussion last week say "yes, probably." But even that took a long time in coming, and it may take some philosophical shifting to reach a consensus.
For the past two years, these two groups have fought a sometimes visibly bitter battle over how gifted students are taught, particularly in middle schools.
Armed with data they say proved many children weren't performing up to their potential, parents of gifted children criticized the schools for dumbing down their kids.
School administrators met with parents and worked through their own data. Gifted programming could use some work, they said, but students of all abilities are generally being challenged.
The debate continued, over the Internet, within group meetings, during School Board meetings. Slowly, the groups tried to mend some bridges by learning about each other.
This winter, teachers at Blacksburg Middle School began meeting as a group with any parent who wanted to attend. They sit in the library once a month, chairs in a circle, and discuss everything from teaching methods to parenting strategies.
(Many eyes have focused on Blacksburg Middle School, where a whopping 30 percent of the pupils have a gifted label. The national average is roughly 2 percent, but definitions vary from system to system. In Montgomery County, pupils who show creativity or simply a strong interest in math or English may be considered gifted.)
Last week, that kind of open discussion was extended countywide. Crowding around tables at a Christiansburg restaurant, parents and educators analyzed and critiqued just about every aspect of learning in Montgomery County.
Most people at the meeting agreed to several things vital to sparking challenge. They included small class sizes, a more specific definition of what "gifted" means, a better way to identify children, more training for teachers and more mentors for pupils.
But one core issue still teeters on that bridge, even after all this discussion: whether middle school pupils should be grouped by ability level. Some parents worry their child will grow bored by a curriculum geared toward the average learner. Middle school, they say, should be the time to begin separating kids based on learning abilities.
But most educators in Montgomery County believe every child - from the severely disabled to the exceptionally bright - should be included in a regular classroom. Middle school should be a time to learn team work and social skills where kids can work together, they argue. With the help of lesson plans that differentiate for various students, kids can learn to challenge themselves to do their absolute best.
In the next year, the school system will redesign its plan for gifted education in the county, a document with the potential to mend more bridges. And while the committee of parents and educators designing it has reached a good deal of consensus already, it - along with the county in general - has some soul searching to do about what it means to have a challenging education.
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