Jan Davidson's low cost suggestions for improving education

When Dr. Jan Davidson spoke this week in Madison, she shared with her audience of parents, teachers, and administrators 12 low cost ideas for improving the educational opportunities of our academically advanced students.

What can schools do?

What can schools -- schools that don’t have extra funds, but really care about the learning of their bright students -- do?

1. Early Entrance to kindergarten -- if a child is developmentally ready before the age or date specified, she can enter school early.

2. Pre-assessments are done before a unit or a course -- if a student demonstrates mastery, he is able to move to a more advanced course.

3. Self-contained classes for the gifted, particularly in core curriculum subjects.

4. Multi-age, self-contained gifted classes are even more effective.

5. Subject acceleration is encouraged when a student is proficient in a particular subject.

6. Grade acceleration is encouraged when a student demonstrates proficiency in a particular grade level.

7. Opportunities for dual enrollment are available to students, e.g., taking some high school courses when a student is in middle school.

8. Advanced Placement (AP) courses and/or International Baccalaureate (IB) program are available to students.

9. Provide counselors who are trained to counsel gifted students, including advising them of talent development opportunities.

10. Work with the Talent Searches and give students credit for the credits they earn in their academic summer programs.

11. Create a school culture that values intellectual discovery and achievement, where students encourage one another to accomplish more than they would on their own.

12. Administrators and teachers who are knowledgeable about the wide range of exceptional abilities among bright students and are flexible in addressing the individual student’s learning needs.

Dr. Davidson will be posting her lecture slides online at the Genius Denied website

Posted by Jeff Henriques at October 14, 2005 9:46 AM
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