What to look for in a private school
Gifted and talented children are not well served by the traditional school system in the U.S. Traditional schools are limited by policies, funding, resources, or teacher time, training or specialization. There is a growing interest across the country to provide more opportunities for gifted and talented children to further investigate, explore and develop their unique interests, and help them develop careers that fulfill their potential.
Department of education: one size does not fit all
In order to address concerns about the lack of systematic and specific data regarding programs for gifted students, the U.S. Department of Education commissioned a study in 2014 to develop a national portrait of the current
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Schools need to educate students in the cultural realities of interdependence needed for global survival. Students who are racially, ethnically and linguistically different need opportunities to learn from each other. There is a cultural opportunity gap today that a good private school can help to close.
Curriculum and instruction should address academic, creative and artistic domains
The private school curriculum should emphasize advanced, conceptually challenging, in-depth, content within cognitive, aesthetic, social, and leadership domains.
Schools should use local, state and national standards in planning and aligning and expanding curriculum programs. They should offer instruction that is consistent and paced according to individual student learning rates.
The curriculum should not be set randomly but based on academic and creative research. Some schools use the Integrated Curriculum Model developed by Joyce Van Tassel-Baska. The model uses three levels of advanced content, higher level processes and product development, and interdisciplinary concepts, issues and
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These teachers need to express their own enthusiasm for learning. They need to stay informed and invested in their students’ success.
Teachers should participate regularly in research-supported professional development that addresses the foundations of gifted education. They should study the characteristics of gifted students and how to assess their growth and development.
They should plan their curricula to offer many ways to learn and create a pace that is appropriate for each student’s own learning rate. They should participate actively in the school program of immersive community support. A good private school has an exceptional staff devoted to gifted children.
Another thing to look at is student to teacher ratios. While an idealistic goal would be one-to-one, a more realistic goal would be twenty-to-one or less. The ratio should be much smaller for younger children who would benefit from more personalized