Pizura

Lack of Differentiated Instruction for Gifted Students

Amie Pizura
DIFF 511
Tammy Martin
December 11th, 2014

Pizura
Abstract
With the law No Child Left Behind enacted in 2001, there has been a drastic
increase in the amount of funding schools have receive based on students who are not
meeting their grade level requirements. We have also seen many services created for
students who need the extra assistance, as well an increase in funding for students who
have disabilities. With all this focus on students who are performing below grade level,
students who have disabilities and using every means possible (assistive technology
devices, extra curriculum classes, aids); what happens our students who could potentially
become our next generations doctors, lawyers, congressmen, or even president?
According to the Department of Education, these students are classified as gifted or
talented and the ones who are being left behind.

Pizura
Introduction:
Designing curriculum for students can be a daunting task for any educator, it requires a lot
of preparation outside of the regular school hours. As educators it is our duty to create
curriculum that is engaging for all students, that is easier said than done. In todays
classroom teachers can be faced with a range of students needs and abilities from year to
year. Most subject areas teachers allow implement alternative projects as a way of
differentiating, based on student cognitive levels. Taylor-Cox (2011) found that in
differentiated instruction can be a powerful way to ensure that all students learn (p. 1).
Since differentiating instruction is a relatively new idea (Why and How to Differentiate
Math Instruction, p.1), the hope is that differentiating instruction is going to begin to reach
all students, especially gifted students and not just those students who are in the middle.
Purpose: What must be in place to motivate teachers to differentiate their instruction to
meet the needs of gifted students?
Rationale: This is an important question because as educators it is important that we
learn why differentiating instruction will benefit our gifted students outcomes on learning
and ways that will make gifted students more engaged.
Stance: The stance of this research paper is, that every child no matter what their
academic strengths and weaknesses are should feel like their needs are being met.
Meeting these needs can be as simple as differentiating the curriculum so that gifted and
talented students are engaged more than just asking how their day is going, they need to
feel like they are being challenged in many ways.
Literature Review:
Who are gifted Students:

Pizura
Defining giftedness has always be a discussion that has never received an answer; there
has been a consensus that the definition does range from conservation, which focused on
high intelligence and the top 1% of the population as measured by IQ tests to more
inclusive definitions which include multiple abilities, creativity, and contributions to
society; and comprised the top 20% of the population (Rivard, paragraph 1). Within the
population the top 3 to 5 percent are the ones who are thought to be gifted, which means
that population is cut down even smaller to how many gifted students are in schools across
America today. For an individual to be considered gifted their IQ test must range from
130-160+. If a student has scored above 130 teachers need to recognize their students
potential for what their accomplishments really can be and advance their curriculum to fit
their unique needs. All individuals who demonstrate above average general abilities or
specific talents, and whose potential for accomplishment is so exceptional or
developmentally advanced, require special provisions to meet their unique needs (Rivard,
paragraph 3). How do we as educators determine that we have a gifted/talented student in
our classroom? Identifying signs of giftedness is not an exact science (Rivard, paragraph
9), many educators will look at standardized tests, IQ tests, teacher observations, as well
as parent input. But the IQ test still remains the main predictor to determine if a student is
gifted or not. Educators also look at the characteristics of what makes a gifted student a
gifted student.
Characteristics
When an individual hears that a student is gifted, many minds begin to ask, how do they
know a child is gifted? Their standardized tests and IQ scores as been conducted which is
an indicator of giftedness, but do gifted children have different characteristics than an

Pizura
average student? There are many different areas were a student is classified as gifted;
students can be classified as gifted in athletics, music, academics, art, etc. According to
several articles Special Needs Technology Assessment Resource Support (START) and
Macomb Intermediate School DistrictGifted Education both state that gifted students
are able to learn more rapidly and easily then their peers, gifted students know about many
different topics that their peers might be unaware of and are able to retain that information.
Several characteristics were similar in both articles of characteristics of gifted students;
independent, self-motivated in learning, high degree of responsibility, strong sense of
justice, they are perseveres who do not give up easily (STAR, p. 30, & Rivard, paragraph
6). Why is it that students who are gifted have these specific characteristics; children who
are not gifted academically might have some similar characteristics in a specific area i.e.
athletics, about an animal, cars, music, etc. Educators know that students all have their
own unique strengths and weaknesses, and this applies for gifted students as well. There
are no two individuals who are alike; everyone has different traits that make each
individual who they are. These characteristics that are described within these two articles
are characteristics that have been continuously documented traits that gifted students have.
With these characteristics it is leading to students needing specific requirements from
teachers and their school. It is important that all educators who have a gifted student in
their regular education classroom be aware of all of their characteristics because by
knowing what characteristics gifted students have will allow for growth for a gifted
student. It will allow students to grow themselves by honing in on their own
characteristics. Educators need to also begin to conduct research on what their gifted
students need to make the student successful in and out of the classroom.

Pizura
Needs
Students who are gifted and talented are students are typically who excel in math and
science, why because the characteristics that most gifted and talented students show are
able to solve critical thinking problems and are good at memorizing information. How as
educators do we meet the needs of gifted students in our classroom? Gifted students need
choice, they need to be able to express themselves in different strengths, but at the same
time teachers need to also influence students on working on their weaknesses as well.
Gifted students have needs just like every other student does; their needs might not be as
drastic as a student who has a disability but everyone has needs. VanTassel-Baska (2005)
quotes educators must be aware of the challenged in differentiating effectively for gifted
learners to overcome (p. 212) their specific needs. Within all the articles it clearly states
that if the educational experiences of mathematically talented children do not maximize
their potential (Benbow, p. 216) they will begin to loose their drive for where they are
gifted in, and students who are also gifted in science are beginning to loose interests.
There are also students who are gifted and have learning disabilities as well, and these
students are sometimes classified as doubly at risk, because most educators will see that
the gifted students has only a disability instead of working with both disability and their
giftedness. Reis (2005), quotes too often, academically talented students with learning
disabilities and learning problems fail to achieve at levels commensurate with their
potential (p. 148). Why is it that educators begin to focus on their students disability
instead of focusing on their giftedness? Most of the disabilities that gifted students have
tend to be placed in the category of LD students (Beckley, paragraph 6). With students
who are twice exceptional they begin to feel shy and begin to perceive themselves as less

Pizura
effective in school; their academics begin to decrease and not fit in with their peers. A
twice-exceptional student is one who experiences special educational programming to
accommodate one or more handicapping conditions while also promoting the students
potential for exceptional achievement in one or more areas in which they may be gifted
(Beckley, paragraph 6). It is especially important to remember, twice exceptional
students need an environment that will nurture their gifts while attending to their learning
disability (Beckley, paragraph 6). How can our educators help these brilliant minds of
today?
Curriculum
Deciding how to design curriculum for gifted and talented students can be a daunting task
for any educator. Many article state that curriculum and instruction for gifted learners
should be a response to their learning capacities (Tomlison, p. 160). This is true for any
learner but gifted students especially because no single formula or template for
constructing curriculum and instruction will serve all gifted students. Within the group of
gifted learners there are learners who are more advanced than other gifted learners, there
are students whose personal economic support system that can encourage their every
opportunity and then there are students who might have the same potential but no support
system. We know curriculum (what students learn) and instruction (how they learn it)
should work in tandem to ensure that each student is consistently engaged with highquality ideas and processes (Tomlison, p. 161), and it should be changed to fit the needs
of gifted and talented learners through depth or enrichment (Atterbury, p. 47). There are
many effective ways to create an enriched curriculum for a gifted student;

Pizura
focus squarely on the essential facts, concepts, principles, skills
and attitudesprovide opportunity for students to understand
clearly and in depth how the essential information, concepts,
principles, and skills workengage the students affectively and
cognitively place students at the center of learning and address
the reality that different students will learn in different ways, at
different paces, and will manifest different interestshas a product
focusguide students in developing their capacities as thinkers and
their awareness of their capacities as thinkersis it relevant to
students livessupport students in developing skills, tools,
attitudes, and process to become increasingly independent learners
(Tomlison, p. 161-162).
Of course there are many other ways that curriculum can be enriched for a gifted student,
it can be enriched through acceleration, differentiate the curriculum to fit each need for all
the gifted students (if they are in a gifted program) (Atterbury, p. 49). Knowing that there
are no two students alike each gifted student will have a different pace that their
curriculum is taught. But, with gifted learners accelerating the pace of insipid curriculum
only serves the purpose of allowing them to escape more rapidly from something that
they should not be acceptable in the first place (Tomlison, p. 163). It is important to
remember, highly able learners, like all learners, can only grow when they are stretched
(Tomlison, p. 165). No matter what type of educator you are if you want to be accepted as
a gifted and talented educator you must learn to speak the language (Atterbury, p. 49)

Pizura
and by stepping out of your comfort zone it demonstrates that as an educator you are
willing to expand and teach methods to help a gifted student succeed.
Assessments and Grading:
Through education teachers must find ways to measure what students know or have
learned, and assessments have been what educators used. Educators know that the
development of differentiated instruction should begin with the identification of big ideas
and key objectives for a lesson or small unit (Peshek, p. 45). Once the key objectives
have been established deciding what assessments will be used is typically the next step
educators take. Assessments come in two types, formative and summative. Formative
assessments look at what do students know (Peshek, p. 47). Gaining information about
student learning as it is occurring in order to make instructional decisions is known as
formative assessment (Peshek, p. 47). Educators typically use formative assessments in
forms of; homework, classroom discussions, ungraded quizzes, ticket out the door, etc.
The second type of assessment that can be used in differentiated instruction is summative
assessments which is how are grades assigned (Peshek, p. 48). Summative assessments
are when students are formally evaluated to determine their advancement towards the class
objectives. Educators can use summative assessments in many different ways; tests,
presentations, projects or anything that a student will receive a letter grade for. Rubrics
are a great tool for summative assessment grading, because students can visually see what
they are being graded on and what they need to focus on to sustain mastery. Summative
assessments are used to help establish where educators go next in their teaching.
Differentiating assessments becomes challenging for educators because differentiating
instruction focuses on the big idea, while assessments are looking for mastery of an

Pizura
objective or state/national standards. Educators can use differentiated instruction
throughout units of mathematics, teaching students how to use different strategies or
manipulative to help students understand concepts. As far as assessments allow students
to practice those strategies that they have learned on their assessments, or if a project is
required allow students the choice of how they present the information they have acquired.
Differentiated instruction provides one method of meeting students needs equitably.
Differentiated instruction does not, however, offer a quick or simple solution for the issues
associated with equity (Peshek, p. 50). The assessment tool should become the base of
how educators begin to improve all students learning, if educators carefully use
assessments to ensure that theneeds of students in the classroom are met and quality
learning takes place for all, efforts toward the achievement of equity can be considered
successful (Peshek, p. 50).
What do teachers need to do
Teachers in many states across the country are struggling to understand the needs of their
gifted students who come into their classrooms. Out of the 50 states 24 of the states
(including DC) have a gifted programming that is mandated and partially funded by the
states, while other states have different gifted programming that range from; gifted
programs that are mandated and fully funded by the state (6 states), to gifted programming
that not mandated with no funding available (9 states, including New York). With having
minimal funding provided by each state for students who are gifted it begins puts great
tension on educators, and many begin to question how they will be able to teach these
gifted children while still giving their best to the rest of the classroom (Hoagie). Bruce
Shore and Cindy Kaizer (1989) have conducted multiple studies that trained teachers

10

Pizura
who can better identify gifted children than untrained teachers (p. 74). Having trained
teachers allows for schools to begin understanding the characteristics, how to create
assessments that will be valid to show that a child is gifted, also teachers are more
supportive of the gifted students and programs, and trained teachers begin to teach in ways
they did not know before. There are many different ways an educator can become trained
in gifted education, through their bachelors degree, masters degree, in certificates or
diplomas, in preservice settings or in inservice courses during employment (Shore, p.
76). Even through all of this training and education educators acquire they sometimes
begin to feel threatened by these young minds because they might simply have a plethora
of knowledge on a specific subject than they do. Shore (1989) states gifted pupils
depend upon the honesty, maturity, humor, and personal development of a teacher (p.
75). As many schools across the country do not receive funding for gifted education many
classroom teachers are faced with gifted students in their classrooms. The way regular
classroom teachers can make sure that all their students needs are being met is by;
differentiation of instruction and grouping (Hoagie, paragraph 4). There are pullout
programs that gifted students can participate in that will challenge the student more than
they would be with differentiated instruction inside their regular classroom. Within the
pullout programs there will additional gifted students who all begin to challenge one
another in the content area (Hoagie). With all the special training educators can endure
how will they begin to make their own classrooms diverse for gifted learners?
Interview
After conducting extensive research about gifted students, their characteristics, how
educators need to create enriching curriculum that fits their needs and what technology

11

Pizura
devices could best fit a gifted student an interview process was conducted. The interview
was conducted on a young boy who is in 5th grade and who is gifted. He comes from a
very small town in upstate New York, where he lives with his Mom, Dad and little sister.
The interview questions consisted of asking his parents; What are your sons strengths and
weaknesses in school and out of school, do you think that teachers could be doing more to
help your son succeed in class, do you feel like your son is missing out on information in
school and do you think that there is a device out there that might help your son become
more successful in school? The responses that were received from the parents were very
informative, especially how his teachers provided him with advanced learning
opportunities. His parents did mention that it would be nice if he could have advanced
learning opportunities, but they know coming from a small school that it is very rare that
he had two out of his six teachers already implementing as much additional opportunities
as possible for their son. Both parents and child answered the question about
implementing the use of the Internet to help him become more successful. The gifted
childs response was maybe using the internet to practice more and learn, while the
parents wanted to see if he could explore additional learning opportunities; like a
computer software that would allow their son to interact with distance learning classrooms
which would fit where is strengths are (creative writing, math, science, and
memorization). His parents did state that school has come easy to him and luckily he has
not run into a teacher who has sucked his love for learning out of him, and he does not see
learning something he already knows as a waste of time.
Interviewing this family it was clear to see that this student needs to be engaged in
advanced programs. Since this young man is advanced in math Hoagies has a wide range

12

Pizura
of many different subjects for students ranging from art, theater, music, to young kids.
Hoagies can be used for either student or educator in ways that they can go and search
more information about a specific topic they are interested in. Since this young man is
also interested in math, and science having virtual reality for science would allow him to
expand his mind. Virtual Reality (VR) is a program that provide visual and kinesthetic
experiences within the confines of the classroom that would not otherwise be available.
Students strap on special goggles connected to a data glove, which provides a three
dimensional environment simulation of real life (START, p 32). This would be a great
technology tool for social studies, and science by allowing the student to see what actually
happened in our countries history or science book instead of seeing 2D pictures in a
textbook. A technology tool for math that could be recommended could be a productive
tool; databases, spreadsheets, graphics programs and multimedia programs enable
students to organize, create and evaluate their own work (START, p. 31). His parents did
say that their son loves to make math sheets for them to figure out so using these
technology tools would allow their son to become more creative and expand his mind
through math problems. Overall I believe that this young boy would most benefit from
distant education technologies. These technologies bring important opportunities to
students, especially to those in rural communities. Students meet at community sites
where there are cable or satellite receivers, phone lines and video cameras providing one
or two way audio/video links to the course instructor. For schools in remote areas this
may be the only means for a student to take an advanced course (START, p. 31).
Conclusion:

13

Pizura
Differentiation is not a strategy but rather a way of teaching that accommodates
differences among children so that all are learning on an ongoing basis (Roberts, p. 2).
With all the research that is being conducted, educators are beginning to find the support
that they need to educate themselves on how to create a successful learning environment
for gifted, talented and twice exceptional students. Gifted students have a lot to offer our
classrooms today and by stifling their education to the bare minimum is almost degrading
to the student and their families. Challenging their minds will also begin to challenge
educators in ways that they might have never thought they would be challenged. Creating
an enriched curriculum is not only going to drastically benefit gifted and talented students
but it will also stretch students who are in the regular education classroom as well.
Students are like sponges they will soak up any information you place in front of them,
engage their learning, make it hands on, require the students to step outside of their
comfort zone and push themselves to become our next generations doctors, lawyers, and
congressmen. Jean Piaget a famous psychologist quoted; The principle goal of education
in the schools should be creating men and woman who are capable of doing new things,
not simply repeating what other generations have done (1896-1980).

References

14

Pizura
Atterbury, B. W, (1990). Speaking the "Gifted and Talented" Language: The Key to Program
Success. Music Educators Journal. Vol. 76 (No. 7), pp.46-49
Beckley, D. (1998). Gifted and Learning Disabled: Twice Exceptional Students. [ONLINE]
Available at:
http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/newsletter/spring98/sprng984.html. [Last
Accessed 18, November 2014].
Benbow, C. P., Arjmand, O., and Walberg, H. J., (1991). Educational Productivity Predictors
among Mathematically Talented Students. The Journal of Educational Research.
Vol. 84 (No 4), pp.215-22
Carolyn, K. (2014). Hoagies' Gifted Education Page. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org. [Last Accessed e.g. 31 August 11].
Peshek, S., (2012). Assessment and Grading in a Differentiated Mathematics Classroom. Ohio
Journal of School Mathematics. 65, pp.45-50.
Reis, S. M., and Ruban, L. (2005). Services and Programs for Academically Talented
Students with Learning Disabilities. Theory into Practice. 44 (No. 2), pp.148-159
Roberts, J. L., Inman, T. F. (2013). Teacher's Survival Guide: Differentiated instruction in the
elementary classrooms. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.prufrock.com/Assets/ClientPages/pdfs/TSG_Diff_Elem_Sample.pdf. [Last
Accessed 30, November 2014].
Shore, B., M & Kaizer, C., (1989). The Training of Teachers for Gifted Pupils. Canadian
Journal of Education. 14 (No. 1), pp.74-87

15

Pizura
Special Needs Technology Assessment Resource Support Team (START (1996). Meeting the
Needs of Exceptionally Able Students. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.nsnet.org/start/exception.pdf. [Last Accessed 31, October, 2014].
Taylor-Cox, J. (n/a). Differentiating Mathematics Instruction so Everyone Learns. [ONLINE]
Available at: https://www.mheonline.com/glencoemath/pdf/diffentiating_math.pdf.
[Last Accessed 30, November 2014]
Tomlinson, C., A., (2005). Quality Curriculum and Instruction for Highly Able Students.
Theory into Practice. 44 (No. 2), pp.160-166
Van Tassel-Baska, J. & Stambaugh, T., (2005). Challenges and Possibilities for Serving
Gifted Learners in the Regular Classroom. Theory into Practice. 44 (No. 3), pp.211217

16