Bringing Out The Best In Our Brightest: Educating Gifted Children In Pennsylvania

Many parents make the unfortunate assumption that their child's school will tell them if their child is gifted and will provide them with guidance as to the educational needs of their child. The sad truth is that many gifted children are missed by the school system. A child who enters school already knowing the material to be taught may become bored, frustrated, act out, or otherwise exhibit behaviors that effectively mask his or her innate intelligence and creativity. Popular myth maintains that gifted children, by virtue of their gifts, will do just fine on their own. The reality is that gifted children need instruction beyond the regular curriculum in order to develop to their potential in much the same way as special needs children. Without specially designed instruction and academic challenge these children may "drop out" mentally and become underachievers.

Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.D., describes the "typical" gifted child as a "walking argument." Born lawyers, gifted children tend to argue with everyone about everything, use logic and reasoning, constantly ask questions and often challenge authority. According to Silverman, "giftedness is asynchronous development in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm." This means that gifted children develop in an uneven manner, that they are more complex and intense than other children their age, that they feel out-of-sync with age peers and "age appropriate curriculum." A gifted child may be physically 6 years old, mentally on par with the average 10-year-old, yet emotionally only as mature as a normal 4-year-old. These differing levels of development must be addressed in parenting, counseling and teaching in order to appropriately meet the needs of the gifted child.

Historically, education rights for gifted and talented children in Pennsylvania were included in PA Code Title 22 (Pennsylvania School Code) in Chapter 14 and Chapter 342 provisions for education of children with disabilities and special needs. However, effective December 9, 2000, the State Board of Education deleted the gifted education provisions of Chapters 14 and 342 and added a new Chapter 16 to separately address the educational needs of gifted children. The Board's stated intent was to draw a clear distinction between gifted education required by the Commonwealth and special education required under Federal law. At this time there is no federally mandated gifted education, although a bill to provide grants to state educational agencies for the development or expansion of gifted and talented education is presently pending in the House.

The Pennsylvania School Code defines "mentally gifted" as "outstanding intellectual and creative ability the development of which requires specially designed programs or support services, or both, not ordinarily provided in the regular education program." The Code requires that each school district adopt a system to "locate and identify" students thought to be gifted.

Under the Code, criteria for determining gifted ability include:

1. An IQ of 130 or higher.
2. Standardized test results indicating a year or more above grade achievement level in one or more subjects.
3. An observed or measure rate of acquisition/retention of new academic content or skills that reflect gifted ability.
4. Demonstrated achievement, performance or expertise in one or more academic areas.
5. Early and measured use of high level thinking skills, academic creativity, leadership skills, intense academic interest areas, communications skills, foreign language aptitude or technology expertise.

Determination of gifted ability cannot be based on IQ score alone, thus a child with an IQ score of less than 130 may be admitted to the gifted program if other criteria indicate gifted ability.

If you believe your child may be gifted, you have the right to request that your child be evaluated. It is not necessary to wait and see if the school recommends evaluation. In fact, you can request evaluation as often as once per school term. Children are assessed through a "Gifted Multidisciplinary Evaluation" that typically includes an individual IQ test administered by a certified school psychologist. Input is also requested from the child’s teachers and parents.

Once a child is identified as gifted, the Code requires the school district to provide education for the gifted student "which is based on the unique needs of the student, not solely on the student's classification." Similar to special education, the core component of gifted education is the development of a Gifted Individualized Education Program or "GIEP". The GIEP is a written plan for the education of the gifted student that contains a statement of the student’s current levels of academic performance, annual goals, and the specially designed instruction and support services to be provided to the student. The GIEP must be individualized to meet the educational needs of the student and "reasonably calculated to yield meaningful educational benefit and student progress."

As with special education, an impartial due process hearing is available if parents disagree with the school district's identification, evaluation or placement of, or the provision of a gifted education to the student.

Each step of the process (evaluation, identification, implementation of a GIEP, and due process hearing) requires parental notification and consent and encourages parental involvement. The importance of parental involvement cannot be stressed enough. It is ultimately the parents' responsibility to ensure that their child's individual needs are met. Indeed, while the gifted education programs in Pennsylvania provide for special instruction to the best and brightest students, these programs have inherent limits.

Case law has held that while schools have a duty to provide individualized education beyond mere enrichment programs offered by the district, the law does not authorize individual tutors or programs beyond the existing curricular offerings of the school district. Thus, while the courts recognize that the "one size fits all" approach is not necessarily appropriate with gifted children, limits remain on how far the school will be required to go in order to adequately challenge and develop the potential of these children. Centennial School District v. Dept. of Education, 539 A.2d 785 (1988); Brownsville Area School District v. Student X, 729 A.2d 198 (1999).