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Gifted-education advisory committee urges daily intervention groups, more teacher planning time and larger clusters
Summary
The Gifted Education Advisory Committee delivered a written report to the board recommending use of daily intervention time for gifted services, prioritized planning time for classroom teachers and advanced learning specialists, and larger cluster sizes (5–10 students).
The Gifted Education Advisory Committee (GIAC) presented its annual report to the Harrisonburg school board and submitted three implementation-focused recommendations: use existing daily intervention time for direct gifted services, prioritize regular planning time for classroom teachers who teach clusters of identified gifted students to meet with advanced learning specialists, and increase average gifted cluster sizes to roughly five to 10 students.
Nate Bernstein, chair of GIAC, and staff described the committee’s process: four meetings over the year, analysis of screening and achievement data (including MAP and SOL measures), teacher surveys about confidence with gifted differentiation, and consultation with advanced learning specialists. The committee recommended that intervention groups be composed of identified gifted students and ‘‘talent development’’ students and be planned and led by advanced learning specialists.
GIAC also recommended that principals and scheduling teams prioritize cluster placement during master-schedule creation so teachers who instruct clusters have time to plan with specialists. The committee said research supports clusters of roughly five to 10 students as an effective group size for differentiated instruction and argued that, when feasible, cluster groups are preferable to dispersing gifted students across classrooms.
On identification, staff explained the division’s approach: broad screening using existing achievement data (MAP and SOL), teacher and family referrals, and administration of CogAT (a nationally normed ability test) for referred students. The division focuses on service in English and mathematics and has recently targeted roughly the top 10% (percentile ranks in the high 80s/90s) as candidates for gifted services; Virginia law leaves exact procedures to local divisions.
GIAC said it intends to repeat the ‘‘yellow report’’ annually with the same metrics and to work with principals to implement the recommendations. Board members thanked parent volunteers for the committee’s work and asked staff to consider where additional planning time and role responsibilities would come from in the master schedule.
The committee’s report is advisory; implementing changes will require principal-level scheduling decisions and staff assignment adjustments.
