Thanks for being gifted! Here’s $25.
Because you just can’t get enough Washington Learns coverage!
I’ve talked before about different elements of the initiative, like class size and all-day kindergarten. Here we’ll look at what they’re proposing for gifted and talented ed.
Short answer: not much. $25 per kid is enough, according to the Picus and Odden report that is guiding the committee. Their argument is that the best strategies for acceleration are grade skipping, which is cost neutral, and that the smaller class sizes that they propose (15 in grades K-3!) would also make it easier for classroom teachers to modify for the gifted kids. They also talk about combination classes of accelerated kids, which again would be cost neutral. For a school of 600 kids, $25 per kid would be $15,000. For a district of 2000 students it’d be $50,000, which isn’t much, but at least it’s a start.
My thought: it’s nice that they’re thinking of the gifted kids, at least. $25 isn’t a lot and won’t get you much in the way of services, but if it gets something for the T&G kids, then it’s a good thing.
I think of what I’ve done with my accelerated kids over the years. Last year I had my Destination: Imagination! team, which ran me about $500. If they had actually paid me to do it (yeah, right) that would have been another $700 or so. The math classes I used to teach cost about $100 a shot in supplies, before my salary. The computer program that I’d like to get for the kids this year if I teach the advanced combo runs $25 a student, which would be $500 for a normal classroom.
I’m curious to see what the good folks at WAETAG think about this. If I can’t find anything on their website I’ll shoot their president an email and see what they say.
I’ve talked before about different elements of the initiative, like class size and all-day kindergarten. Here we’ll look at what they’re proposing for gifted and talented ed.
Short answer: not much. $25 per kid is enough, according to the Picus and Odden report that is guiding the committee. Their argument is that the best strategies for acceleration are grade skipping, which is cost neutral, and that the smaller class sizes that they propose (15 in grades K-3!) would also make it easier for classroom teachers to modify for the gifted kids. They also talk about combination classes of accelerated kids, which again would be cost neutral. For a school of 600 kids, $25 per kid would be $15,000. For a district of 2000 students it’d be $50,000, which isn’t much, but at least it’s a start.
My thought: it’s nice that they’re thinking of the gifted kids, at least. $25 isn’t a lot and won’t get you much in the way of services, but if it gets something for the T&G kids, then it’s a good thing.
I think of what I’ve done with my accelerated kids over the years. Last year I had my Destination: Imagination! team, which ran me about $500. If they had actually paid me to do it (yeah, right) that would have been another $700 or so. The math classes I used to teach cost about $100 a shot in supplies, before my salary. The computer program that I’d like to get for the kids this year if I teach the advanced combo runs $25 a student, which would be $500 for a normal classroom.
I’m curious to see what the good folks at WAETAG think about this. If I can’t find anything on their website I’ll shoot their president an email and see what they say.
posted by Ryan at 7:54 AM
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