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    DEVELOPING SCOPE AND SEQUENCE FOR THE GIFTED LEARNER: by Joyce VanTassel-Baska and Myrtle Campbell I. process of curriculum planning and development is complex, dynamic, and generative in nature, and cour approach io the task should reflect that realty. Consequently, an emphasis on comprehensive planning of an appro- priate curriculum for gited is called for in order to act vate the curriculum devel ‘opment process on a large scale and to ensure its relevancy within a given school district. Such K-12 curriculum planning is are: atively recent phenomenon for gifted educators who have historically focused ‘more on program develop ment at more narrowly pre scribed grade levels. Just as expert problem solvers spend more time on plan- ning than on any other aspect of the problem- solving process, so we in gifted education must become expert at planning and organizing a meaningll scope and sequence of curriculum experiences for ‘our most talented learners. “There are certain under. 2—March/April, 1988—GCT lying assumptions about the general Curriculum that must be stated before we begin the work of developing scope and sequence in curriculum for gifted learners. These assumptions are © General school curriculum is inappropriate for gifted learners. We recognize thatthe needs of gifted learners are atypical in respect to several core areas: rate (Keating, 1976), capacity for in-depth learning (Renzulli, 1995), ‘capacity to manipulate con: ceptual schemata (Sternberg, 1985), and need for diversity and challenge in learning experiences (Passow, etal, 1982). This recognition leads us to realize that the pattern for basic text materials as well as the dominant mode for classroom instruction is a school curriculum organized around the needs of typical learners with a spiral effect of incremental. learning modules coupled. with heawy doses of reinforce: ‘ment around a given skill cor concept. Thus, one of the first issues’ to be addressed in assessing the curriculum for the gifted is how to modify or adapt the general curriculum within core areas to better respond Teacher, Evehm Jordan, assists students uth an experiment in the science laboratory First in a Series of Five Articles to the atypical needs of the gifted that have been evidenced. Clearly accelerative, enriched, and conceptual reorganization must occur if the core Curriculum is to be meaningful for the sifted during their K-12 experience © Appropriate differentiation of the curriculum in one area and at one grade level affects all areas and levels; thus, curriculum development for the sifted has to be viewed as a long-term process, hich involves adapta- tion of the current curriculum, infusion of appropriate extant curricula for the sifted, and the development of a new curriculum. Most curriculum work that has been done for the gifted has taken an isolationalist perspective. It was conceptualized and \written with the idea that it \was to be “the curriculum for the sifted.” Conse- quently, committees of writers strugaled with key models and concepts as they strove to create a “new” curricu: Jum that was appropriate only for the sifted in some special setting. What that approach has fostered, however, is a fragmentation of curriculum experi: ences for the sifted, and, frequently, such a curriculum is organized on fauity understanding of the models and concepts it attempts to convey. Some of the best curricula that exists fr the gilted were not written for them de- liberately (VanTassel-Baska, 1988) The major curriculum projects of the 1960s in. science, mathematics, English, and social studies have proved very useful with gifted populations even though they were not so intended. The Junior Great Books program and Philos- cophy for Children, both widely used curricula in gifted programs, were not developed expressly for the gifted. Yet use of such tested curriculum material can save districts the time and expense of trying to reinvent what would clearly be an inferior wheel And more effort needs to be expended: in linking the district core eurri culum to appropriate adaptations of it for sited A atudent prepares @ report in ‘Social studies using multiple GCT—March/April, 1988—3 learners. Thus to conceptualize curriculum development as a. short: term activity is to misunderstand the nature and scope of the process that needs to be undertaken. © A curriculum plan for the gifted needs to be written down and communicated appropriately within a school district. ‘A curriculum only has a recognizable shape or form when itis written. What goes on inaclassroom between teacher and learner is instructional process, not a curriculum. What a curriculum provides is a sense of purpose and direction in areas of educational value that both teacher and student explore A curriculum for the gifted should provide educational personnel and the community with an understanding of what areas of investigation are valuable and why, how students will meet their learning objectives, and by what means they will be evaluated. A curriculum for the gifted places emphasis on purpose, ‘means and ends somewhat equally and in a manner that the lay public can understand. The obligation to communicate what is distinct about a program for the gifted is paramount, and the strength of that distinction lies in effective curriculum planning. we believe these assumptions to be true, then, we must be concerned about a curriculum planning effort that will allow for comprehensive and articulated curriculum experiences for gited learners at all stages of their development. Unfortunately, many school districts have chosen to approach curriculum development at the level of unit development, where individual teachers organize a teaching tnt on a topic of interest and need in the gifted program. Such work may be termed “unfortunate” in that it takes a great deal of teacher time and energy as well as district financial resources to complete such curriculum products, and, in the end, the school district typically ends up with idiosyncratic pieces of curriculum that can only be interpreted and taught by the same teacher who developed them. Thus, no real curriculum planning or development has occurred — only the random act of writing individual units that do not relate to each other. Although working on individual units of instruction is a worthy task for teachers at the classroom level. of instruction, such a focus on curriculum development is inappropriate at the 4—March/April, 1988—GCT level of building an entire school district effort. Rather, a focus on scope and sequence development is helpful as a starting point. Scope and sequence developmental work can serve several Interiocking purposes for a school istrict: 1. It can serve as a planning tool to define curriculum direction, 2. It can help define gaps in current curriculum materials and resources. 3. It can serve to define student ‘expectation levels in curriculum ‘areas, which can be evaluated. AAs one begins to consider the tasks associated with developing scope and sequence in curriculum for gifted learners, it may be useful to define decision criteria for examining what we mean by the term “scope and sequence.” In regard to scope, the following considerations are vital: ‘¢ How important are certain skills and concepts for the sifted learner to master? ¢ How broadly should various skills, and concepts be presented? ‘* What are the critical exposures to new content that the gifted learner should have? ‘¢ How much time will be needed to engage in various topics at an appropriate level of depth? © Is the teaching staff capable of delivering the nature and extent of the proposed curriculum for the sited learner? In regard to sequence, the following questions need to be taken into account ‘At what stages is the sifted learner ready for certain curriculum experiences? * What are appropriate developmen fal transitions in shaping curricular order? ‘* What isthe desired cumulative effect of sifted learners’ engagement in specified curriculum experiences? ‘* How can learning experiences be organized at sufficiently abstract levels to accommodate fully the capacities of sited learners? © What contents, processes, and products constitute logical extensions of the curriculum at key points in the schooling process (i, from elementary school to middle school and from middle school to high school)? In addition to asking key questions regarding the definitional structure of scope and sequence in curriculum for gifted learners, itis also helpful to consi der a set of steps for enapgingin the devel- ‘opment process (see Figure 1, page 5). The Gary Community School District in Gary, Indiana, is used to ilustrate an exemplary school district committed to scope-and-sequence development in gifted programs. A description of the Gary program and its evolution toward comprehensive curriculum planning follows. The Gary Community School Corporation Gifted Program: ‘A Case Study in Scope and Sequence Work Since 1975, the Gary Community School Corporation has made a growing commitment to identifying students with exceptional abilities, providing special educational programs, and experiences that hold the greatest protential for nurturing their individual needs and developing their talents to the fullest degree. The corporation holds as its ideal a gifted program that addresses all types. of giftedness: general intellectual, specific academic, leadership capacity, and creative and artistic abiities. Because giftedness extends into many and varied areas of the school population, the program has a multipronged, unbiased, flexible identification process, which provides for continuous growth and measurable accomplishments. The underlying principle of academically gifted programs is to establish an environment for students that values and enhances intuitive ability and to provide time, space, and encouragement for students to discover themselves, their powers, and their abilities. Central to all tasks in the program is ensuring the cumulative and ‘continuous educational progress of each student. Emphasis is placed on stimulation of creativity, originality, problem solving, and decision making ‘of increasing depth and sophistication. Maximum growth is promoted by identifying each student's strengths while special provisions are made to improve weaknesses. The primary goel of the program is to strengthen and expand the delivery of educational services to gifted learners, Text continued on pose 6 FIGURE 1 Steps for Developing a Scope and Sequence in Curriculum Conduct a curriculum: needs assessment. Develop an overall curriculum framework of K-12 process-and- product goals. Develop content-based goals and learning objectives, K-12. Decide on an appro- priate coding format for representation of scope- and-sequence work to various groups. Write a K-12 outline for each curriculum strand not included in the regular curriculum (e.¢., critical thinking, re: search, philosophy). Align content goals and objectives with exem- plary activities, and resources and materials. Identify areas within the scope and sequence for curriculum unit development. Implement the scope and sequence model with staff and gifted students. This initial step in the process provides a school district with basic planning information that can help focus the curriculum effort ina productive direction. Being able to articulate what the current curriculum is for gifted learners, how't differs from what is available for alllearners, and where the gepsareisa key part of developing meaningful curriculum products. Once a school district has determined “what is” in their curriculum for gifted learners, educators are in a better position to fashion “what might be” in the curriculum so that it is cohesive from kindergarten to 12th grade. At this stage of the process, itis important to develop product or outcome goals for gited students, a clear set of expectations based on their participating in a program for 13 years. Process goals for teachers also need to be developed, strategies that will enable them to facilitate students’ reaching the stated expectation levels. These goal statements should be translatable to content, process: Product, and “great ideas” interdisciplinary curriculum, all approaches that are ‘Necessary in a comprehensive program for the gifted learner. After the framework has been conceptualized, content-based goals and learning objectives need to be delineated forall areas of the school curriculum. It is important to use the general school curriculum as a touchstone in this effort 0 that the resulting product circumscribes what is required for all learners hile reorganizing and enriching it more appropriately forthe gifted. Particular attention needs to be paid to the alignment process employed, which links goals to learning objectives in a coherent fashion but also links learning objectives across grade-level clusters at increasing levels of complexity. ‘Once content goals and objectives have been delineated for language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, art, music, and so forth, itis useful to consider how best to “translate” scope-and-sequence work to various groups. While many states require the learning-objective framework for their general curriculum, some gifted educators may wish to depart from that format for an ‘approach that links immediately to classroom materials, activites, or teaching units. Many gifted programs use curriculum content that is not formally a part of the general school curriculum. Such areas need to be well

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