Spending That Government Money

Ashleigh Steele & Alex Kelly

What are you Ensuring students have equitable
passionate about? access to gifted education resources
via uniform gifted identification
processes. We want to ensure that
If you were made
teachers are able to understand the
superintendent, what gifted identification and referral
would be the one thing process. Teachers should be able to
you would do identify gifted traits especially within
differently? students who may be identified as
twice exceptional.
 Agenda Setting ● Conducting equity audits compared with
teacher demographics

● PD for staff on identifying gifted traits

● PD for staff on twice exceptional traits

Identify Choices that Lead to Optimal ● Improve communication/community

Resolution of a Problem.
engagement to ensure all families are
aware of gifted services
 Policy
Formulation
Our district has a large disparity compared
with the state in regards to gifted identification
of Black and Hispanic students. Our division is
dedicated to ensuring all students, regardless
of their race, have access to gifted education
resources.
Capture, in writing, the required
approach proposed to resolve the
issue being addressed.
 Policy ● Providing gifted services to more
students should provide increased rigor
Adoption for those identified

● Having more students in the gifted

program has positive impact on
perception of the division’s instructional
quality

How can we persuade people to pay

attention?
● Specialized teachers and groupings
(gifted clusters) can provide more SDI
 Policy ● Data from equity audits
Comparing student performance on classroom and state

Implementation
assessments with demographic and gifted identification
data

● Feedback from gifted resource teachers and

coordinators on identification trends

● Feedback from staff members who participated

in the various PD sessions
Proposed actions are finally realized.

● Parent survey data on perceptions of gifted

education services offered by the division and
knowledge about its availability
 Policy Our goals for measurable improvement are:

Evaluation ● An increase of at least 10% in gifted

enrollment between the Black and
Hispanic demographic groups

● A 20% increase in gifted awareness

Feedback loop is required for ● 20% of surveyed Black and Hispanic

education leaders to assess if policy families have a more positive perception
change actually worked.
of the district quality
Potential School Board ● How does this improve student
achievement for students other than
Questions those identified as gifted?

● How are you ensuring surveys are being

communicated to families? Are you
including various delivery methods?

● How will PD impact changes with gifted

identification?
- Will the policy resolve the
problem being defined? Is it an
effective policy? Does it seem like
it will work at least in theory?

Ideally! Due to the gifted identification

process, if parents don’t refer their child, the
responsibility lies with the teachers.
Improving awareness of gifted traits should
increase the rate at which students who
should be receiving gifted services have the
opportunity to be identified.
 - What are the consequences of
implementing that approach? One could make the argument that the money
What are its impacts and on isn’t being spent equitably as it specifically
whom? Are these impacts
different for different targets gifted students.
constituencies?
While this plan specifically targets potentially
gifted students, it also addresses two minority
Black 3 0.3% 1,046 7.6% groups who have been underserved by current
referral practices (notice the 0.3% rate of
Hispanic 8 0.9% 965 7% gifted referral for Black students and the 0.9%
rate for Hispanic students).
Native
0 0% 7 0.1%
Hawaiian

White 138 1.4% 10,315

- Is the policy workable given the
constraints that exist? Is it
feasible?
This proposal should require minimal changes
in organizational structure. No changes to
class configuration or additional staffing
should be required as a 10% increase in
referral rate should not impact capacity.
Additionally, the money will primarily be used
to enhance and improve current structures
while improving our own teacher and building
capacity.
School Board Presentation
Equitable identification of gifted students
Racist Trends in Gifted The Problem:

Referral Practices Black and Hispanic students are being identified at

a much lower rate than their White counterparts.
Using government grant funds can be used to
provide professional development sessions to
improve teacher referral rates for gifted students.
This should positively impact the school climate
and culture and may even yield higher student
achievement for all students. Shifting school
culture to be more inclusive of gifted students and
their specific needs will also add a wide variety of
instructional practices that non-gifted students will
also benefit from.
 $25,000 to RCPS’s Public Relations Department to improve
communication to families:

1. Improve awareness of gifted services

2. Advertise benefits of gifted education
3. Communicate the district’s success and current

Allocation
initiatives within the Gifted Program
4. Conduct family surveys targeting the district’s
efficacy, perceptions of gifted programs, and
of perceptions of school culture and climate

Funds
$75,000 to RCPS’s Department of Professional Growth and
Innovation for:

1. District-wide professional development on how to

identify gifted students using typical and atypical
gifted traits
2. District-wide professional development on how to
identify gifted students who are twice exceptional
3. Provide ongoing PD supports throughout the year,
including the possibility of bringing in gifted
education experts to lead discussions
Ensuring Fidelity of Implementation
Anticipated Goals
● An increase of at least 10% in
gifted enrollment between the
Black and Hispanic
demographic groups
● A 20% increase in gifted
awareness
● 20% of surveyed Black and
Hispanic families have a more
positive perception of the
district quality
Measuring Our Goals
● Data from equity audits
○ Comparing student performance on classroom and state
assessments with demographic and gifted identification data
● Feedback from gifted resource teachers and coordinators on
identification trends
● Feedback from staff members who participated in the various PD
sessions
● Parent survey data on perceptions of gifted education services
offered by the division and knowledge about its availability