With the advent of No Child Left Behind congress may have left behind some children, the gifted children. As a principal you know that the school report card is based on the number of kids who pass the MEAP. The school report card has nothing to do with the students who exceed the state standard, only the number who at least meet the standard. Therefore, schools around the state spend allot of effort on those students who have fallen below the state standard line.
Congress is no better. In 2006 congress appropriated $9.7 million dollars for the Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Act. Given the estimate of about 3 million gifted students, that works out to about $3 per child. In that same year congress has allocated $23.7 billion dollars to fund No Child Left Behind Act to bring students up to minimum proficiency.
The fact is that schools have a limited amount of resources to work with. Programs for gifted students or struggling students both cost money. So here are my questions for those of you who read this:
- Is the United States going to compete globally without putting money into programs for gifted students?
- Are the AP courses and dual enrollment options enough for these students?
- Is it ethically wrong to spend money on gifted students when we still have students who do not meet minimum standards?
posted by MiddleSchoolPrincipal @ 8:56 AM
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