Young Scholars Model: Finding & Nurturing Advanced Academic Potential from Historically Underserved...

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Young ScholarsFinding and Nurturing Gifted Potential

Dr. Carol V. Horn Horn.carol71@gmail.comK-12 CoordinatorAdvanced Academic ProgramsFairfax County Public Schools, Virginia

FCPS serves 186,785 students10th largest school district in the nation139 elementary schools26 middle schools26 high schools

African American 11%Asian 19%Hispanic 24%Multiracial 6%White 40%

28% FRM17% receive ESOL services13% Special Education services

What educators and psychologists recognize as giftedness in children is really potential giftedness, which denotes promise rather than fulfillment and probabilities rather than certainties about future accomplishments. How high these probabilities are in any given case depends much upon the match between a child’s budding talents and the kinds of nurturance provided. ~Dr. Harry Passow

What we teach our kids about responding to adversity says a lot about our vision of America. If we believe our nation and our kids are, like Hamilton’s self-assessment, “a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coal, trying to reach my goal,” we should proudly instill a sense of endless striving.

John Laurens on Alexander Hamilton, Hamilton

Underrepresented Populations in Gifted Education

Outstanding talents are present in children and youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor.

National excellence: A case for developing America’s talent

U.S. Department of Education1993

Issues Recommendations

Underrepresentation of Economically Disadvantaged and Culturally Diverse Students

Young Scholars is a School Wide Commitment

Four Principles of Systemic Change

Richard Allington

Who are the Young Scholars?Students with gifted potential who may lack

Short Term GoalTo identify students who may not be considered for

advanced academic programs using traditional methods of identification, and who, without that opportunity, are less likely to pursue advanced levels of learning on their own.

Long Term GoalTo nurture high academic

potential at an early age so that students who have historically been underserved in advanced academic programs will be prepared to engage in challenging subject matter and rigorous courses in upper elementary school, middle school, and high school.

4 Key Components of the Model

School LeadershipCommitted Professionals

The Leadership Steps to Success…

Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just

passes the time. Vision with action can change the world. Joel Barker

What kind of MINDSET do your students have?

What kind of MINDSET do YOU have?

What kind of MINDSET leads to more learning?

Discuss with a partner: What are the learning implications for each pairing? For example, what might be the outcome if a student with a growth mindset attends a school or has a teacher with a fixed mindset culture?

Find/Identify

What would you say?

This student does not belong in this class.

Intelligence is emergent

What will it take to draw this student out?

This is not a gifted student.

Intelligence is Fluid

What is this student’s strength?

This student does not have the background knowledge to be an advanced academic student.

Cultural influences

How does this student think?

Advanced students should read and write faster, better, and more independently than their peers do.

Intelligence is complex

In what ways does this

student’s ideas show

originality or novelty?

Intelligence is not how much you know or how fast you learn but how you behave when you don’t know the answer.

It is not something more to do; just a different way to engage in the curriculum you already teach!

Dr. Edward de Bono Dr. Richard Paul

Level INine Strategies for Teaching Critical

and Creative Thinkingadapted from the work of . . .

Level I Nine Thinking Strategies

Point of ViewAnalyzing how different people might look at the same idea, issue, and/or situation

Fluency, Flexibility, Originality & ElaborationProduction for many ideas, expression of new ideas, and the recombination of existing ideas

VisualizationConsciously forming mental images of something that is not actually present in the senses

Kindergarten Critical and Creative Thinking Lesson

Circles in Your Imagination

• State Standard: • The student will identify

representations of plane geometric figures regardless of their position and orientation in space.

• The student will compare the size and shape of plane geometric figures.

• Materials: circular objects, circles, paper, crayons

• What shapes can you find in our classroom? • Use your hands to make a circle.• Look through your circle lens.• What round things do you see?• What is the biggest circle you can find?

Smallest?• Can you name circles that people use? (wheel,

sun, pizza, globe, etc.)37

Accommodations for ESOL students: Visual aids provided for the LINK portion of the lesson.

Questioning Questioning

• Students who ask questions are more productive and engaged.

• Questioning helps us solve problems by developing, implementing, and evaluating plans of action.

Analogies: Gives students a structure for generating creative ideas, seeing complex relationships, and making unusual comparisons. Analogies may be used to deepen understanding of topics or concepts.

Young Scholars are like __________ because _______________.

Thinking Strategies (continued)

Encapsulation: Stating ideas in precise and concise form

In ten or fewer words write a sentence to encapsulate your understanding of the term “gifted”.

Decisions and Outcomes: Understanding that choosing from alternatives affects events which follow

By a show of hands, how many of you have made a decision that you wish you could change? Did you make your decision before you gathered all the facts or was your decision based on impulse/ reaction to the situation?

What Works

Screening for Young Scholars andAdvanced Academic Services

How are Young Scholars (YS) Identified?

Assessment of Observable Behaviors

Gifted Behaviors Rating Scale (GBRS)

RatingsEach category is assigned a rating based on how often behaviors are observed

Highest score = 16Lowest score = 4

• Math &/or reading accommodations are noted• Comments in bulleted form provide specific examples of student behaviors• Completed by teachers who work with the student

Gifted Behaviors Rating Scale: 4 Categories

Screening Committees

Nurture, Guide and Support

Pedagogy of Poverty vs. Plenty

Educating Everybody’s Children: We Know What We Need to Do by Robert W. Cole

Interventions for Young Scholars in Elementary School

Essential Elements

Professional Development for K- 12 Teachers

“The fact is we all have biases against what’s different, what’s different to our social norms. The thing is if we want to live in a world where the circumstances of your birth do not dictate your future and where equal opportunity is ubiquitous, then each and every one of us has a role to play in making sure unconscious bias does not determine our lives.”

Yassmin Abdel-Magied TED talk What does my headscarf mean to you?https://www.ted.com/talks/yassmin_abdel_magied_what_does_my_headscarf_mean_to_you?language=en

Cultural proficient educators must always navigate between two frames:

Treat all people as human beings rather than members of various cultural groups.

Recognize people’s real experiences as members of various cultural groups in order to better understand them, assist them, and/or to treat them equitably.

Family Resources

Summer School

Primary Grade Choices

Upper Elementary Choices

Summer school provides powerful learning experiences

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbjnWD-hk50

High School Volunteers

After School Partnership with Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST)

The Model in Schools

SY 2016-176,581 Young Scholars in Grades K -8

Level IV Services 30%

Level III Services 24%

Level II Services 46%

56% on free and reduced price lunch5% special education13% LEP

What the Students Say

Summer school provided the Young Scholars

the opportunity to shine in a smaller group setting. They additionally participated in self-reflection which

boosted their confidence in their abilities.

Students are immersed in learning sessions that go deep rather than surface and they can

develop inquiries that truly interest and engage them.

What do elementary teachers say about the impact of Young Scholars?

Since I’ve worked with Young Scholars, my expectations have been

broader; I have higher expectations for children who are able to perform better. Everyone has an idea of what giftedness is, but

Young Scholars has broadened my perspective about who is brought into that category.

Unlocking Emergent Talent: Supporting High Achievement of Low-Income, High-Ability StudentsPaula Olszewski-Kubilius and Jane Clarenbach

https://www.fcps.edu/academics/academic-overview/advanced-academic-programs

Pathways in Advanced Academic Programs

White Black Hispanic Asian Other Total

2001 3,288 240 189 651 185 4,553

change Up 56.1%

Up 185.4%

Up571.9%

Up205.6%

Up235.1%

Up113.0%

2016 5,134 685 1,270 1,990 620 9,699

Change in part-time school-based Level III services Grades K-8

White Black Hispanic Asian Other Total

2001 2,566 76 66 584 106 3,429

change Up176.2%

Up800%

Up1630.3%

Up744.7%

Up903.7%

Up 334.9%

2015 7,089 684 1,142 4,933 1,064 14,912

Change in full-time Level IV services

Grades 3-8

Who is Responsible for Young Scholars?

Counselors can help build growth mindsets and nurture academic potential so students will choose and succeed

in advanced courses.

The Young Scholars Model is a “pipeline” to advanced courses in middle and high school.

YS in Level IV and Honors Classes SY16

In High School…76% in high school AP/IB courses98% reported planning to attend college in Student Learning Plan

7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade

Proven Strategies for Success

Being [a] Young Scholar [gave] me a boost of confidence. I feel that I have been given opportunities to improve my knowledge and skills. From the group projects, to the individual activities, being a Young Scholar has shaped me for the better.

Young Scholars has helped boost my confidence, which has encouraged me to try harder over the years. I feel more resilient and more likely to take on challenges, such as AP classes, thanks to Young Scholars.

What do Young Scholars who are now in high school say about how it impacted them?

Yosaph Boku

“Seeing brilliant students that were like myself made me realize I had the same potential for success.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw4TFJKNZH8&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IosvUh7g17o

What questions have I created?