| Does your child's accelerated math program for the | | | | later we've accelerated our bright students into |
| gifted and talented students sound like what I'm about | | | | incompetency. |
| to describe? | | | | What is Proper Enrichment for Gifted Students? |
| Most schools have some form of ability grouping or | | | | The ideal enrichment for able students is to work |
| tracking, typically two to four groups or levels per | | | | broader and deeper, not necessarily moving through |
| grade. The more able group can either go faster, go | | | | the topics more rapidly. If you have a gifted third |
| deeper, or do both. | | | | grader, he or she would benefit most from enrichment |
| The Current Trend: | | | | in the same topic the regular kids are wrestling with, |
| For a variety of reasons, the most common tendency | | | | multiplication. |
| in accelerated math classes is to move these groups | | | | He or she could do more, do harder and more involved |
| very quickly through the material at a level barely | | | | problems, more interesting applications, learn other |
| deeper than the regular group, ending up typically two | | | | algorithms (such as Indian style -- if your child really is |
| full years ahead by Middle School (that is, 7th grade | | | | gifted, he or she will love this), extend the topic to |
| Algebra 1). | | | | exponents ... rather than fly through the same easy |
| This type of acceleration, leading to college calculus in | | | | stuff the regular students are doing in three weeks |
| 11th grade, might be suitable for students in the top | | | | and then move on to another topic. |
| 0.1% in math ability, perhaps even a smaller group than | | | | Moving Ahead: |
| that. | | | | Certainly a gifted class will also go faster. I would be |
| For most students in the gifted and talented group, | | | | highly suspicious of acceleration beyond one year |
| they move through the material too fast and too | | | | above grade level in most cases, and if there is a way |
| young to master it, and as the level of abstraction | | | | to avoid this and still have your child in a good class, I |
| rapidly increases in high school, somewhere around | | | | would do that. |
| precalculus they often "hit the wall." That is, sooner or | | | | |