Burbank school district looking for ways to improve program for intellectually gifted students
In a renewed effort to better serve intellectually gifted students, Burbank school officials are working to create a new master plan to address the district’s approach in teaching students who are part of its Gifted and Talented Education program, commonly known as GATE.
A total of 236 elementary students and 509 middle school students were part of the GATE program during the 2015-16 school year.
Combined, those students represent 13% of the 5,598 students who were enrolled in fourth through eighth grades.
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After acknowledging a need to improve the program’s quality, several educators, administrators and parents started to meet on on a weekly basis last December to draft a new plan, which they modeled after one used by the Davis Joint Unified School District.
Burbank’s plan addresses the social and emotional development of students, who are defined as having “high potential in the areas of abstract thinking and reasoning ability as applied to school-learning situations,” according to a district report.
The plan aims to have teachers work with parents to address common characteristics of gifted students.
“Lots of gifted kids have anxiety, and it’s not something out of the norm,” said Jennifer Almer, a teacher specialist who worked on the plan, which was presented for the first time to school board members last week.
Although school board President Larry Applebaum said the plan, overall, was well-articulated, he took issue with its accountability aspects, and wondered whether students’ exam scores were enough to determine whether they are being pushed to their academic limits.
Almer pointed to the plan’s use of benchmark exams, state exams and classroom observations as ways to measure students’ growth, while Burbank Supt. Matt Hill said educators would also examine students’ attendance rates and behavioral issues.
Teachers’ design of assessments and lessons would also be used to determine whether or not a student has mastered skills, Almer added.
“It really is going to be up to teachers and benchmark assessments to see where they begin and where they end,” she said.
Even so, board members wanted the team to detail additional ways to use data to measure student outcomes.
“What data demonstrates that we’re supporting them effectively?” board member Steve Ferguson asked.
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He also requested the team outline the plan’s qualitative and quantitative measurements.
Applebaum agreed with Ferguson and wondered whether a student scoring well on exams is enough for an educator to measure that student’s ability.
“How do I know that the kid who is doing exceptionally well is being challenged to the limits of their ability to be successful?” Applebaum asked.
To answer that question, school officials recently administered a survey about the GATE program to students, their parents and teachers, said Tom Kissinger, assistant superintendent of instructional services.
“One of the things you can do to ask if a student is being challenged is to ask him. Ask her. We’ve done that in the survey,” he said, adding that the survey had not yet closed.
School board member Roberta Reynolds suggested using the recent survey responses with students’ past answers to draw comparisons and trends.
The team crafting the plan is expected to return to the board during an upcoming meeting to further discuss quantifiable ways they can measure students’ outcomes.
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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
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