Are gifted, talented programs draining funding from special education for disabled students?

From The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. In the picture, gifted student Jeffrey Lin completes a paper.

The father of four gifted children, Brad Rine of Metairie has no doubt that the specialized education they have received in Jefferson Parish public schools is, in fact, "special education."

One day last week, all his son, Bennett, a third-grader, could talk about was what went on that day in the daily resource class for gifted students at Bissonet Plaza Elementary.

"The first words out of his mouth were, 'GT (gifted and talented) was awesome today. We are designing our own Web pages.' He then spent the next 10 minutes telling me all about it."

Bennett is among about 23,000 Louisiana public school students who are designated as gifted, talented or both. As such, they are entitled to what is known as "special education, " just as are 85,000 other students who generally have neither elevated gifts or talents but disabilities.

Without special education, Rine said, his gifted children might languish, possibly turning from boredom to disruption.

But eliminating specialized classes for gifted and talented children is just what some special education advocates in Louisiana are now seeking.

Concerned that money dedicated for disabled children is being used for gifted and talented services, the Louisiana Association of Special Education Administrators has recommended that gifted and talented education no longer be part of special education. It said these students should be placed in regular classrooms where all students are afforded the same learning opportunities.

"We question the ability of anyone to prove that a student with a 4.0 GPA needs special education services because his educational performance is significantly affected, " Susan Vaugn, the association's president at the time, wrote in a March 4 letter to the Louisiana Department of Education. "Rather, we believe that all students should have the opportunity to be challenged by curriculum and instruction that pushes them to reach their potential."

Her group's recommendation caused a furor among those in the gifted and talented community when the issue appeared on the agenda of a state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education committee this month.

"We cannot turn our backs on these children, " Naveed Malik, father of five children in St. Tammany Parish's gifted program wrote to BESE. "Our children are entitled to an appropriate education that can only be achieved in a special environment dedicated to the education of the brightest."

Cynthia Greenwald, a teacher of gifted classes at Alice Birney and Bridgedale Elementary schools in Metairie, agreed. "It's important for them to be in an environment with their intellectual peers, " she said.

BESE officials ultimately deferred the issue, and a task force was appointed to discuss ways of keeping the gifted and talented program in special education without affecting services for disabled children. The issue could surface again in the next few months.

Gifted students gain that designation if, through a variety of screening and testing tools, they demonstrate abilities that predict high performance in academic and intellectual aptitude. Those labeled as talented have exceptional ability in the visual or performing arts, sometimes both.

They then are entitled to a curriculum designed to foster creativity, higher-level thinking skills and problem solving.

Such classes are not luxuries, Rine said, but necessities.

"That one part of the day where they get challenged and pushed is so beneficial," he said. "It's oftentimes what makes school special and exciting for them."

But with limited resources available to special education, some changes could be coming.

Among other things, the task force recommends that school systems have more flexibility in drawing up and monitoring the individualized education plans, or IEPs. Individualized Education Plans spell out the goals and objectives for students based on their learning styles. They are mandated by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, and, in Louisiana, are required for gifted and talented students.

Currently, Individualized Education Plans are overseen by school-based facilitators who, in most school systems, are paid with federal IDEA money. For them to oversee the IEPs of gifted and talented students, Vaugn said, is a violation of federal law.

"Many programs and personnel are funded with IDEA monies," she said. "These funds and personnel paid exclusively with these funds cannot serve the gifted population. There is a definite division of personnel, expenditures, services, and rights."

The changes now being discussed would allow more flexibility in who may interpret a gifted IEP and who may talk to parents about the report. The task force is also looking at changes such as not requiring a student to attend an IEP conference and eliminating the need to justify placement decisions.

"We believe that there are requirements that we can eliminate, while still maintaining the integrity of services to GT children, " said Susan Batson, director of the division of special populations for the Louisiana Department of Education.

She said she and her staff are preparing their presentation for BESE but thinks it will be December at the earliest before the board considers it.

BESE member Jim Garvey, whose district includes Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes, said he is adamant that the gifted and talented program continue. But he said he has not made up his mind about the exact changes now being proposed.

"I have heard some GT people say they can live with (the changes), and I've heard some say, 'No, this will weaken it.' "

Penny Dastugue, an at-large member of BESE, said she thinks the board ultimately will keep gifted and talented programs in special education but with some modifications. She said she will fight any attempt to kill the programs.

"Gifted students require a differentiated curriculum and instruction to maximize their potential, " she said. "While I am open to reducing paperwork for our teachers and administrators, I will vigorously resist any effort to provide less to these students and their parents."