K-8 Gifted Program Quality Review - Pennsbury School District

Narrative Findings
Question #6: Coordination and Communication
To what extent is there coordination and communication
within and about the gifted program?
Throughout the series of observations and interviews the evaluation team found that the teachers
of the gifted are passionate about their roles and about supporting the goals of the gifted
educational program. These teachers foster close, personal connections with their students and
are creative in their implementation of the vision of the gifted program. However, regular
education teachers and other staff expressed that they were unaware of the vision, philosophy,
goals, and student learning objectives of the gifted education program. Administrators of the
gifted program expressed concern that there was limited time available to prepare and train
themselves and staff specifically in relation to Chapter 16 and gifted programming. The
evaluation team did not find evidence of a systematic plan for the coordination and
communication of the gifted program vision, philosophy, and objectives.
General education teachers indicated that the students in their classrooms who need acceleration
are those who complete the most work, stay on task, and show good work ethic. These classroom
teachers did not demonstrate a complete understanding of the characteristics of gifted students or
how to identify these students in their classrooms. In addition, very few teacher-driven referrals
for gifted screening are initiated beyond 2 nd grade, which could be causing an underidentification
of gifted students in later grades. Sometimes, it was evident that teachers were
frustrated with the lack of resources in terms of time and staff to appropriately differentiate
instruction for and challenge gifted students. As a consequence, teachers provide these students
with extra work rather than depth of work. Therefore, a better understanding of what constitutes
giftedness may help to inform differentiation of instruction.
In our observations and interviews, teachers of the gifted expressed concern about a lack of
oversight and supervision regarding the implementation of the gifted program. Specific concerns
included the lack of centralized structure responsible for oversight, clarification, coordination,
effective communication and implementation of the program. The minimal opportunities for
interaction between teachers of the gifted across buildings and levels are another concern.
Provision of time and opportunity for these interactions would allow teachers of the gifted to
share ideas regarding instruction and curriculum, provide time for mentoring and coaching for
new teachers, and possibly include training in writing GIEPs.
Observations indicated that there was ample informal communication between teachers of the
gifted and regular education teachers regarding the progress and performance of gifted students.
However, there was no evidence of a formal system of communication between these teachers.
Teachers of the gifted do not have the time in their schedules to attend professional learning
community or grade level team meetings to exchange information and assessment data on
students. In addition, there is little written input from regular education teachers in the GIEP.
Most GIEP goals seemed to be developed in isolation and appeared unrelated to classroom
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