The Extent, Nature and Effectiveness of Planned Approaches in ...

• Curriculum should not be restricted to the boundaries of academic subject areas, but centres onlife itself (Beane, 1995).• Themes should be selected based upon their importance and worthiness, complexity,relevance, and interest (Van Tassel-Baska, 1994).• In planning and implementing integrated study, content, process, products, and evaluationmust be taken into consideration, as well as students’ abilities and interests. Gifted studentsshould, therefore, be central to the planning and implementation (Riley, 1997).SCHOOL-BASED PROVISIONS FOR GIFTED AND TALENTED STUDENTSThis section of the review of the literature examines the reported practices and research related toprovisions for gifted and talented students beyond the inclusive classroom. It is important to rememberthat in the implementation of these practices, all learning and teaching should be qualitativelydifferentiated and matched to the individual strengths, abilities, and qualities of gifted and talentedstudents. Furthermore, these should merge enrichment and acceleration practices, although someprovisions will clearly lend themselves toward one approach over the other. This part of the reviewdiscusses cluster grouping, withdrawal or pull-out programmes, special classes, early entry to school,dual enrolment, competitions, mentorships, and distance learning.CLUSTER GROUPINGCluster grouping is an organisational or administrative strategy related to class placement of gifted andtalented students. It is “an administrative procedure in which all of the identified youth at a grade levelare assigned to one classroom rather than being dispersed among two or more rooms at that gradelevel. Their assigned class is typically a heterogeneous one with children of all ability levels” (Hoover& Sayler, 1993, p. 13). For example, in a school that has eight out of a hundred students in the sameyear group identified as being gifted and talented, these eight students are placed in the sameclassroom, as opposed to scattering them among all of the classrooms that cater for that age groupwithin the school (Kennedy, 1995). Basically gifted and talented students at a particular level areassigned to one or two classrooms rather than dispersed across several (Hoover, 1993). The remainderof the class in which these students are assigned is heterogeneously grouped.In the context of this review of the literature, cluster grouping differs from ‘enrichment clusters’ whichare described as part of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (Renzulli & Reis, 2000), and the ‘clustergroups, clubs, or electives’ described by the Ministry of Education (2000). Also, cluster groupingdiffers from the organisational strategy whereby one or more schools work together to provideprogrammes for gifted and talented students.Winebrenner and Devlin (2001) suggest that a group of three to six students, usually in the top 5%academically, are placed together in a mixed ability classroom with a teacher trained in giftededucation. They further state that cluster grouping can be applied in all levels of schooling. Rogers(2002b) states that students who are cluster grouped spend blocks of daily time working with peers ofsimilar ability, specifically for ‘traditional’ academic subjects (such as reading and mathematics), aswell as peers of mixed ability. With cluster grouping, the gifted and talented students may be the onlyones in the class who are grouped together on the basis of similar instructional needs (Fiedler et al.,2002).Gentry (1999) describes three common themes in relation to cluster grouping: a group of gifted andtalented students are placed in a heterogeneous classroom; the curriculum is differentiated for giftedand talented students in the cluster group; and the teacher of the cluster group has professionaldevelopment and/or experience working with gifted and talented students.Winebrenner and Devlin (2001) suggest that students should be identified for cluster groups basedupon demonstrated needs for a differentiated curriculum. The methods of identification discussed88