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

Potential Weaknesses• Time consuming (Smith & Tickles, 2003; Thomson & Rowan, 1995).• The magnitude of the IEP may divert sufficient attention from curricular components (VanTassel-Baska, 1992c).• Because the emphasis is on individualisation, teachers may be left without a comprehensiveframework for thinking about curriculum (Laycock & Korinek, 1989, cited in Van Tassel-Baska, 1992c).• Parents can feel unsure of their role and a lesser partner in the team (Thomson & Rowan,1995).• Teachers need training in the use of IEPs/IPPs for gifted and talented students (Thomson &Rowan, 1995).• The focus on the individual may discourage inclusionary practices, instead promotingprogrammes that have little relation to the activities of the regular class (Moltzen, 2000b).• The individual focus of IEPs may not be culturally appropriate for some gifted and talentedstudents from ethnic minority groups.Recommendations for Effective PracticeThe IEP may be one tool in meeting the needs of gifted and talented students in New Zealand schools,particularly those students described as ‘highly gifted.’ The advantages appear to outweigh anydisadvantages associated with their use; however, care would need to be taken to ensure that thedifficulties associated with them (as reported in both the gifted education literature and the specialeducation literature) are addressed.CURRICULUM COMPACTINGCurriculum compacting is a technique devised by Sally Reis and her colleagues from the NationalResearch Center on the Gifted and Talented at the University of Connecticut as an integral componentof the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (Renzulli & Reis, 1985; 1997; 2000; 2002). The idea forcurriculum compacting grew from evidence that gifted and talented students spent much time workingon material they had already mastered, that teachers were making minor or nonexistent adaptations tothe curriculum for gifted students (Reis et al., 1998), and that there was a lack of any systematicmethod to make adaptations to the curriculum for students who were achieving well above averagelevels (Reis & Renzulli, 2003). Curriculum compacting is a technique where teachers identify what thestudents already know and, rather than asking them to engage in previously mastered learning,replacement strategies are provided that allow the student more meaningful and productive use of theirtime (enrichment and/or acceleration). Curriculum compacting involves three steps. These are:1. Defining the goals and outcomes of a specific unit or lesson of instruction;2. Determining and documenting which learners have already mastered most or all of thespecified learning outcomes; and3. Providing replacement strategies for material already mastered through the use ofinstructional options (Reis & Renzulli, 2003).Curriculum compacting is facilitated for gifted and talented students with the use of The Compactor(Reis & Renzulli, 2003). This form documents the curriculum areas to be considered for compacting,the procedures for compacting the material, and the acceleration and/or enrichment activities to beused to replace the material that the student has already mastered.As Riley (in press c) states, nearly every article written about regular classroom practices for giftedand talented learners has some reference to curriculum compacting as an effective technique. This is75