2009 MMSD TAG Plan

On August 17, 2009 the Board of Education will be voting on the Talented and Gifted Plan put forth by Superintendent Dan Nerad.

 

Prior to the presentation to the BoE the week before, the following information was provided to each member of the Board:

• Background and rationale for the TAG plan
• Letter from parents to the BOE in support of the plan
• The State of Wisconsin Gifted and Talented Statues and Rules, as well as other information from the DPI Gifted and Talented homepage
  
• MMSD documents from the early 1990's regarding the District?s ongoing failure to comply with State standards
• The NAGC Pre-K - Grade 12 Gifted Program Standards
• Assorted other resources from the NAGC website, for example, definitions, myth-busting information, reasons for having gifted education, position statements, FAQ?s, resources for administrators, etc.
• Assorted research articles on ability grouping, equity and excellence, the socio-emotional needs of gifted students, etc.:
  • Ability grouping is not just tracking anymore -- Carol Tieso
  • Basic educational options for gifted students in schools -- Joyce VanTassel-Baska
    
  • Grouping the gifted: myths and realities -- Karen Rogers
    
  • In search of reality: unraveling the myths about tracking, ability grouping and the gifted -- Fiedler, Lange & Winebrenner
    
  • Equity and excellence: providing access to gifted education for culturally-diverse students -- Donna Ford & Deborah Harmon
    
  • Project EXCITE: implications for educators of gifted minority students -- article from NAGC newsletter
    
  • Gifted kids at risk: who's listening? -- Patricia Schuler
    
  • Promoting positive social development -- Linda Silverman
  • A one-page description of the three-tiered pyramid model of giftedness and talent development
• Grouping Talented and Gifted Students in the MMSD (a parent-written monograph)
• Parents' questions about the proposed TAG Plan and several first-person accounts by MMSD families with gifted students
• The MMSD dropout data from the late 1990's (with explication)

It is important to realize that the Plan is a first step and far from everything a TAG Plan for the MMSD should be (and -- legally -- needs to be). We were working under extraordinary circumstances in order to get a Plan in place by the beginning of the school year. There is an explicit District commitment to ongoing development, evaluation and improvement of the Plan.

The more people who know about the Plan -- what it means, what it doesn't mean, what it contains, what is still missing, and so forth -- the more successful we will be in keeping the momentum going for a much-needed cultural shift towards greater District responsiveness to all types of learners. It would be great if each of us thought of ourselves as bearing some of the responsibility for making sure the Plan is implemented effectively in our own school(s). If you are an elementary parent, especially, think in terms of including a high-potential student of color and/or poverty at your school in your TAG advocacy efforts.