We Love Durham NC

Durham Gifted

As I mentioned, Durham Public Schools is holding open houses in each school throughout the month. I visited one this week. Many things are new in DPS since the last time we did the rounds. Here’s just one. This is by no means definitive–just some things I’ve noticed were emphasized.

In case you did not recently grow up in NC, here they call gifted AIG–that is, academically or intellectually gifted. In other places, this is called GT, AG, or just plain gifted. In Durham Public Schools we have an open-enrollment gifted magnet school that nurtures each student’s gift. Students that score high on achievement or IQ tests (and other factors*) are designated as AIG.

In 2006, an office of Advanced Academics was formed, with the purpose of providing better services for AIG students and increasing the number of students receiving those services–both widening the number overall and increasing under-served populations. Starting with the 2007 school year, a new 3-year plan for AIG students [warning, that link is a 62-page PDF, but it's chock-full of info] was put into place.

The changes are not coming slowly. Incoming 2007 kindergartners were sweep-screened for the AIG program (that means they were all tested with the KBIT). A new middle-school IB program was added. The district is offering teachers AIG licensure, which translates to better skills with AIG students, but also higher pay. More students are taking AP exams.

Schools implement AIG plans independently–although each school has an AIG program, the particulars vary by school. The school we toured has in-class services for K-1, reading pull-out for 2nd, and 3 hours daily of accelerated instruction in language arts and math (self-contained for those subjects) for 3rd-5th. Each student is expected to make a year of progress (via testing) for a year of school. Differentiation is a standard element. There is an AIG coordinator for the school, and 1-3 teachers per grade level are dedicated to AIG services.

A telling brochure–this is from the district–contains a graph titled “What do we do when students do not learn or have already learned the curriculum?” Some programs implemented–focusing on literacy–include Riverdeep, small groups (little book discussion groups), and the William & Mary curriculum.

For students who seem on the cusp of services, a nurturing program is implemented. These might be students who have learning disabilities resulting in low test scores, masking their AIG status.

Advanced Academics program is not an elite program, but instead is targeted to a large group of advanced learners. 15% of DPS students participate; 25% at the school I toured.

Based on the ways they answered questions from the group, the staff and administrators do not seem to be just “talking the talk” but rather carrying out these plans thoughtfully, and with long-term commitment. I wonder how this will affect both the reputation of DPS and enrollment in the public schools in Durham.

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*A total of 90 points in either math or language arts is required on the Evaluation for AIG Services form (90 points for math services, 90 points for language arts services), distributed as follows. The tests are given at no cost by the system once a student is nominated (by a teacher, parent, self, or other student). ~source: p. 23+ of the 3-year plan PDF linked above

For math:
IQ test (like the WISC or OLSAT) = up to 50 points
math achievement (like the Woodcock Johnson) = up to 50 points
math performance = up to 10 points
motivation and other characteristics (Renzulli Hartman Scale) = up to 8 points

For language:
IQ test = up to 50 points
verbal achievement = up to 50 points
language arts performance = up to 10 points
motivation and other characteristics (Renzulli Hartman Scale) = up to 8 points

1 Comment to Durham Gifted

1. 

   Thanks so much for posting this information. We’ve been pleased with the Durham school system over the past two years!
Aimee on February 13th, 2008

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