Students in the Gifted Support program are assessed through the use of
portfolios, rubrics, self-assessment reflections, and progress reports.
Students take home their portfolios once a quarter to share their work with
their families. In May, students lead their own portfolio conferences with
their families after preparing in class. Parents are encouraged to respond to
this conference on the provided reflection sheets.
Gifted Support progress reports contain both a student self-assessment
section and a teacher assessment section. Progress reports are distributed
with the regular education report cards twice a year at the end of each
semester. (January and June)
As part of our ongoing efforts to provide your child with a quality program,
there have been changes made to the progress report form to compliment the
GIEP goals. As you know, the work presented in the gifted support class is an
extension of the curriculum in the regular classroom and is therefore
more challenging. Although the gifted performance scoring key looks similar
to that of the regular education progress reports, it is different. It
reflects progress with expectations that go beyond the regular education
curriculum.
To help my students understand how to self-assess using the progress reports,
I often use the following analogy. You may also find it helpful.
Imagine that in your regular class you are learning how to ride bicycles. You
are really good at riding bicycles so you are invited to join the gifted
class to learn how to ride unicycles. Its a similar skill but more
challenging.
Now you get to evaluate your progress on riding the unicycle. These are the
scores you would use.
Beginning- You are at a beginning level if you need some help with learning
advanced skills. You
were great at the two-wheel bike but the unicycle is challenging. Maybe the
teacher is helping you
balance or maybe you are using some supports to hold on to. With practice you
know you will get
better and are learning a lot from the extra help.
Developing - You are at a developing level if you are learning to ride the
unicycle with practice.
You can go short distances by yourself in a straight line. You are still
learning how to turn without
feeling like you are going to fall. You like the teacher to watch you and
make sure that you are doing
it properly. You think a lot about your balance and your body positions.
Someone at the developing
level might need a little bit of help, make some silly mistakes, and forget
to include details.
Accomplished- You are at an accomplished level if you are able to ride the
unicycle very well
independently. You can go forward and backward for long distances. You can
turn right and left and
spin in a circle. You really dont think a lot about balancing. Your body
feels really comfortable when
you are riding. Someone at an accomplished level works independently with
confidence and requires
minimal assistance.
Exemplary- You are at an exemplary level if you are so confident with riding
the unicycle that you
are initiating ways to challenge yourself. Maybe you make an obstacle course
with a slalom race.
Maybe you try to keep the wheel steady on a long chalk line that you draw on
the ground. You can
also break down the skill of riding into smaller steps so that you could
coach other riders and give
them pointers to improve their skills. Someone at the exemplary level
includes all of the details and
finds ways to challenge himself or herself.
Now, instead of thinking how our bodies are learning how to master a
unicycle, we need to think
about how our minds are learning to master the goals and objectives presented
in gifted support
class.