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No Child Left Behind: Helping Gifted Students Succeed On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. NCLB provides new requirements, resources, and nearly $5 billion to strengthen public schools. But according to Deborah Ruf, Ph.D., Gifted Children Program Coordinator of Mensa and author of, 5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options* (Great Potential Press, September 2009), NCLB inevitably does leave students behind. NCLB focuses almost entirely on those who struggle to learn and virtually ignores the special needs of the brightest students. “Our brightest children spend nearly the entirety of their school years being instructed far below their capacity to learn, with the result that we are losing them and what they could have become,” warns Ruf. “Many of these exceptionally bright children are living right now in homes and learning in classrooms where the adults responsible for them often don’t know or don’t fully understand their potential. Some of them are mistakenly labeled as behavior problems. Others flounder in classrooms designed to meet the needs of children who are far behind them in their learning.” Ruf reveals that all gifted children are not alike, and neither are their learning needs. “There are levels of giftedness,” she explains,” “and high intelligence is not a binary concept; intelligence exists along a continuum. There is no magic line between gifted and not gifted, nor is there a solid line between the different levels of intelligence.” Levels of giftedness range from those who are simply bright to those who are intellectually astonishing. She also points out that there are far more potential geniuses – children who are remarkably intellectually different from their same-age classmates – than most people believe. The intelligence of these children, according to Ruf, isn’t purely a blessing. “The charming, the problematic, and the quirky are all part of the normal range of behaviors among gifted children,” Ruf admits. “It is a problem to be radically different in any way from most of the people around you, and when you are there, you may feel very alone.” “Intellectual level is a significant aspect of our personality, our drives, our interests, and the ways we interpret, cope with, and react to circumstances in our lives. When a child’s intellectual level is radically different from others, that child –and his or her parents -- need help learning how to handle that difference,” Ruf concludes. Ruf is the mother of three highly intelligent children, all of whom are grown and thriving. Her efforts to advocate for her own children led her to graduate school and the study of high intelligence. For the past 24 years, she has specialized as a consultant working with families of highly intelligent children. *5 Levels of Gifted is formerly titled Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind. # # # |
Book Excerpt
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Most parents of gifted children go through a similar process of discovering that their children are different from others and that the schools won’t necessarily recognize or support the needs of their children. Early delight in their precocious, engaging newborns and toddlers turns to confusion and worry as other people point out problems with the children or the children themselves don’t conform to everyone else’s expectations. These worried parents find themselves having to become activists and advocates for their children through self-education, assessments, and considerable time and effort. Much of this is done on their own and leaves them feeling tremendous frustration, uncertainty, and loneliness. Finally, when they’ve done everything they can to help their children, most can only cross their fingers and hope they’ve made the right choices. From Chapter 2, Issues for Parents |