Building and implementing a program review for gifted education in an urban school district

In June of 1996, the Board of Education of the Waterloo School District, which is considered an urban school district, requested that all externally funded programs be reviewed. This included the Expanded Learning Program (ELP). The emphasis was to determine strengths and needs of ELP and the needs of gifted students in the regular classroom. A committee was formed, composed of ELP staff and parents of identified gifted students, who developed surveys which were sent to all ELP parents (K-12), all identified students, (K-12), and selected classroom teachers and specialists (K-8). Data were compiled and summarized according to (1) major strengths, (2) major concerns, and (3) recommendations. A final review resulted in three major findings. The survey revealed that the majority of parents, students, and teachers were supportive of the ELP program and felt it needed to continue. Most also felt that it was a good source of challenge for high ability students. A third major finding was that both parents and students felt gifted students need opportunities to be with other gifted learners. These findings produced the following recommendations. First, gifted students will be given the opportunity be with other gifted learners. Second, better communication between ELP faculty and parents and regular classroom teachers is necessary to promote a better understanding of gifted children, ELP, and other means of gifted programming. Third, gifted students need challenging academic experiences in the regular classroom such as curriculum compacting and acceleration. Finally, the senior high school expanded learning program needs to be reviewed. The project concluded with the outlining of a suggested action plan