No Longer Gifted

I just received my copy of Making ALL Kids Smarter by John Delandtsheer in the mail today after waiting for it to come out for the last few months.  Since John was the one who conducted my GATE training, I knew that his book would  be chock full of useful info and thought provoking  insight.  And I have not been disappointed.

Though I am only part way through, one of the things he emphasized in the training I attended, and is featured in his book, is the fact that GATE students may in fact decline.  John states, "GATE students who underperform may not lost their gifted status but they very well could lose their giftedness" (pg. 5).  Many times students are tested into a GATE program during elementary, frequently being identified as second graders; however, if the same child was tested two years or 6 years later, he/she might not qualify anymore.  Due to the way that most districts structure their gifted programs, students are never tested again, and so never have to deal with being removed from the program later on.  This make sense from an administrative standpoint, who wants to spend more resources to test students multiple times when it is not mandated (CELDT and many other tests are already mandated for other special populations).  However, this also makes sense from a counseling standpoint because who wants to be the one to contact parents to let them know that thier child is not longer considered gifted.  Consequently, there are also students who may not qualify for services during 2nd grade when they are initially tested, but the same student may qualify later on.