Deasy Pushing For More Excellence
All County Schools Would Provide Gifted Programs
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 19, 2006; Page T03
Prince George's County schools chief John E. Deasy said he plans to expand programs for talented and gifted students into every county school while also increasing the number of technical training and college-level offerings.
At a back-to-school night last week for parents of talented and gifted children, Deasy said he was committed to creating a TAG program that would be a national model. "Prince George's County has a great TAG program, but it could have more students," Deasy said at the gathering at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. "The goal is to reach every child who could be in TAG."
  John E. Deasy, the new schools chief in Prince George's County. (James M. Thresher - Twp) |
The back-to-school night was organized by PGTAG, a volunteer group of parents, educators and students who support the county's TAG program, which was created in 1972 to address the needs of high-achieving students. The program provides specialized curricula in elementary, middle and high schools.
At the meeting, county TAG supervisor Theresa Jackson said more than 10,000 students have been identified as talented and gifted in Prince George's -- 6,000 of them at the elementary and middle school levels.
At the meeting, Deasy also discussed plans to work with "struggling" schools, build additional schools, renovate older schools and construct state-of-the-art "tech" schools in an effort to ensure that all Prince George's students have an even educational playing field.
"There is no known reason why children can't succeed at very high levels," he said. "It is fundamentally not true that all kids can't succeed."
Deasy said he will not tolerate administrators who don't believe that all students are equally capable of academic success and won't work with him to achieve that goal.
"It's not a 'some kids' agenda," he said. "It's an 'every child's' agenda."
Deasy told the audience of his commitment to rapidly expanding Advanced Placement courses. He said he is training 300 faculty and staff members to run the AP program, and that each high school in the county will have at least eight AP courses by next fall.
The schools chief said he also has proposed expanding International Baccalaureate offerings and has asked for $1 million to launch the initiative.
The TAG Back-to-School Night came just as students in third grade were to be tested to help determine which students will be nominated for the program.
The students are screened by multiple criteria, including test results, teacher observations and evaluations and report cards.
Students can be reevaluated for the program in any grade, said Scott Brenner, a TAG office program specialist. They can be nominated for testing by a teacher, school administrator, parent or even themselves. A test is also offered each February for home-school and private school students.
After addressing the parents, Deasy turned his attention to the dozens of students who attended the meeting. He praised the young people for doing their homework, working hard in the classroom and suffering the pressure of being high achievers. He told the students that they should each strive to attend college, and that he would try to identify funding for capable students who cannot afford college.
He also credited them with helping other students by serving as role models.
Information on the PGTAG group is available at its Web site, http:/
