Mold-Breaking Schools Can Reach Every Student

Thank you so much for this inside information, just what I was looking for when I asked to hear more from people involved in those schools.

Dear Extra Credit:

You might be right that there is no money or expertise to provide gifted classes in high school, so AP is the only alternative for gifted students.

But I have always felt that gifted students do not need extra funding but only creative teachers and liberation from following a dumbed-down curriculum. Unfortunately, because AP classes carry extra benefits besides what happens in the classroom (GPA enhancement, the opportunity to test out of college courses, high regard by college admissions officers) no other offering would have a chance in the competitive educational marketplace. If the out-of-class benefits were equalized, a good gifted class would give the AP program a run for its students. That competition does not exist.

Some AP classes, such as literature, can be good places for gifted students because they are teaching an analytical process, not a mountain of facts. But in fact-based AP classes such as U.S. history, many teachers just shovel out the information because that is the basis of their test. I saw my daughter's interest in history wither and die from a class that primarily consisted of copying notes.

Asking kids to learn more facts is not gifted education. Challenging them to go deeper, to question perspectives and to create new meaning is.

Jay Lamb

Fairfax