June Newsletter

June Newsletter Topics

New Law: Highly Capable Education is Required
Celebration of Talent Conference
Summer Programs Update
Request: Testing & Appeals for Public Gifted Programs
Recent Articles
Recently Published Books

New Law: Highly  Capable Education is
Required

At long last, the new WAC (Washington Administrative Code) rules have been finalized that explain how school districts must comply to support  Highly Capable students. Many thanks to our colleagues at the Coalition for Gifted Education for helping  get this important legislation passed and implemented.

Here are some highlights:

"The legislature finds that, for highly capable students, access to accelerated learning and enhanced instruction is access to a basic education."

Districts must have a formal nomination,
assessment,  and appeal process to identify highly capable kids from grades K-12. Multiple  objective assessment criteria are required. 

Districts must find ways to meet students needs.   Many models are permitted: clustering, full time, part time, subject  acceleration, differentiation, etc. 

Districts must file a HiCap plan each year on July 1.

Districts are subject to a review from OSPI (Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction) every 5 years.

Celebration of Talent Conference

June 22, 2013 - Whitworth University 
9:00am - 3:15pm   

The second  annual "Celebration of Talent" Gifted Education Conference features 22 breakout
sessions and 26 presenters. Experts on gifted education  from throughout the Northwest will share their insights into this dynamic topic.  Breakout
sessions are being offered for children as young as four years of age  through high school age, for parents, as well as for educators who are looking for professional development in the field of gifted education, including strategies for challenging gifted students  in regular classrooms.
    
$50.00 for an entire family, $30.00 for individuals. 
Clock hours will be available!
 Registration

Summer Programs Update

We hear about new summer programs all the time (please keep sending your suggestions!)  Here are a few that caught our attention recently:

• Mathematical Adventures and Creative Computing Summer Day  Camps (Bellevue, WA) 
  http://www.pfmathcircle.org/PfSummerCamps2013.html
  
• Concordia Language Villages (Minnesota) Residential camps for total language immersion in 11 different languages. http://www.concordialanguagevillages.org
  
  
• Summer Genetics Program for High  School Students (Spokane, WA)  Spend three exciting weeks exploring the  world of molecular, diagnostic technology. Perform laboratory skills used by  medical professionals around the world. More info  Register
  
• Marrowstone-in-the-City, Youth Symphony 
   Orchestra (Seattle & Redmond, WA), Day
  camps for premier music instruction and orchestral  training. 
  http://www.marrowstone.org
  

Lots more on the big summer programs  list

Request: Testing & Appeals for Public  Gifted Programs

There are a number of us who have children who
have  individual IQ testing results (either because our kids were referred as  behavioral problems, from private school admissions, or other reasons) placing
  our children in the gifted category who nonetheless fail to get a required  score  on the CogAT to qualify for public school gifted programs. The appeals process  seems to be a murky no man's land for most of us!

Some of those kids get  bogged down by low processing speeds or working memory. Others by
perfectionism.  Others by the quirks of being gifted.

For those who have appealed or  sought accommodations for CogAT testing or gifted admissions, or know of people  who have, would you share your story with others? Please include accommodations  requested, data brought to an appeal, the result of the requests, and the school  district. Both successful and unsuccessful testing and
appeals stories are very  helpful. Email me your story and I'll compile and include a pointer in a future  newsletter. If you want to be extra anonymous, use a remailer to send your  message to me, but even if you don't, I'll keep your identify  confidential.

Mary Oemig
mary@oemig.com 

Recent Articles

This month's theme for articles is the  importance of developing persistence and study skills in gifted kids, by providing appropriate levels of challenge starting from an early age.
  
What is this "gifted" thing anyway?
 
The Key To Success: Grit (TED  Talk)
 
Coping 101: Building Persistence and Resilience in  Gifted Children

Praise effort, not intelligence
  
Interview with Dr. Carol Dweck: Developing a Growth  Mindset
 
Gifted Students Need Strong Study Habits  Too

 Ohio Study: 'Gifted' students need more classroom  instruction

Gifted is Not Always a Gift
 
The Misunderstood Face of Giftedness
  
The Most Troubling Myths about Gifted Kids --  Debunked

Recent Books

Giftedness 101

Malleable Minds: Translating Insights From Psychology  and Neuroscience to Gifted
Education
 
Looking for more reading?  
 Top 10 Books for Parents of Gifted  Kids