Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Donald Lueder
Committee Member
Carolyn S. Buckenmaier
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
academically gifted, achievers, administrators, archival data, building-level administrators, central office administrators, classroom performance, cooperative learning, creativity scores, discovery method, educators, elementary schools, exceptional abilities, exceptional child research, general education teachers, gifted education, gifted education programs, gifted education teachers, gifted traits checklist, goals, hands-on activities, higher order thinking skills, identification practices, instructional practices, interviews, IQ scores, lifelong learners, middle schools, multiple criteria, perceptions, program evaluation, purposes, school administrators, state mandates, students, Suffolk Public Schools, teacher recommendations, teaching methods, test scores
Abstract
Suffolk Public Schools implemented gifted education programs to meet the needs of students with exceptional abilities and to comply with state mandates. Baseline data were needed to complete an evaluation of these programs. This study sought to examine the perceptions of the gifted education programs among Suffolk Public Schools’ educators. Specifically, this study consisted of 23 interviews with central office and building-level administrators, gifted education teachers, and general education teachers on the elementary and middle school levels and review of archival data. Analysis of these data addressed the perceptions of the programs’ purposes, goals, identification practices, instructional practices, and expected outcomes among and within groups.
Findings in this study suggest that the sampled educators did not overwhelmingly agree on perceived purposes or goals for gifted education. The most frequently perceived purposes of gifted education were to challenge students, 39.1%, and to teach higher order thinking skills, 30.4%. Likewise, the most frequently perceived goals were to teach students thinking skills, 30.4%, and to challenge students, 26.0%. Additionally, all participants perceived that the identification practices for gifted education should include multiple criteria. Educators suggested that these criteria include the following: teacher recommendations, 56.5%; classroom performance, 47.8%; test scores, 43.5%; IQ and ability scores, 34.7%; a gifted traits checklist, 34.7%; and creativity scores, 30.4%. Moreover, 43.5% of sampled educators perceived the instructional practices to be used with gifted students to be the discovery method and teaching higher order thinking skills, and 26.1% perceived that cooperative learning and hands-on activities should also be used. The sampled educators gave more differing responses than similar responses. The results indicated that 34.8% of the sampled educators perceived that students should be achievers and 21.7% expected the students to be lifelong learners. These findings may be used to set a focus for the evaluation and future direction of gifted education programs in Suffolk Public Schools.