It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the dissolution of RIAGE. On November 14th, 2011 the Executive Board voted to dissolve the organization. The website will remain registered to serve as a resource for those seeking information regarding gifted and talented. Members who have paid membership in 2011 will be refunded. If you have not received a refund please contact me at chaslyn45@aol.com and I will process a reimbursement for you. All inquiries regarding specific gifted and talented services available in RI should be forwarded to Commissioner Gist at the Department of Education. 

I, personally, am unable to continue leading RIAGE. It has been an honor and pleasure meeting people throughout the state, trying to be a support for parents, teachers and children. I hope RIAGE has been of value to all who have sought support and understanding regarding gifted and talented. Gifted children need advocates. Don’t give up the fight!

Attend a Meeting with Commissioner Gist

Do you have someone in a RI public school? A son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandchild? Are you a concerned resident of the state of Rhode Island? If you have concerns about the public school system, please register and attend this important meeting. Ask questions. Get involved ! Our children need us to be involved! They think you are not interested in our children’s education. We need to fill the room. We need all your voices to make a strong statement.

Join Us on Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 6:00pm. Email to register at: ranonnie2@gmail.com or call the Office of Family and Community Engagement 401.456.0686

It’s all about CHILDREN !

The Early Enrollment Program
(EEP) at Rhode Island College

The following information on RIC’s Early Enrollment Program was found in the April 9, 2007 edition of What’s News @ Rhode Island College.

Begun in 1980, the EEP is a high school/RIC partnership that offers high school seniors and select juniors an opportunity to earn college credits while they complete their high school graduation requirements. High school instructors, who are approved by the respective college departments, teach RIC courses during the normal school day. The College is the conduit for earning course credit as there are over 75 colleges and universities from the east to the west coast involved in this partnership of accepting RIC credits. Providing a direct link between Rhode Island secondary schools and the RIC community, the EEP fosters an opportunity for collegial collaboration and has granted thousands of students college credits thus eliminating as much as one full semester of college work. RIC EEP is a member of the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships, which was established in 1999 to support and promote dual enrollment programs throughout the country.

For more information about the Early Enrollment Program, call 401-456-8857 or email: eep@ric.edu.

A three part article in the Psychology Today blog by Joseph Cardillo.

The author says, “It is my hope that this series of posts on gifted children helps answer some common questions for the parents of gifted youth, establish some camaraderie, dialogue, and strategy among us for nurturing them, and perhaps inspire our educators to seek more creative, cost-effective, and successful programming in our public and private educational systems.” Learn more…

Watch Capitol Access Episode 120: School for the Gifted.

Denis and Lydia interview Kate Baker Richards, founder and executive vice-chair of the nonprofit Scholars’ Academy NH, a private school for gifted children. Topics include identifying gifted children, the special needs of gifted children, and differing education methodologies.

It may seem contradictory, yet many gifted children struggle academically.

Some 33 to 50 percent of intellectually precocious children will fail at least once in their academic career. According to a 2003 study, a mere 40 percent of gifted children will complete an undergraduate degree or pursue graduate studies. The rest drop out.
Learn more…

Culture, Not Biology, Underpins Math Gender Gap

ScienceDaily (June 2, 2009) — For more than a century, the notion that females are innately less capable than males at doing mathematics, especially at the highest levels, has persisted in even the loftiest circles.

Now, however, in an analysis of contemporary data published June 1 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison report that the primary cause for the gender disparity in math performance at all levels is culture, not biology.

“It’s not an innate difference in math ability between males and females,” says Janet Mertz, a UW-Madison professor of oncology and one of the authors of the article that analyzes and summarizes recent data on math performance at all levels in the United States and internationally. “There are countries where the gender disparity in math performance doesn’t exist at either the average or gifted level. These tend to be the same countries that have the greatest gender equality.”

Poor, Bright Suffer from R.I.’s Neglect (PDF file)

Year after year, Rhode Island lags far behind other states in supporting high-ability learners. Our state’s gifted-education policy was last revised in 1982, requires no specialized instruction for gifted students and – perhaps most telling – dedicates not a single dollar to gifted education. Teachers are not required to have any training in gifted education, and even the part-time state position focused on gifted has sat vacant for more than a year.

As of the most recent state report card issued by the National Association for Gifted Children, Rhode Island ranks at the bottom in nearly all categories, earning the state the dubious label of “most in need” with regard to critical indicators of quality gifted-education. Diana Reeves, Providence Journal 6/09/08

A one-size-fits-all approach to learning doesn’t suit today’s classrooms

It is our duty to nurture and celebrate potential in gifted and talented children.

I manage gifted and talented provision in 30 schools, and I see examples of how it provides opportunities for all children and offers challenges appropriate to their individual needs every day. The government’s personalised learning policy correctly regards children who are significantly ahead of their peers as having their own special needs, which are of a different variety to those associated with learning and behavioural difficulties, says Jane Maguire, in The Guardian, 9/30/08.

School is a largely meaningless exercise for our highest-performing students.

Instead of eagerly anticipating a new beginning, most gifted students suffer through the first half of the school year in a state of boredom as their days are wasted with needless reviews of subject matter they’ve already mastered. Often, these learners see the holidays come and go before they are presented with challenging new material.

Some parents may view this scenario and think “if my child were only so lucky.” The reality, however, is that our failure to address this alarming underinvestment in our nation’s education system leaves us vulnerable and ill-prepared for the future. — Sally M. Reis 09/14/08