NMAG News June 2015 - New Mexico Association for the Gifted

June 2015
Volume 11
(2)
www.nmgifted.org
Table of Contents
•
•
NAGC Affiliate
Conference Report page 1
NAGC Annual
Conference RideShare Information page 2
•
NMAG President’s
Letter - page 3
•
U.S. Department of
Education Waiver for
New Mexico - page 4
•
Gifted Education
around NM: San Juan
Chapter Conference page 4
•
National News Links
- pages 5
•
NMAG Membership
Information - page 5
Volume 11, No. 2
NAGC Affiliate Conference:
March 21-24, Washington,
DC
Highlights
By Christy Jewell-Roth, President-Elect, and Dr. PJ Sedillo,
Legislative and Higher Education Liaison
We were proud to represent New Mexico at the National
Association for Gifted Children State Affiliate Conference held
in Washington, DC, in late March. With advocates from states
across the country, we discussed local and national issues
affecting gifted education. On the last day of the conference, we
visited Capitol Hill and met with New Mexico lawmakers and
their staff to lobby for gifted legislation before Congress.
Specifically, we urged Senators and House members to support
legislation known as the TALENT Act that would help close the
“excellence gap” between high-achieving students from
disadvantaged backgrounds and their more affluent peers. It
would do so by reforming how the learning progress of highachieving students is tracked and reported each year and by
ensuring federal teacher training dollars can be used to support
gifted education teachers.
We also applauded Congress for doubling funding for the Jacob
Javits Gifted Education Grant Program last year and urged
continued strong support for this initiative in next year’s (FY
2016) budget. The Javits program funds applied research
conducted by universities throughout the nation to develop best
practices for identifying and serving high-achieving students
from populations traditionally under-represented in gifted
education programs.
New Mexico Association for the Gifted Newsletter
1
June 2015
NMAG Executive Board
President:
Geoffrey Moon, Gallup McKinley
County Schools
President Elect:
Christy Jewell-Roth, Albuquerque
Public Schools
Recording Secretary:
J Ortiz, Española Schools Treasurer:
Bonnie LaCourt, Albuquerque
Public Schools
Membership:
Darryl Bryant, Menaul School,
Albuquerque
Publicity:
Steve Heil, Gallup McKinley
County Schools
Legislative and Higher Education
Liaison
Dr. PJ Sedillo, New Mexico
Highlands University
Newsletter Editor:
Sara Dean, Farmington
Volume 11, No. 2
In the evenings, we were able to travel on the Metro and see
some of what DC has to offer. We enjoyed a powerful and
moving musical entitled, “Freedom’s Song,” performed at
Ford’s Theater. The musical tells the story of Lincoln’s
presidency, the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, in
commemoration of the 150th anniversary since his death. We
were also able to enjoy a variety of ethnic foods offered
throughout the DC area.
Our experience there has energized us for gifted education work
here in New Mexico. Please visit the following links to read
more about the issues we discussed and the conference itself.
Cory Messenger, a Javits Frasier Scholar from New Mexico,
will be interviewed for the next issue of this newsletter (see p.
4.)
(Parts of this article were taken directly from an NAGC press
release.)
Links:
http://www.excellencegap.org/initiatives/state-report.html
State Report: Policies Failing Bright, Low-Income Students
http://edexcellence.net/publications/common-core-andamericas-high-achieving-students Common Core and
America's High-Achieving Students
http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/nation_empowered/ A
Nation Empowered-Evidence Trumps the Excuses Holding
Back America’s Brightest Students
Ride Share Sign-up for NAGC Conference
NAGC’s 2015 National Convention is in Phoenix from
November 12- 15! If you would like to provide or share a ride,
please send an email with “Ride Share to Phoenix” in the subject
line to nmgifted@gmail.com.
Conference link: http://www.nagc.org/education-training/nagcannual-convention-exhibition
New Mexico Association for the Gifted Newsletter
2
June 2015
Letter from the President:
Teacher Evaluations
Many of my friends are teachers. In New
Mexico, we've all received our annual
performance reviews, based on observations of
the Danielson teaching characteristics, classroom
surveys, and in some cases, value added
modeling of test results or "VAM" scores. Some
were given their evaluations just days ago, in the
final hours of the school year.
Talk of those evaluations has dominated end-ofyear parties, walks, and phone conversations,
because most of my friends are either
disheartened by the results and/or disillusioned
about the validity of the whole system.
Some of the results of those performance
reviews:
• An English teacher rated highly effective. She
has taught seniors for many years, so has no
test results as part of her evaluation.
• An art teacher who was rated highly effective.
Comparing his evaluation to those of his fellow
art teacher, who received a lesser score, he
found that the other teacher had higher test
scores, and that they had comparable
observation ratings from a principal who does
not seem to know or care about art.
• A multi-endorsed teacher rated effective.
Despite his "acceptable" rating, he was
dissatisfied to find his score depressed because
many high tests scores from past years were
not included in his evaluation. If they were he,
like some other teachers in his building, might
being given the opportunity to move up the
licensure and pay scale.
• A third-grade teacher rated minimally
effective. While her observation scores were
admirable, the VAM sample of 5 students' test
results were very low, dragging her overall
score down. This, despite a year when she
usually arrived to school at 6 am and coNew Mexico Association for the Gifted Newsletter
Volume 11, No. 2
planned on Sundays with a teacher next door
who was rated effective.
• A fourth grade teacher rated ineffective. For
years, she has generally been regarded as
among the best elementary school teachers in
my district.
I won't tell you what my evaluation mark was,
except to say that it pleased me. Based on my
friends' experiences, it was evident that it would
have been lower if I had spent all my time
teaching in the classroom instead of performing
professional development for others, and it would
have been depressed if it included VAM scores.
My wife also told me she thought my principal
was softer than hers. She's probably right.
Given these cautionary tales, we should be
careful about how much we allow our
evaluations to affect us. We should not judge
ourselves based on small samples of data that do
not reflect the scope of our work. We should also
not compare ourselves to each other with a
system using tests of different levels of quality,
samples of different and questionable size, and
evaluators who may or may not understand our
disciplines.
So what do we do with all this information? We
should treat ourselves as we treat our students!
We should admonish ourselves that, regardless of
rating, like every student, we can and will grow.
We should find a grain or spoon or cupful of salt
to take these evaluations with (even if they are
favorable), and find something in them to learn
from. We should examine what we feel about this
evaluation system and its results, and then let it
go so it doesn't consume our precious summer
rest.
And then we should place a bookmark in our
hearts for the Fall, to remember when we return
that we teachers are important, smart, influential,
and strong in number, then band together to
improve this system so it actually helps us be
better at what we do.
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June 2015
The U.S. Department of Education will
allow New Mexico to use results from
its teacher-evaluation system to meet
No Child Left Behind Act staffing
requirement.
New Mexico is the first state to be granted a
waiver of exemption from the “highly qualified
teacher” requirement of No Child Left Behind.
NMAG members are encouraged to follow this
issue with consideration of its implications for
gifted education. Please follow the links below
for more details about this landmark decision.
http://ped.state.nm.us/ped/TopNewsDocs/NM
%20Receives%20HQT%20Waiver_Press
%20Release%205-12-15.pdf
http://krqe.com/2015/05/13/new-mexico-getswaiver-on-teacher-requirements/
Read the letter from Deborah S. Delisle,
Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of
Education to Hannah Skandera, New Mexico’s
Secretary of Education:
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/
New%20Mexico%20HQT%20Waiver
%20Request%20Response%20Letter.pdf
Coming in the August issue:
An interview with Cory Messenger of Eagle
Ridge Middle School in Rio Rancho about his
award from the Javits-Frasier Teacher
Scholarship Fund for Diverse Talent
Development. He attended the NAGC
Conference in 2014.
http://www.nagc.org/about-nagc/nagc-awardsscholarships/javits-frasier-scholarship-diversetalent-development
New Mexico Association for the Gifted Newsletter
Volume 11, No. 2
San Juan Chapter - NMAG Conference
Highlights
On April 14, the San Juan Chapter of NMAG
presented its 4th Annual Conference entitled
"Giftedness and the Real World" at the Sycamore
Park Community Center in Farmington. Over
thirty-five teachers and parents attended,
representing all four school districts in the
county.
Keynote Speaker Dr. Amy McConnell Franklin,
in her presentation entitled "Pedagogical
practices to develop emotion-related skills in
gifted students," guided her audience to consider
the three dimensions of emotional intelligence:
awareness, intention and choice. She led group
activities to engage everyone in the practice of
identifying these aspects for themselves and then
facilitated discussions about how to help teachers
and parents guide their students and children to
discover these components for themselves.
Dr. Franklin’s keynote was funded by an award
from the Land of Enchantment Teacher Quality
Partnership Grant.
For the rest of the day, conference registrants
attended break-out sessions with titles such as
"Overexcitabilities - the Good, the Bad, and the
Just Plain Weird," "High School Enrichment
Seminars," "Optimism: A Foundational Skill for
Compassionate, Accountable Decision Making,"
"Cooperative Group Problem Solving," and
"Empowering Entrepreneurial Spirits for the 21st
Century: An Interest Development Center.”
The final session featured a student panel of
alumni of the San Juan Mentors program who
participated with the audience in a lively question
and answer period about their experiences with
local mentors in fields such as cardiology,
pediatric medicine, flight nursing, Air Care flight,
graphic design and advertising.
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June 2015
Volume 11, No. 2
National News Links:
National News Links, continued:
Playing games develops social skills for
students
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/
2015/04/30/401980669/skip-a-grade-startkindergarten-early-its-not-so-easy
It is often said that life is not a game, but a new
program funded by the Copperas Cove Education
Foundation teaches students lifelong skills
through gaming.
IDEA Applies To ‘Twice Exceptional’
Students, Too
http://kdhnews.com/copperas_cove_herald/news/
education/playing-games-develops-social-skillsfor-students/article_4a6bfbc4-c87b-11e4bb01-8f7acb07d7a7.html
How does a teacher’s race affect which
students get to be identified as ‘gifted’?
Black students are more likely to be identified as
“gifted” when they attend schools with higher
proportions of black teachers, according to a new
study, and Latino students are more likely to be
called gifted when they go to schools with more
Latino teachers.
The study doesn’t get at why there is such a
correlation, but it adds another layer to a longsimmering debate about why black and Latino
children are less likely to be called “gifted” than
their white and Asian peers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/
2015/04/22/how-does-a-teachers-race-affectwhich-students-get-to-be-identified-as-gifted/
Skip A Grade? Start Kindergarten Early? It's
Not So Easy
There may be benefits to allowing advanced
students to enter kindergarten early, to skip a
grade or take a course above their grade level,
according to two recent reports. However, 20
states have policies that prohibit early enrollment
in kindergarten, one study found.
New Mexico Association for the Gifted Newsletter
The U.S. Department of Education recently sent
a reminder memorandum to states saying districts
must provide services to "twice exceptional"
students under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act. Federal officials say they have
received complaints that some districts are
reluctant to evaluate students with intellectual
gifts, who also have emotional or mental-health
issues
http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2015/05/01/ideatwice-exceptional/20260/
TAG program pushes county students to reach
next level
A Virginia school district meets the needs of its
students in gifted education through various
enrichment and in-classroom supports.
Elementary students work with gifted-education
specialists during the school's intervention
period, and specialists work with middle- and
high-school teachers to enhance their regular
classroom lessons.
http://www.richmond.com/news/local/centralvirginia/powhatan/powhatan-today/
article_2952e1b8-f397-11e4babb-9b8ad6f8e30b.html
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June 2015
Volume 11, No. 2
N.J. district revives gifted-education program
A New Jersey school district has re-established
its gifted and talented education program with the
launch of a middle-school program. Students
have been engaged in hands-on learning projects
such as engineering a bridge and writing a book.
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2015/05/
rebirth_of_gifted_and_talented_program_works_
to_en.html
How poverty can affect gifted education
Educators and researchers are reviewing testing
profiles and programs to better meet the unique
needs of students with intellectual gifts who also
live in poverty. This article highlights some of the
challenges and programs aimed at serving such
students.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/05/20/
poorest-students-often-miss-out-on-gifted.html
Become a Member of NMAG
http://nmgifted.org/membershipapplications.html
New Mexico Association for the Gifted Newsletter
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