Chicago Public Schools Gifted Programs Testing For Mold

1. What Is The Gifted Program
2. Chicago Public Schools Gifted Programs Testing For Mold Control

CHICAGO, Feb. 20— Inside the peeling walls of Crane High School, surrounded by housing projects and too many gangs to count, the eight members in Joyce Oatman's senior class of gifted students discuss logic and reasoning. They have risked being taunted and beaten - they have even ducked rifle fire - to get to school. They come from poor families without fathers and neighborhoods where few people care what calculus is. Many of them can barely scrape up the 50 cents for the student discount bus fare each morning. So the block letters on a wall above them spell out a fitting imperative: 'Never Never Never Quit.'

' The class is part of a small but growing effort to identify and nurture bright inner-city students who may do poorly on standardized tests and are often overlooked in conventional gifted programs. Their talents can be hard to discern, experts say, because of deficiencies in urban education, the inability of poorly educated parents to help and a lack of exposure to mainstream culture. While students in other gifted programs travel to Europe or seek perfect scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, Mrs. Oatman's class spends much of its time building self-esteem so that the students will have the determination to return the next day. Along with holding the early-morning class three days a week, Mrs.

Oatman enrolls them in Crane's most rigorous courses and has taken them for the first time in their lives to the opera, to museums and on retreats, usually paid for out of her own pocket or with the small amount of money she manages to raise from local businesses and organizations. Oatman's students take advanced classes with about 150 other Crane students who are bound for college and study advanced mathematics and writing at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago every Saturday. But the centerpiece of the program is the class in logic, philosophy and deductive and inductive reasoning where the students hone their cognitive skills with exercises like these: 'P implies Q is false if P is true and Q is false' or 'P implies Q is true if P is true and Q is true' or 'If we have rain, then we have clouds.' ' The students in the class have to overcome not only a lingering perception among some teachers and administrators that poor black students cannot excel, but also complicated lives that offer an array of distractions from studying. Pull of Street Gangs The entire gifted class, for instance, had to come together last year to pull Elliot Jones, the trigonometry ace, out of a street gang.

Theophilous Davis, the calculus whiz, has sent college applications only to the schools that can accommodate his girlfriend and the baby they are expecting in April. And nearly every day, the class salutatorian, Melinda Sargent, worries about things that other gifted students can take for granted.

'These other students don't wake up in the morning, like I do sometimes,' she said, 'and wonder, 'Man, how am I going to get to school today? I don't have the bus fare.' ' For most of them, just reaching school is dangerous, partly because their special status creates resentment among other students.

'The problem is getting there and getting back home so you can get there the next day,' said Mr. Davis, who has been attacked several times on his way to school, once by assailants wielding baseball bats. He got away without serious injury.

Several of the students live in housing projects where rival gang members shoot at adversaries from the roofs, and some of the students have been walking past when the shootings occurred. Davis said six of his friends had been killed since grade school. First Graduates in June Despite the odds, Mrs. Oatman's class is now in its third year and this June will have its first graduates. All have been accepted in college. In the 11th, 10th and 9th grades, she has 29 other gifted students. Students for traditional gifted programs are found, often in early childhood, primarily through standardized test scores, which experts say are not the only indicators of aptitude for inner-city children.

'We've learned that you have to look beyond the test scores,' said Dr. Frasier, director of the Torrance Center for Creative Studies at the University of Georgia and a past president of the National Association for Gifted Children. She cited programs similar to Mrs.

Oatman's in Cincinnati and Little Rock, Ark. 'We can't take the traditional paradigm and to try to mold these kids to fit the model,' Dr. Frasier said. 'One of the greatest problems is identifying these children, because people do not believe that there are gifted children in this population. The question is, do we expect them to come to us perfectly well formed or do we recognize that there will be some gaps to be filled?'

' A Search for Students Indeed, Mrs. Oatman at first had a tough time finding students when her choices were based merely on test scores. So she began canvassing teachers at Crane, and then at local grade schools as well, asking them about the students who stood out in other ways. Oatman, a chemistry and college preparatory teacher at Crane for 30 years, said she was almost ready to quit teaching before she attended a counseling workshop three years ago and got the idea for the program. 'I knew the kids were bright and could do better,' Mrs. 'I knew I wasn't getting all I could get out of these kids. But I didn't know what to do.'

' She said of her search: 'Now I look for the students who are jumping up and down in their seats to ask questions, who never stop talking, who cut class for a week and then come in and blow the test away, who cut up because they're bored out of their skull. Those are the kids I want.' ' The daughter of teachers, Mrs. Oatman herself said she had never heard the term 'gifted' while going to all-black schools in Charleston, W.Va. Her optimism about her students now defies the school's discouraging statistics. Crane's senior class measures in the bottom one-fifth nationally on achievement tests, according to the Chicago Board of Education.

On any given day, a third of the 1,100 students are absent from school. More than one out of four freshmen eventually drop out, and fewer than one in five students say they plan to go to college. Offering Encouragement Once Mrs. Oatman finds her students, she never misses a chance to encourage them, constantly reminding them of how smart they are, buying cookies for them when their grades go up and signing remarks in the margins of their papers with the words, 'Love, J.

' 'There's a whole lot of 'you-can-do-it' encouragement,' Mrs. 'When they hear it enough, they finally begin to believe it.' ' Crane's gifted class is the only such program in Chicago, where much of the emphasis and most of the best and brightest students go to the city's four schools with enriched programs or to those in affluent neighborhoods, leaving inner-city schools like Crane with little more than the basics. The gifted student program at Crane is 'remedial in many ways,' said Charles Beirne, coordinator of Chicago's gifted high school programs, 'because they're not getting those skills in elementary schools or this kind of experience at home.'

' Measure of Success Cited But as a measure of the success of the program, Mrs. Oatman said the average score on the American College Test, or ACT, for her gifted students is now 17.3, as against 10.9 among all college-bound students at Crane and 14.3 for all college-bound students in Chicago public schools. The national average score was 18.6 last year. Beirne said he would like to see Mrs. Oatman's program duplicated, although there are no immediate plans to do so.

'You would have to have a teacher with the same kind of enthusiasm as Joyce Oatman,' Mr. 'We haven't found them yet, but we have not yet done a search.' ' Most of Mrs.

What Is The Gifted Program

Oatman's students' parents are high school dropouts who may want their children to be exposed to cultural and intellectual activities but do not know where to begin. The parents say they cannot keep up with what their children are learning. 'All I do is look,' said Theophilous's mother, Portia Davis, who dropped out of high school and now works as a typist. She credits Mrs. Oatman with inspiring the children. 'There are so many detours they can take and our environment is not that great, so she's a blessing,' Mrs. 'You need someone who knows the right buttons to push to bring out what you have.'

' Derision From Others The students face derision from others at Crane and turn to one another for support. The class valedictorian, Sabrena Thurmond, for example, stands out not only because of her grades but because she is the only girl in her homeroom who has not become pregnant. 'I don't tell people I'm gifted, especially students around here,' Ms. Thurmond said. 'They always try to put us down.' ' Part of the problem, said a classmate, Ms. Sargent, is 'most black students think that gifted only applies to white students.'

' But the lessons on self-esteem seem to be taking hold among Mrs. Oatman's students. They have each been keeping journals, and Lamart Clay recently wrote in his about the progress he has made since joining the gifted program. 'I have learned that some of me is not perfect,' he said, 'but parts of me are excellent.'

' Photo: Joyce Oatman's class of gifted students at Crane HIgh School in Chicago is part of a small but growing effort to nurture bright inner-city jstudents who may do poorly on standardized tests and are often overlooked for conventional gifted programs. From the left were Elliot Jones, Ms. Oatman, Melinda Sargent and Sabrena Thurmond. Alleight members of the senior class have been accepted to college. (The New York Times/Jonathan Kirn) (pg.

Dear all,I have a son currently in Montessori school even he is not even in kindergarten until this Aug but he know multiplication & divsion well and is reading grade 3 books, writing short story, etc. I am planning to let him going to public elementary school next year. I am worry he will get boring and cause trouble if he needs to go back to do addition and learn simple words.I did some research and find most public schools have gifted program for kids who have higher academic level.

I am looking into Barrington, Palatine, Buffalo Grove area. I just wonder whether have anyone who have kids in those gifted programs and want to share your experience? If he's that advanced in math, writing and reading, you may want to consider having him tested soon.

I would look into Avery Coonley in Downers Grove, Science and Arts academy in Des Plaines, or Quest in Palatine. There are also public schools in the Chicago public school system that are magnet schools that might suit your needs. I've heard some people say they aren't impressed by Quest.I'm not sure many public schools, even the most well regarded ones, are equipped to serve highly gifted students. My district (NSSD 112) has a significant number of very high performing students, but there is no full time enrichment program.

I'm not saying they wouldn't do what they could to provide what your son needs, it just might not be enough for you. I assume other districts are similar. It sounds like your son is very talented for his age. But please note the way some Montessori schools assess and teach multiplication and other math skills can be VERY different from public school curriculum. Your son will still need to learn times tables and other skills that are not taught in classic Montessori curriculum.

Not to say its not an excellent foundation/program - my children were in a Montessori program - but it is different, and so while its sounds like he will be ahead of his peers, exactly what areas he will be ahead need to be evaluated - some skill areas he may be closer to grade level than others. Thank you for all your replies.I haven’t asked the teacher yet since it is still a year away before he goes to grade school. Currently the teacher give him the next level materials to work on.

I don’t think my boy is special since I believe some kids are doing the same thing.A lot of stuffs actually he learn from outside of school. He loves letters and numbers since he was a baby so I usually take him to library every week since he was 2 and checkout books and play games or I aslo take him to go to museum sometimes. Some of stuffs he learn from himself by reading books.

I bought him workbooks since he like doing workbook and think it is a game. I still have to pull him out of toilet every day because he spend too much time on reading even he is done.

He is master of times table since I taught him that and he think it is a numbering game.However, I think he is still a normal kid but some of academic area are more advance so that I try to find a public school with better gifted program can teach him based on the level he is at; otherwise, he will cause trouble when he lost interest. Hough Street School in Barrington has an excellent program.Agree. IMO, this is one of the most well-regarded gifted schools in the state (if not the country). I have children at this school and researched it thoroughly B4 moving to Barrington. Admittance to this program typically requires top 1/2% - 1% on natl.

Achievement in Math and/or Verbal composite scores on Cogat, WISC-R and sometimes MAPS (assessment) testing as well as interviews by psychologists. Rather than testing skills like multiplication/division, the IQ tests focus on assessing learning aptitude and assess abstract, verbal and spatial reasoning abilities.I also researched/toured Science & Arts Academy (SAA), Avery Coonley and Quest (as well as Da Vinci and Einstein Academies in Elgin). IMO, if you reside in Barrington and your child qualifies for Hough, it is a superior (and free) program to the private schools. However, the private schools will still accept kids who are in the top 5-10% in testing (usually ANY 1 IQ or assessment test is accepted) and whose parents can afford the $15K+ price tag. Kids who wouldn't qualify for their district's gifted program (or who reside in a district without a good gifted program) may still qualify for these private schools.Of the private gifted schools mentioned, I'd recommend SAA as, when I researched it, it enabled the most differentiated/accelerated instructional plan for each child.

At the time, children were in mixed, multi-age classes for all subjects except social studies. I was also impressed by the founder and teachers who are very active in Natl. Gifted Foundations and continuing education.My kids have also been involved in the Northwestern Center for Talent Summer programs which are excellent.p.s.

Want to add that, in each Barrington school, there is also a daily pull-out gifted Math AND Reading program starting in 2nd/3rd grade. Each elementary school has a specialized gifted teacher (and separate gifted classroom) for these classes which usually contain 7 to 15 students. Kids who are in the top 5% on testing (Cogat, MAPS) and receive teacher recommendation qualify for the pull-out programs.

IMO this is also an excellent program. Both the Hough self-contained program and the elementary school pull-out Math and Reading programs (which are 2 to 4 years ahead of grade curriculum) prepare students to enter the same advanced/honors program in the middle schools which feed into the High School AP programs. Barrington H.S. Has a high number (compared to other Il schools) of AP courses as well as both a Traditional and Theoretical AP Math track that addresses highly gifted math students.Since I've had kids in these Barrington gifted programs, I'd be happy to answer any other questions you may have on this.

IMO, this is one of the most well-regarded gifted schools in the state (if not the country). I have children at this school and researched it thoroughly B4 moving to Barrington. Admittance to this program typically requires top 1/2% - 1% on natl. Achievement in Math and/or Verbal composite scores on Cogat, WISC-R and sometimes MAPS (assessment) testing as well as interviews by psychologists. Rather than testing skills like multiplication/division, the IQ tests focus on assessing learning aptitude and assess abstract, verbal and spatial reasoning abilities.I also researched/toured Science & Arts Academy (SAA), Avery Coonley and Quest (as well as Da Vinci and Einstein Academies in Elgin). IMO, if you reside in Barrington and your child qualifies for Hough, it is a superior (and free) program to the private schools. However, the private schools will still accept kids who are in the top 5-10% in testing (usually ANY 1 IQ or assessment test is accepted) and whose parents can afford the $15K+ price tag.

Kids who wouldn't qualify for their district's gifted program (or who reside in a district without a good gifted program) may still qualify for these private schools.Of the private gifted schools mentioned, I'd recommend SAA as, when I researched it, it enabled the most differentiated/accelerated instructional plan for each child. At the time, children were in mixed, multi-age classes for all subjects except social studies. I was also impressed by the founder and teachers who are very active in Natl. Gifted Foundations and continuing education.My kids have also been involved in the Northwestern Center for Talent Summer programs which are excellent.p.s. Want to add that, in each Barrington school, there is also a daily pull-out gifted Math AND Reading program starting in 2nd/3rd grade. Each elementary school has a specialized gifted teacher (and separate gifted classroom) for these classes which usually contain 7 to 15 students. Kids who are in the top 5% on testing (Cogat, MAPS) and receive teacher recommendation qualify for the pull-out programs.

IMO this is also an excellent program. Both the Hough self-contained program and the elementary school pull-out Math and Reading programs (which are 2 to 4 years ahead of grade curriculum) prepare students to enter the same advanced/honors program in the middle schools which feed into the High School AP programs. Barrington H.S. Has a high number (compared to other Il schools) of AP courses as well as both a Traditional and Theoretical AP Math track that addresses highly gifted math students.Since I've had kids in these Barrington gifted programs, I'd be happy to answer any other questions you may have on this.I realize this thread is really old, but I am currently trying to figure out schooling for our son. He is currently at a playbased preschool program in Oak Park, which is definitely not working out.We had him evaluated, and he tested well into the gifted range, which explains some of his behavior and personality traits.We are looking at different schools, and while Science and Arts looks magnificent, I don't know that our second would get in as well, and also, well, it costs quite a bit of money.I guess my question with regards to the Barrington gifted program is whether it is still up and running as described? A lot of the suburbs seem to be cutting or planning to cut the gifted, enrichment options.Does anyone have any information on what's going on with Barrington's gifted program?

Chicago Public Schools Gifted Programs Testing For Mold Control

If I could pick a parents' brain about this, I would so appreciate it.wolfe dot ayleen at gmail dot com.