Chapter 5: Personnel

Staff Development | Staff Responsibilities | Recommendations for Parents

Staff Development

Chapter 16 requires that professional personnel be certified individuals responsible for identifying gifted students, and providing gifted education. In-service training must be provided by school districts and intermediate units for gifted and regular teachers, principals, administrators and support staff persons responsible for gifted education. (22 Pa. Code §16.5)

Staff Development

Chapter 16 regulations require that each school district's Gifted Education Plan developed under Chapter 4: Academic Standards and Assessment include procedures for the education of all gifted students enrolled in the district. The plan must be developed to ensure the implementation of Gifted Individualized Education Plans (GIEP).

Chapter 16 requires specific reporting components. These components are to be included in the Gifted Education Plan required under Chapter 4 and that has been defined as part of the Comprehensive Planning:

School districts must include procedures for the identification and education of all gifted students enrolled in the district. (22 Pa. Code §16.4)
School districts must provide reports of students, personnel and program elements including cost of the elements, which are relevant to the delivery of gifted education. (22 Pa. Code §16.4)
School districts, in their professional development plans, must include a description of their efforts for professional development and continuing education of all school district staff, which would include teachers of mentally gifted students. (22 Pa. Code §4.13(a), §49.17)

In order for specially designed instruction to be effective, it is necessary for both gifted education teachers and regular education teachers to be knowledgeable about gifted education, supported with continuing professional development and involved in formulating staff development.

Staff development will be an ongoing, systemic process. Educators enter and exit this cycle of professional development based on previous knowledge, experience and their need for information as it relates to their role in the education of gifted learners. School districts should encourage attendance at appropriate state, regional and national gifted conferences and teleconferences. Staff development may include visitations to other districts' gifted programs. To have an effective service delivery options for the gifted students, administrators, counselors, librarians, psychologists and other support personnel must also receive training in gifted education.

Professional development should:

Promote an understanding of Chapter 16: Special Education for Gifted Students.
Promote awareness of gifted student characteristics and learning needs.
Include procedures for identification of the gifted.
Increase positive attitudes toward gifted students and their unique qualities.
Expand teachers' knowledge of content appropriate for gifted students' learning.
Generate enthusiasm for curriculum differentiation.
Build repertoire of teaching strategies that maximize potential for gifted behavior.
Enhance skills for teaching and advising the very able and talented.
Assist with the development of specially designed instruction according to Gifted Individualized Education Plans.
Promote an understanding of current research and trends affecting programming for the gifted.
Integrate gifted education within the total school curriculum.
Nurture a collaborative spirit and skills among professional educators, families and community members.
Provide to teachers information about resources for facilitating learning.
Contribute to the overall mission of renewal and revitalization of education throughout the total school program.
Develop evaluation techniques for student progress and plan effectiveness.

Teachers of gifted students should have ample time for preparation, teacher-to-teacher contact, Gifted Multidisciplinary Evaluation involvement, Gifted Individualized Education Plan development and parent conferences. When teachers are assigned to teach or direct the learning experiences for gifted students, there should be evidence that they are trained and able to fulfill this assignment. When regular education and gifted education teachers are working together, their roles need to be clearly defined. All teachers need appropriate support, reasonable schedules, adequate materials, technology assistance and appropriate training.

The Appendix contains sources of current materials for professional development.

Staff Responsibilities

Intermediate Unit/District Administrators are expected to:

Understand and be committed to meeting the unique cognitive and affective needs of the students who are identified as gifted.
Implement the Chapter 16 regulations and the school district's policy and procedures for conducting the Gifted Multidisciplinary Team assessment, Gifted Individualized Education Plan team meetings and program implementation.
Implement and maintain a range of service delivery options needed to meet each individual gifted student's goals and objectives.
Implement the ongoing K-12 identification procedure and provide information to teachers, parents and counselors for use in nominating students.
Assist in the development of a grading and credit system for accelerated work and enrichment projects.
Provide appropriate space, materials, resources and flexible student scheduling for gifted learners.
Provide the necessary structure that supports regular and gifted education teachers in the implementation of each student's Gifted Individualized Education Plan goals and objectives.
Nurture a collaborative spirit among professional educators, families and community members that support gifted education.
Integrate gifted education within the total school curriculum.
Oversee the implementation of the course of studies that provide for instructional differentiation for the gifted students.
Oversee the implementation of the Gifted Individualized Education Plan goals, objectives and specially designed instruction.
Interview and recommend applicants for teaching positions for the gifted based on pre- determined and appropriate criteria.
Identify the staff's current levels of understanding of gifted education, conduct a needs assessment and plan staff development accordingly.
Maintain communication with and provide written public information to parents, administrators, teachers, and community.
Define and coordinate roles, responsibilities and schedules of all school personnel involved in the education of gifted students.
Assist in the design and implementation of a system for evaluating program and curriculum effectiveness for the gifted.

Classroom Teachers implementing a gifted student's specially designed instruction are expected to:

Understand the characteristics, learning styles, cognitive and affective needs of gifted students.
Participate in gifted education professional development activities.
Have knowledge of and implement Chapter 16 regulations.
Be knowledgeable of the contents of each gifted student's Gifted Individualized Education Plan.
Deliver flexible, individualized and academically challenging curriculum based on specific student needs.
Vary the rate of instruction and vary the degree of complexity of the content.
Use a diagnostic-prescriptive approach for educational planning that allows for determination of the degree to which teaching and learning activities should be differentiated appropriately for each gifted student.
Make curricular modifications based on students' strengths, interests, abilities and achievement levels, as well as their learning styles.
Provide a variety of instructional options when mastery is demonstrated in core curriculum areas.
Permit gifted students to make continuous progress by testing out of previously mastered material.
Contribute to the Gifted Multidisciplinary Evaluation and to the development/implementation of the Gifted Individualized Education Plan for each student.
Understand how to guide students and actively involve them in independent learning.
Emphasize the process of learning and the production of creative work, as well as, emphasis on advanced content.
Allow for interdisciplinary opportunities.
Understand and demonstrate the ability to compact curriculum to accommodate individual gifted instructional levels, i.e., student credit by examination.
Be flexible, open to new ideas and nurture creativity.
Seek out diverse resources, advanced materials or unusual opportunities for student use.
Provide regularly scheduled opportunities to work with other gifted students of similar abilities and interest.
Encourage independent thinking, including the capacity to deal with varied and different points of view.
Use flexible cluster-grouping of gifted students as needed.
Provide gifted students with a sense of social awareness, a direction for using their leadership capabilities and a realization of the responsibilities attached to their unique intellectual abilities.
Foster an open, non-punitive atmosphere where differences of opinions can be expressed, intellectual activity valued, precise thinking encouraged and creativity promoted.

Counselors, School Psychologists, Gifted Multidisciplinary Team/Gifted Individualized Education Plan members are expected to:

Be familiar with regulations relating to educating the gifted students.
Understand the characteristics, the learning levels and the social and emotional needs of the gifted students.
Play an active role in screening, identification, placement and continual assessment of the gifted students.
Participate regularly in gifted education professional development.
Assist with and support the implementation of comprehensive individual planning.
Provide guidance for gifted students, which will help them to make thoughtful long-range decisions about school and career choices, beginning in the elementary years.

Full-time Teachers of the Mentally Gifted are expected to:

Have specialized preparation in gifted education.
Understand the appropriate use of differentiated content and instructional methods.
Be involved in ongoing gifted education professional development.
Possess exemplary personal and professional traits.

Gifted Enrichment Programs Staffing Policy

The policy of the Burea22 Pa. Code §16.5
Professional personnel shall consist of certified individuals responsible for identifying gifted students and providing gifted education in accordance with Article XI of the School Code and Title 22 of the Pennsylvania Code.
Therefore, public school certification is required, but a specific certificate is not designated for a gifted enrichment program. An instructional certificate may be used at any grade level for the enrichment program. Any gifted program for which a grade is given for an advanced ("gifted") course would fall under different parameters and require a certificate specific to the content and grade level.

Consideration should be given to the following when hiring a teacher of the gifted:

All personnel working with the gifted should be certified to teach in the area to which they are assigned and should be aware of the unique learning differences and needs of gifted learners at that grade level.
An Instructional II certificate or other evidence of experience is preferred. It is possible for a beginning teacher to be an excellent teacher of the gifted when he/she possesses most of the characteristics described and has proper gifted education in-service, continuing education or training programs to help understand the needs and characteristics of gifted students and appropriate curricula.

Teachers of the gifted are encouraged to stay actively involved in professional development in the field of gifted education through a graduate degree program, graduate coursework or informal training such as institutes, intermediate unit continuing education, distance learning or district in-service programs.

While the certification policy represents minimum requirements, in order to provide the best service to gifted students, districts can look beyond the instructional certificate to match the teaching qualities described in these guidelines to make the best instructional match possible.

Important competencies for the teacher of the gifted to possess:

Be a lifelong learner, open to new experiences and be able to appreciate the value of new learning and how it applies to the classroom;
Have an in-depth concentration in the academic or fine arts area to which they are assigned;
Understand the fundamental conditions of human learning, cognition, achievement, motivation and intelligent performance as they relate to gifted learners;
The ability to use diagnostic data to provide appropriate instructional programs and strategies;
The ability to design and implement differentiated and/or compacted curriculum to meet the needs of gifted students;
The ability to model some aspects of expert or artist behavior;
An ability to manipulate ideas at analysis, synthesis and evaluation levels with their students and across areas of knowledge;
An ability to assess student learning styles and adapt instruction to those styles;
An understanding of procedures used to identify gifted students;
The ability to effectively use appropriate strategies, materials and technological resources;
High standards for work and the ability to live up to them as well as to convey them effectively to the students;
The ability to create a learning atmosphere that is needed for stimulating creativity, leadership and risk taking;
Knowledge about the Gifted Multidisciplinary Evaluation/Gifted Written Report and the Gifted Individualized Education Plan process and the teacher's role in the process and
Skills in coordinating services for the gifted with other aspects of the school program, including collaborative consultation with regular education teachers.

Recommendations for Parents

Parents should:

Understand gifted regulations, parental rights and procedural safeguards.
Be knowledgeable of timeline changes brought about by accelerative options and plan for the challenges that grade or subject acceleration may bring.
Be knowledgeable of the school district's board policy on gifted education.
Participate in planning and evaluating the learning experiences of your child through Gifted Multidisciplinary Evaluation and Gifted Individualized Education Plan processes.
Monitor the implementation of your child's gifted services.
Advocate for the continuation and improvement of the district's gifted services.
Provide objective criteria when referring your child for possible placement in the district's mentally gifted services.
Volunteer as a resource and provide information about special materials, equipment and facilities to help meet gifted students' needs.
Encourage and support students in the process of selecting and participating in learning alternatives that promote excellence.
Investigate and provide a variety of learning opportunities over the year, which will broaden the educational experiences of your child.
Be knowledgeable of current plan modification and learning alternatives appropriate to the gifted students.
Attend district, regional and state in-service programs or conferences.
Collaborate with school district personnel regarding transitional stages from elementary through postsecondary education.