Advocacy and Educational

StrategyJulia Link Roberts, Ed.D.Western Kentucky UniversityParent Day at the 2015 World

Conference

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Outline for my remarks

• Reasons to advocate

• Characteristics of effective advocacy

• Educational strategies worthy of advocacy

Advocacy is speaking out on behalf of a cause.

Why advocate? Can’t someone else do the advocating?

Why the need for Gifted Education

Type IType II

Gifted children are the minority in school.

Remember: Some of gifted students’ needs are created by their strengths. They do not look needy!

If during the first five or six years of school, a child earns good grades and high praise without having to make much effort, what are all the things he doesn’t learn that most children learn by third grade?

Our most gifted children need our help just as much as our most vulnerable do. They need to be held to high standards, they need to be challenged, and they need to be engaged. I’m proud to fight to support the Javits Gifted and Talented Education program – our nation’s only federal program dedicated specifically to gifted and talented students.

-Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) Chair of the Appropriations Committee

Where on the continuum are the decision-makers beliefs?...

Never met a gifted kid All my kids

are gifted

Think about…

• Two of the most gifted children you have known or know (real people)

• Jot down descriptions for one and then flip your paper over and describe the other one.

What is academic success?

What level of academic success is important to you?

Some people don’t think we need to invest much in the most gifted kids, they’ll be fine. But that’s like saying a great athlete will be great no matter what, so we don’t need expert coaches.

Andy Smarick, 2013

What characteristics describe effective advocacy?

Levels for advocacy

• Classroom• School• School district• State• Nation

Advocacy at the Classroom

• Effective • Dreaded

A clear, focused message that is known and shared by advocates must be the centerpiece of an effective advocacy campaign.

A well-developed plan is required to provide the blueprint for an effective advocacy campaign.

Effective advocates should be well informed on gifted and general education issues and know where to locate answers they don’t have.

Advocacy is more likely to be successful when personal relationships are established with decision makers and communication is ongoing.

Personalized communications, including hand-written letters, are more effective and preferred to mass, computer-generated letters or e-mail.

The larger the number of advocates, the more likely the decision makers will respond positively to the advocates’ message.

A plan for speedy communication with advocates (for example, a Listserv) is an important component of effective advocacy, so there is a way to get quick action if needed.

Advocates must understand that perseverance is a key to effective advocacy and that gifted children need individuals who will be lifetime spokespersons on behalf of gifted children.

Collaboration Counts

1 parent = A Fruit Cake2 parents = A Fruit Cake and a Friend3 Parents = Troublemakers5 Parents = Let’s Have a Meeting10 Parents = We’d Better Listen25 Parents = Our Dear Friends50 Parents = A Powerful Organization

Ask when decisions are being made – ask frequently:

• How will this [decision] affect our brightest students?

• How will this [decision] help other students begin to achieve at high levels?

Mind the (Other) Gap, p. 30

What educational strategies are worth advocacy?

Points for which to advocate

• A year’s worth of growth for a year in school• Opportunities to solve problems and

conduct investigations in real-world contexts• Opportunities to develop the skills of the

expert practitioner• Development of autonomous, life-long

learning

The goal of school is to learn.

If you don’t do hard work, you won’t feel confident.

-Sylvia Rimm

What are curricular implications for children and young people who are gifted and talented?

Differentiation is more than different.

The goals of differentiating are to ensure continuous progress and to create lifelong learners.

If excellence in education is your goal, you may find others who share your interests.

It is critical that we remove the learning ceiling so that all children can thrive.

Appropriately high expectations encourage all children to succeed.

Acceleration

• Many ways to accelerate• More than grade skipping• A Nation Deceived to A Nation

Empowered

• Kids learn optimally from “a curriculum that moves at their pace and is at the appropriate depth for their rate of learning.”

What can you do to advocate?

Click icon to add SmartArt graphic

-Join your state gifted advocacy organization-Stay informed-Serve on the school council, board of education, or other decision-making group

If not you, then who?

Speaking up for excellence is important.

What is your elevator speech on why it is important to offer gifted education?

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world: indeed it is the only thing that ever has.

• Margaret Mead

What are you advocating to get put in place?

Questions?