1. I understand the state of CT Secretary of Education nominated HES as a candidate, which basically allows the school BOE to complete and submit an application to the Federal govt., Dept of Education., The initial identification was based on results achieved prior to Mr. Hanlon's arrival, but we had to show continued improvement in each year, including the year of application, which included the test scores for the 2009-10 school year.
2. The C&E guidelines of identifying 5% of students as academically gifted are based on state guidelines - in the past Hebron has done a very poor job of identification of these student - especially at the younger ages. The standards of 5% are designed to keep parents from asking for services for their high achieving students. Parents of high achieving students should not be intimidated by the bureaucracy - on the contrary they should do their best to work with the adminstration, student's teachers, and the C&E teacher, to make sure the students are getting appropriate levels of challenge and enrichment. I have been told the adminstration has been especially hesitant to accelerate identified students (skip grades), or provide in-depth services to them - unless the parents get heavily involved - these students might also have other issues that may help them qualify for an individual education plan. Parents are grateful for "whatever they can get" instead of demanding that the school board step up and provide these students a real challenge appropriate to their abilities.
Students may be "gifted" in areas other than traditional academics - and Hebron has historically ignored this aspect of the law requiring students be identified, especially for talented art and music students.
Any parent feeling their child is not being challenged enough should meet with their child's teacher within the first few weeks of school, to ensure a plan is developed to help meet the child's needs. So much depends on the ability, training, and motivation of the teacher, as well as how many problem students are in the classroom. With a goal of 5% identification, there should be roughly one student per classroom that is identified - however in my opinion these students should not be separated from each other. There should be only one or two classrooms with the gifted students in them, mixed in with regular kids - so the students can also learn from their peers. It doesn't take the other kids long to recognize which kids are "smarter than average", but a trained teacher can effectively provide sufficient challenge within the classroom. It is easier for one or two teachers to work with these students, than for all teachers in a grade to attempt to do so - if they are spread out, chances are better that some kid won't be challenged appropriately. Just because a child is gifted, it doesn't mean he or she doesn't need instruction. But the school is set up not to care about these students, instead they focus all their resources on the special needs kids at the other end of the spectrum (because the state law says they have to).
I am quite familiar with this topic, not necessarily from Hebron, but my username explains my relationship with some identified students, both here and in other school districts in CT. I understand Hebron has similar programs as other districts, almost all of which fall short in some form or another. Working with the teachers and the administration for the common goal, instead of in an adversarial relationship (that the guidelines seem to want), is usually the best way to go. Don't be afraid to seem pushy - fight for your child!
