REAPS Model
2.5 Emerged Themes from Literature
2.5.1 Theme 1: Studies investigating Gifted Programs
How US states have addressed Gifted Education (Kaul & Davis, 2018)
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was developed in the US in the year 2015, which included mandatory services for the gifted and talented students. The previous NCLB policy was replaced by the ESSA, which stated that each state could exercise increased flexibility within their education plans but would be mandated to document and submit their plans to the U.S. DoE with detailed explanations regarding their goals. The
106 Department of Education released the Consolidated State Plan alongside the Revised State Template in the first quarter of 2017, and secured the expected information, details and declarations that would be admitted in these plans.
Kaul & Davis (2018) assessed the gifted provisions of all fifty-two acceded ESSA plans.
Their findings revealed encouraging support services for the diverse learner populations with states required to be compliant in meeting the needs of the identified gifted students.
The researchers advocated for enhanced gifted provisions due to the nation-wide focus on the issue including quality professional development for staff, improved identification processes for gifted learners and more financial resources by states for gifted resources.
Exploratory study regarding gifted services in Australia (Long et al., 2015) Long et al. carried out a qualitative exploratory study to assess the effectiveness of gifted policy on services offered to students across ten government secondary schools. The researchers explained the reliance of gifted provisions on the leader or gifted coordinator and henceforth the program offered by schools could gain or suffer depending on the presence of a gifted leader. Long et al. (2015) also explained the significance of gifted policies in ensuring that schools make appropriate provisions for learners in a consistent manner.
The findings of their research indicated that schools with a well-established gifted policy offered better provisions as compared to those without a clear policy and the principals were more likely to ensure meaningful gifted practices including professional development for teachers. They also reported that schools that were selective or provided specific classes for gifted learners were more inclined to make gifted provisions.
107 However, they explained that the aspirations of the school principals to offer gifted services would not always be consistent with actual situations due to lack of appropriate resources.
Gifted Education in German-Speaking Europe (Ziegler et al., 2013)
Ziegler at al. explained the evolution of the giftedness and talents conceptions across German speaking Europe. The authors discussed the tetrad hallmarks of the advancing gifted educational provisions as the progression achieved by embedding the latest evidence-based practices regarding learning alongside social facets, self-regulation, mentoring strategies, time-proven successful practices, and recent applications of systemic approaches by Stoeger and Ziegler (2009). The systemic model of conception of the simultaneous evolution of a gifted person’s actiotope constituents of action gamut, subjective action space, environment, and goals along the path of excellence in the domain of proven talent. Ziegler et al. reported a commendable overview of the giftedness provisions mandated by the governing bodies and offered across schools in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and South Tirol including policies, acceleration, enrichment, magnet schools, inclusive practices, teacher training, gifted services outside of school, STEM-based programs, and counselling.
Gifted research reviewing challenges in India (Kurup & Maithreyi, 2012)
The researchers explain the mediocre position of giftedness provisions in India and challenges faced by educators. The diversity present in India in terms of culture, religions, geographical conditions, socioeconomic backgrounds, curricula offered, education quality and instructional mediums were only a few of the barriers presented to
108 development of gifted programs as mentioned by Kurup and Maithreyi (2012). Additional concerns included the diverse parental background that adversely affect their ability to cater to the needs of their children with enrichment opportunities, the general education focusing on the needs of the average learner, and the desperate requirements of multi- disciplinary approaches and response-to-intervention provisions for all students. Post- independence in India, the educational priority was to include all learners up to the age of fourteen years positioned by the Right to Education (RTE) Act by the Government of India in the year 2009. Since securing this basic education for all learners itself conferred a tremendous challenge on a national level, the demand for gifted programs could not be met by educators.
Some efforts made by the government comprised of the Navodaya Vidyalaya Scheme that intended to encourage minority talent whereas national assessments like the science and mathematics Olympiads, national talent search, Kishor Vigyanik Prothsahan Yojna on national level alongside some talent searches on local levels examined the knowledge gained and skills acquired by all learners. Also, a few international assessments like the Stanford-Binet scale and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale were adapted to make them suitable for the country’s context but struggled to make real impact due to the lack of translations made in the variety of regional languages used in India alongside the diverse socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the student population. Kurup and Maithreyi (2012) recommended increased research studies on giftedness in the country combined with enhanced identification procedures, gifted policies, and suggested that better collaboration among educators and leaders could lay foundations for advancements in the field of giftedness in India.
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Practice and evaluation of enrichment programs for gifted and talented learners (Chen & Chen, 2020)
One of the recent studies evaluating the enrichment options provided to the gifted learners in Taiwan was conducted by Chen and Chen (2020). The authors describe the evolution of the gifted provisions over four decades including the release of the White Book of Gifted Education by the Ministry of Education in the year 2008. Chen and Chen suggested standards for gifted program evaluation including the success criteria, establishing relevant measurement mechanisms, need for follow-up researches or long-term program analysis and recommending evidence-based practices. They reported the latest statistics (China MoE 2019) of 20 percent of special education services was directed towards gifted students of the total 5.67 percent of school students on the special education register.
Chen and Chen highlighted the significance given to gifted program evaluation from the year 2014 to inform improved gifted education related decisions like fund allocations, enhanced policies, and improved gifted provisions. In Taiwan, the enrichment options consisted of programs put in place owing to the Special Education Act alongside alternative ones led by local authorities, private firms, and other educators. This scenario prompted Chen and Chen to encourage consistency in standards for evaluating gifted provisions that would lead to evidence-based practices and sustainable gifted services in future.
Index for Inclusion (Alborno & Gaad, 2014)
Prominent educators Alborno and Gaad used the tool designed by Booth and Ainscow (2011) as a basic framework for evaluating the inclusive services in the UAE. The findings of their study reported positive trends like affable school environment, key
110 stakeholders’ support, and emanating community partnerships. Some of the concerning areas recounted were lack of professional development for teachers, support provisions for learners and research-based teaching practices alongside barriers to effective inclusive implementation. Although this study explained the status of inclusion with the UAE context in general and did not focus on gifted education, it provided important information regarding the evolution of inclusive services in the local context.
Gifted Education in the UAE (AlGhawi, 2017)
The pilot research on gifted provisions in the UAE was conducted by AlGhawi across public schools in the primary sector. AlGhawi explained that the conception of giftedness and developing appropriate services were in the elementary stages across schools with extremely limited research-based information. This scholar used the NAGC standards to analyse existing gifted services and the results demonstrated that there was a positive progression in gifted education in the UAE over the past decade. AlGhawi recommended more attention should be given to improve the gifted identification process, establish a clear giftedness federal policy, professional development for educators, consistency in gifted provisions, improved parental awareness, counselling, and guidance for gifted learners and regular evaluation of gifted programs across schools across all emirates.
Based on the literature above, the present study aims to cover the research gap highlighted by AlGhawi (2017) by investigating the gifted programs offered to middle school students in private sector in Dubai. These provisions investigated would include gifted programs provided through differentiation within the classroom or enrichment opportunities within resource rooms alongside learner motivation. The details of all the six standards with the strands being investigated, the corresponding student outcome
111 being measured, and the information being collected from schools have been tabulated and enclosed in the appendices. The research approach being used, tools, participants and data analysis methods planned are detailed in the research methodology for the current investigation.