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In very large cities special schools have been set up to provide the educational opportunities that are the right of each boy and girl. To provide the maximum development of each boy and girl, schools have been established for the deviates the talented and the student of little talent. New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati operate special schools for talented and rapid learning students. Studies of their graduates give many indications of well-rounded superior adults.

Other cities point with pride to graduates of a special high school within a high school. Instruction in such high schools is often concerned with general education in the lower high-school grades and specialization in the upper grades.

Special Classes

A special class is another organizational method used to provide improved opportunities for the rapid learner. For example, one school selected 25 ninth-grade students who seemed to be talented in mathematics. One teacher was assigned to this group for their 4 years of high school. The students of this honor class were given special privilege, but they assumed special responsibility.

Special classes permit the intensive study of topics that are adapted to the ability of the student at a challenging rate and in a stimulating atmosphere. In a class of this type in New York, many pupils take an abstract approach to mathematics. Every pupil is encouraged to read a supplementary book and to prepare a written report on some special topic. The activity method of teaching prevails with pupils demanding more work than a teacher would be expected to assign to them.

An interesting course is now being given to a special class in a high school in West Virginia. The course consists of content selected from the fields of plane geometry, algebra, trigonometry, analytic geometry, and differential and integral calculus which is taught to a selected group of tenthgrade pupils. The success of the course has caused a similar course to be offered this year to students in the eleventh grade, and a twelfth-grade course is planned for next year.

The method of providing special classes for superior students seems to be popular especially in large high schools. A study of California public high schools, that seem to be unusually successful in developing outstanding students in science and mathematics, disclosed that one-fourth of the schools with an enrollment of more than 500 provided special classes for the superior students. In selecting the students for these classes, the schools considered previous marks, recommendations of teachers, student's interests, and intelligence quotient.

Aside from assigning pupils to the proper sections, two other practical problems should be met in an ability-grouping plan. In the first place, the teachers should be satisfied with their assignment; and, second, it should be possible for pupils to transfer from one type of section to another both during the year and from one year to the next. Under these conditions all sections in a given course will study the same basic content with enrichment materials used in the sections for the rapid learners.

Ability Grouping-A Fundamental Idea

The idea of grouping students of like ability is not a new one. When the first one-room school became a two-room school, the more advanced students were placed in one of the rooms and the other room was reserved for the less advanced. It was soon discovered that better instruction could be provided as the range in abilities became less. As numbers increased in the two-room school, it became a three-room school. Again the division was based on student ability and achievement. As the number of children increased, so did the number of rooms, with the division based on the advancement of the student.

The two-track plan, a form of ability grouping, is used by many high schools. If the size of the freshman class in high school is adequate for two sections, a division based on ability and achievement is often arranged. One section may be called arithmetic and the other algebra, or they both may bear the same title, such as General Mathematics or Mathematics I, but the content and instruction are geared to a level appropriate for the students. Many schools have this two-track plan at the ninth grade for mathematics and sometimes for science. A few schools attempt with success a three-track plan in ninth-grade mathematics. Some schools offer consumer mathematics and college algebra-a two-track plan for the seniors; other schools offer applied mathematics and trigonometry for the juniors-a two-track plan; but very few schools have a two-track plan for the full 4 years.

Ability grouping is sometimes postponed until the students have had a semester of exploratory work. For example, during the first term in a biology class special efforts are made to identify the students with potential for science. The identified students are invited to enter a special biology section during the second term. This special section then becomes a special class for science students with high abilities which permit them to progress rapidly in science. In some schools the students of the special section may continue as a special section the following year. In such cases the students are challenged to undertake special projects for science contests and to make the unusual progress which their abilities make possible.

Acceleration

Acceleration is one of the oldest methods of providing for the development of the talented. In fact, it is one of the widely used methods today. Perhaps it can be used to a greater degree with high-school students with less social maladjustment than in the elementary school. Some teachers experienced with the acceleration method think that a pupil may be accelerated as much as 2 years ahead of his normal age group without developing serious problems in social adjustment.

For several years acceleration has been practiced in a Minnesota community by permitting superior students to complete the work of the seventh and eighth grades in 1 year. In fact, groups of these accelerated students have now been graduated. No undesirable personality traits appear to have developed. In accelerating students to groups beyond their age level, it seems important that the student associate with others of similar social maturity. Perhaps the social development of the student should receive a greater consideration than the chronological age in determining student acceleration. It was emphasized at the conference that enrichment of the student's program is usually to be preferred to student acceleration.

Variable Student Load

Greater educational opportunities are sometimes provided for the talented by permitting them to enroll in additional courses. In small high schools extra subjects may be taken by the supervised correspondence study plan. The extra student load procedure is easy to administer, and it is frequently used. Although it permits the student to explore an additional field of learning, it may usurp a free period that he could use more profitably in interests that may be and should be aroused during the school year.

Supervised Work Experiences

Talented students often serve as helpers to the teacher. For example, seniors may receive valuable experience as laboratory assistants. Other talented students may work in the school store, cafeteria, school office, and library. The rapid learners may be given work permits for part-time jobs in the community. To be most effective, the supervised work experience should be an exploratory one in the area of the student's interest. Through such experiences the student will be able to gain a depth of knowledge concerning a chosen vocation which will permit him to make an intelligent vocational choice.

Individualized Instruction

The administrational and organizational procedures in some schools encourage individual instruction. The instruction may be on an individual basis for all the students in a particular grade. For example, in one Minnesota community, individual instruction is the method employed in the seventh and eighth grades. Individualized instruction also may be used with only a few students in teaching certain topics. In either case, it provides the opportunity for the talented to work at a rapid rate and discourages laziness that comes from assuming the slow pace of the less talented. Individualized instruction with project work, laboratory exercises, and field trips can be used in small high schools as well as in large high schools. Talented students can work on high-school correspondence courses in physics, chemistry, and mathematics as a part of their individual work and thus gain needed information even though the school does not have such courses in their program of studies. Teachers using the method of individual instruction state that it requires organized units that are largely self-instructive and a testing program that is largely self-administering. It should be well organized with adequate material. We are warned that even then the end results probably will be acceleration with emphasis on skills. However, it would seem desirable that the organization of instruction should permit and provide for individual instruction where and when needed rather than on an entire grade or school basis.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES FOR THE TALENTED

The classroom provisions for the rapid learner refer to the procedures that are primarily the responsibility of the teacher and under his direct supervision. They are types of instruction in which the teacher, regardless of organizational provisions, may use to improve the educational development of the talented. However, for these procedures to be most effective the teachers need the full support of the administrators.

Read and Write Activities

The most common classroom procedure could be called the read and write method. The student reads some material in a book or magazine and then writes a report, or he studies some problems in a book and writes the solution.

The organizing and planning in connection with this method vary greatly. It may be, on the one hand, only general encouragement of the students to read something bearing on the general topic of class discussion and to report when the students desire. Students may be given the opportunity to solve supplementary drill problems with little recognition for the extra work. On the other hand, the special information to be gathered may be a part of the general class task. The material to be read may have been selected as the result of cooperative planning by teacher and student. The written report may be supervised by his English teacher and evaluated by the class. Recognition may be shown to the student by the publication of the best reports in the school paper.

The read and write method can provide many worthwhile opportunities for the talented to develop their potentials in science and mathematics. However, to be of maximum benefit, the material to be read should be the result of cooperative planning by the student and teacher. The material should be within the ability of the student, but challenging. It should contribute to the objective of the general class activities. The superior student and the other members of the class should be aware of and see the importance of the material in relation to the class activity. The class and the student reporting should evaluate the contribution of the project to the class. If the contribution is superior, recognition should be given.

(1) Approval of the student's work by teacher and classmates.

(2) Exhibit of student's work in room or hall.

(3) Student's work shown to principal, other teachers, specialists in

the area, and parents.

(4) Publication of student's material in school paper.

(5) Publication of student's material in newsletters for teachers.

The appropriate method is determined by the teacher who knows the background of the student and the local environment. In any case, pupils desire recognition for a job well done.

Some educators have concluded that since some read and write methods involve only general encouragement of all students to do supplementary problems or answer questions, the method has little value. Although the method represents a relatively easy way of providing for the talented student, it does not have to be a vague and unplanned procedure. Teachers have found by following the principles just stated that the read-and-write method can be a valuable aid to instruction of the superior child.

Class Projects

The project method seems to be a very popular and useful method for providing additional educational opportunities for the superior child.

A class project is usually a rather comprehensive activity which contributes to the general objective of the class. The project may be one to show the use of algebra in everyday affairs or the effect of diet upon the physical development of youth. It may involve gathering information from books, magazines, and specialists. Experiments may be performed to obtain the necessary data. Models or murals may be constructed to illustrate the ideas involved. The project may require the gathering of statistical data from the community and assistance from lay persons for its interpretation. Results of the project may be evaluated by the teacher and students. The project may be of such nature and scope that it will be helpful for the parents and the school administrators to take part in the appraisal.

The following criteria seem to be valuable guides in appraising a class project:

(1) The project should contribute to the general objective of the class,
and the students should understand its place in the educational pur-
poses of the class. Perhaps teacher-pupil planning will assist here.
(2) All the students should receive valuable learning experiences.
(3) The relation of organized knowledge to the solution of life prob-
lems should become more evident to the student.

(4) The project should assist in building desirable attitudes in students.
(5) The project should be a contribution by the entire class and not the
work of an ambitious minority.

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