The Definition of Insanity

Opening the doors of opportunity for low SES gifted students

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result. I think as educators, we some time fall into that trap. We use the same tools and methods that were successful with one child for every child in our classroom.

But here is an important truth, not every child is the same! This is what we learn from Joyce Juntune, Ph.D., in today’s review of “Opening the Doors of Opportunity for Low SES Gifted Students.”

Dr. Juntune is a renowned consultant, trainer, professor, and lecturer with more than 45 years of experience in the field of education. She is an instructional associate professor at Texas A&M University, and she teaches graduate-level courses in her expert areas of intelligence, child and adolescent development, educational psychology, giftedness, and creativity.

Dr. Juntune has also been a classroom teacher and district project director for gifted education.

We are Earning a Big Fat F!

Why aren’t low socio-economic students (SES) succeeding in gifted programs? Far too few low SES gifted students are graduating from high school, and even fewer are graduating from college. “We have this funny view in education that everyone is alike. We don’t understand differences,” says Dr. Juntune.

Year after year we’re using the same strategies for students from every socio-economic group, with the same dismal results for the low SES students.

It’s the Brain of the Matter Not the Heart: Low SES Students Have the Desire but Lack Verbal Skills
The problem with gifted, low SES students isn’t about desire or intelligence; it’s about a lack of verbal intelligence.

Many low SES are tested with a nonverbal measure, get into a gifted program, and then suddenly they are thrust into verbal gifted classrooms. And gifted classes are really, really verbal. These low SES students have the desire to succeed but the lack the verbal skills to keep up.

Dr. Juntune says that verbal intelligence is one of the keys to success for any student. Until schools understand that it’s about verbal intelligence, low SES students are always going to struggle.

It’s Economic Not Racial

Statistics show that this isn’t a racial issue but a socio-economic one. So, why are there verbal/non-verbal gaps for children coming from poverty? According to the research data, low SES students:

• Have a simple language structure
• Talk in phrases rather than sentences
• Respond in one word answers
• Experience limited conversation at home
• Lack abstract thinking skills

Children of poverty have a broken language. There are a lot of things for which they have no words. They use words like “this” and “that”, but they often lack the ability to grasp an abstraction like “under” or “together.” A traditional classroom often focuses on labeling and memorization, when we should be offering abstraction.

Turning the Ship Around

There are ways to begin turning the tide for students. Three steps to improving success rates for low SES include:

1. Mind Sketching: A teaching technique that encourages students to sketch out the concept behind their answer while they come up with the words to communicate it.
2. Building Verbal Intelligence: Children living in poverty have a simple language structure and we must give them a complex language structure.
3. Design a Gifted Program Specifically For These Students: The worst thing you can do for non-verbal gifted students is to put them in class with verbal students.

A Moral Imperative for Starting at an Early Age

The verbal skills developed in the first grade can determine whether a child will go to college or not. We must begin building these skills in low SES students.

In this course, Dr. Juntune presents research outlining the reason behind the low success rates and presents clear solutions to the problem.