iSchoolLeader Magazine

      The article is written by Julie Rasicot and published on an education blogging website discussing the youngest age at which one can determine if a child is gifted. According to the Maryland State Board of Education, different school districts use their specific county rules to identify if a student is gifted as early as age three. As I continued reading about how school districts plan to determine whether or not a child is gifted, I came across a quote said by Maryland State Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez, “We already think second grade is too early. We're trying to do away with that in Montgomery County. . . . When you label kids, you have winners and you have losers, and the losers are black, Hispanic and low-income.” She doesn’t like the idea of labelling children into different catagories, but what shocked me is the quote itself. She said that the “losers are black, Hispanic, and low-income,” which basically tells me that she believes that African Americans, Hispanics, and low-income students cannot be gifted and talented. I’m personally offended because when I first moved to America, for the first few years, my family was considered low-income and I have many friends who are low-income, African American, and Hispanic who placed into the gifted and talented programs. I don’t feel that a gifted and talented student fits a certain social category.

     Lastly, the article ends with stating that giftedness can be seen in test scores or classroom performance, but as children become adults, “achievement and high levels of motivation in the domain become the primary characteristics of their giftedness.” So, I’m wondering if this quote is saying that all gifted students are high achievers and have high levels of motivation, or if you are a high achiever and have high levels of motivation, then you are gifted. The debate continues as to what giftedness really is.

This blog was written by Julie Rasciot and published on Edication Week. This is a site where collections of educational writings can be found. This article raises the question of how young children can be identified as being gifted. This article was written in 2012 so the facts may be a tad dated but it stated that children could be identified as early as Pre- Kindergarten. Even if these facts are dated, the article went on to describe concerns coorelated with tracking children from such a young age. Many people feel as though labeling the children at such a young age will create tension, stress and a "winner" and "loser" setting. This blogs states that children are constantly developing and developing giftedness so it is unfair to state that they are gifted at such a young age. I understand their arguments and concerns, but I feel like it should vary based on the specific child. Some children develop faster than others, so I bleive that it is only right to identify them and begin their services at that time, no matter how young or old they may be. We are supposed to be meeting children where their needs are and I do not believe this should be based on age. Its not that hard to faze a child out of a gifted program if they in fact develop to not be gifted. But I truly believe that early intervention is key and while this article gives some great support as to why identifying children at a young age is best, I still believe that it would be a disservice to not.

Rasicot, J. (2012, March 1). How Young Is Too Young to Be Identified as Gifted and Talented? Retrieved February 15, 2016, from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/early_years/2012/03/how_young_is_too_young_to_be_identified_as_gifted_and_talented.html ;

This article looks at BYOD implementation from a network administration perspective. It discusses the importance of network capacity and network security. It is important to note that while a school or district might save a lot of money in not purchasing devices it can be very cost prohibitive to upgrade your network to accommodate all the new devices being used.