Story by Elizabeth Lopez

AES Facilitator Laura Verploegh-Calhoun administers a test that will determine if two middle schoolers will need services for gifted students. (Photo by Liz Lopez)

Background on Gifted Education

In the 1920s gifted education was established, and tests like the I.Q. test were used to identify individuals who possessed multiple exceptionalities or intelligence.

Today, Sierra Middle School AES facilitator Laura Verploegh-Calhoun explains that an Individual Education Program is different for each student child.

Professionals now use the Stanford-Binet, Frasier Talent Assessment profile (F-TAP), and other assessments to identify a gifted student.

After the student is found to be gifted, he or she is assigned an IEP, and a  meeting is held once a year (or more if requested by parents) with the student, parents, teachers, principal and AES Facilitator to determine what the gifted students individual curriculum will be for that year.

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2000), 2.96 million or close to 6 percent of the school-aged population are gifted children.* Since 1999, New Mexico is one of five states that recognizes gifted kids and protects them by law.

Two bilingual students take a placement exam for Advanced Education Services (Photo by Liz Lopez)

Problems with giftedness

“Gifted kids may act out by being frustrated and resenting because they are at a higher level than their peers,” Verploegh-Calhoun said. These students may feel that anything they do is never good enough and are extremely self-critical, which can lead to low self-esteem and depression. Gifted students may also feel that school is not challenging enough, have difficulty obtaining friends who understand them, feel overwhelmed different or alienated. There’s also a social stigma with being labeled as gifted.

“A lot of people view gifted education as being elitist,” she said. “We are constantly teaching kids the difference between equity and equality because it can sound elitist. But we still have to recognize the difference,” Verploegh-Calhoun explained. “Students may not be understood by their peers, but they still need to live in this world.”

Gifted vs. regular curriculum

Melly Locke, who is a teacher of the science magnet program  (meaning, students take double the science requirement because they excel in and enjoy it) at Sierra, and Dave Anketell, who is the regular math and social studies teacher have their own opinions on gifted students. “Most of the kids we get are kind of geeky,” Locke jokingly acknowledges.

Students go over lessons in Dave Anketell's afternoon (regular curriculum) math class. Photo by Liz Lopez

“So we’re used to having AES students. We attract a lot of those students because they are attracted to these magnet programs.”

Five of her students took 9th in a National Science Competition recently, she shared.  ”AES kids are wonderful,” Anketell said. Very often it becomes an issue of social stuff. Can they work with someone that doesn’t get it as quickly?”

That is exactly what AES facilitators like Verploegh-Calhoun try to do with their students by working with them on an individual basis. “Students come in for a quiet place to work, and other kids like coming in just to play chess. They feel safe here,” she said.

Student profile

Meet Luisa Bannister. She is a gifted student in the 7th grade at Sierra Middle School, and on the morning I go in to meet with Laura Verploegh-Calhoun, she calls the student out of another class to talk with me. At first glance Luisa seems like any other student, but I could tell she was a little bit different. She rolls in her backpack and definitely “marches to the beat of her own drum,” as Verploegh-Calhoun says.

Luisa has her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, a comfortable long button-up purple sweater, pants and black boots. She carries herself much like an adult, speaks matter-of-factly, and looks irritated with my some of my “dumber” questions. Luisa tested into Advanced Education Services in second grade and got started with her IEP in third grade. Science and Language Arts are among some of her favorite classes and she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up, which is no surprise seeing how she has cats, gerbils, a dog and a hermit crab.

Most of her classes at Sierra are “clustered,” which mean she is grouped with other gifted students in other core classes. When asked if she feels different from the “regular” core kids or if she has friends who weren’t gifted, Luisa responded, “Sometimes things like maturity are differences you see with different kids.”

(Photo by Liz Lopez)

She also commented how two of her best friends are on different sides of the spectrum. One of her friends who is in AES as well loves to draw and read and the one who is not does not like to read at all.

Luisa is happy in AES because she is with other gifted kids.

“AES has been beneficial for me because it’s time for me to relax and have fun. Even projects are easier because here I apply myself and pay attention,” the student said. She plans to attend Alma D’arte, Charter School in Las Cruces for high school where she will be able to devote herself to singing, painting and cooking.

And her plans for the summer? She will be doing regular kid things like swimming, hanging out with friends, and reading. “I can get lost in that world; it’s a lot more entertaining than TV. Different authors that have never met each other have little things that are similar in all of those books that fit together.” AES doesn’t stop with Luisa once she leaves Sierra. She will be in that program until she graduates from high school.

*Information which contributed to this story