By Maggie Blackwell
news@salisburypost.com
The Academically and Intellectually Gifted, or AIG, program in Rowan-Salisbury Schools is a program in transition. Elementary and middle schools serve “gifted” students in a variety of ways, with a variety of hours of instruction.
Kelly Feimster is director of AIG services for the system.
“We have a lot of good people,” she said. “We just don’t have that consistency that we need.”
Some schools have AIG services for fourth- and fifth-graders only. Some serve third graders every day, while some have them meet once a week.
Some AIG teachers still prefer worksheets and advanced books, while others have embraced the concept of problem-based learning.
How did the instruction of Rowan County’s brightest children reach this state?
It took a long time to evolve to this point, administrators say, and the resolution won’t happen overnight.
When the AIG system was first developed many years ago, it was modeled after existing programs in Statesville and Charlotte-Mecklenburg. At that time, the schools all had the same model.
Over the years, individual schools’ programs changed. One school may not have had many fourth- and fifth-graders, and the principal suggested the teacher serve third-graders as well.
Another principal may have asked the teacher to serve only fourth- and fifth-graders due to the high numbers of identified AIG students at the school.
Schools assumed their own identities as to who is served, and for how long each week.
AIG recently came under the microscope when Feimster proposed the AIG staff be cut in half. Under her proposal, students wouldn’t receive as many hours of service, with some AIG instruction coming in a classroom with the regular teacher and AIG teachers co-teaching.
Parents protested, citing the state statute that requires that any changes to the program be reviewed by parents and the community first. The school board asked Feimster to meet with parents before bringing the issue back.
Feimster received the responsibility of AIG only a year ago, when Bonita Bloodworth, the former director, moved on. Feimster has a degree in biology, master’s degrees in science and media services, and she has passed the National Boards, the highest credential in the nation. These achievements qualify her as a highly educated person, but she doesn’t have AIG certification, an omission that rubs some parents the wrong way.
She’s not sure any AIG director has had the certification, she says, at least in recent history. Certifying in AIG instruction involves 12 semester hours of specialized instruction. Most local AIG teachers opt for an online course offered by Western Carolina University, as the classes are not offered by either Catawba or Livingstone.
Serving with Feimster is Wanda Kluttz, the AIG lead teacher. Kluttz has the AIG certification, in addition to a bachelor’s degree in education and she has passed the National Boards. Her home office is at Horizons Unlimited, but as the mentor and coach to all AIG teachers, she is often on the road.
The AIG teachers can’t say enough positive things about her. “She has always supported me quickly and completely,” says Paul Drucker, AIG teacher at Overton Elementary School. “She’s never let me down.”
When Kluttz discusses AIG, her eyes sparkle. Her experience and passion for the subject are clear from the first conversation. Whether she is explaining the Habits of Mind or dry statistics, she is accurate, clear and directed.
There are about 1,100 AIG students in elementary and middle schools. Another 800 or so attend high school, but high school only offers AP and honors classes, and anyone who qualifies can take them, not just those who qualify as AIG.
A student can be identified as gifted when two teachers rate the child in five areas: intellectual, academic, creativity, motivation and leadership. A T-score of 60 on three of five areas coupled with an aptitude score of 88 percent qualifies a student for AIG services.
At many schools, AIG classes also include high achievers, those whose IQ may not be as high as other AIG students, but who score 80 percent on achievement or aptitude tests, or are identified by an AIG Team.
Feimster looks to develop a guideline for all schools that specifies who is served, and how many hours per week.
North Carolina requires each school district to file an AIG plan every four years. The plan establishes a minimum number of hours students at each grade level will be served. The plans identify the vision and mission statements for each district’s AIG services, and specifies minimum and maximum service delivery times, in addition to other goals.
While schools may differ in the grades served, and the number of hours of instruction, they all meet or exceed the minimums set by the RSS plan, Feimster says.
Mount Ulla Elementary School is one school that serves only identified AIG students. Those students who qualify in math attend math AIG services. Those who qualify in Language Arts receive only that AIG instruction. If a student qualifies in one, but not both subjects, he or she attends only the one class.
Many schools allow such students to attend both classes even if they qualify in only one subject.
Alexandra Shadroui teaches AIG at Mount Ulla. Her bachelor of science degree is in park management, and she became a teacher through the lateral entry system, a program that allows business people to migrate into teaching. They are required to complete a number of goals in two years. After certifying in teaching, Shadroui achieved her National Board Certification. She is weeks shy of completing her AIG certification.
Shadroui is passionate about AIG, and it shows. Her room is lined with books and materials on her current subjects. She rarely uses textbooks, although she strictly adheres to the Standard Course of Study, the state list of what skills students in each grade must learn.
Instead of using textbooks, Shadroui scours libraries and bookstores for materials that will make the information come alive for her students. Students lovingly refer to her small closet as “The Library of Congress.”
Shadroui recently took her fourth- and fifth-graders to Fort Dobbs, a nearby site of the French and Indian War. She has worked there on an archeological dig, and knew that visiting the site would be meaningful for her students.
The special re-enactment day provided several hands-on opportunities for the students. They roasted a chicken over a campfire. They helped make a pound cake. They made lead musket balls, and learned to march in a line, right-facing and about-facing with the best of them.
The kids responded enthusiastically. “This is such a good learning opportunity,” said student Wyatt Martin. “We got to see it all firsthand. It will stay in our minds longer. When things are fun you remember them longer.”
Shadroui came to Mount Ulla after serving 10 years as a teacher at Horizons, the system’s facility for specialized learning. Horizons hosts the local planetarium, a reconstructed 18th-century schoolhouse, and other special learning opportunities.
Students seem to love her.
Tanner Lloyd is one of them.
“I like Ms. Shadroui because she doesn’t read to us; she lets us interact. We do problem-based learning, like the project with Pompeii. We got to choose if we would be a person who ran or a person who died,” Tanner said.
Zach Shaver agreed: “Ms. Shadroui is an outstanding teacher. She makes learning fun. She’s a nice teacher to everyone, and she has a good sense of humor.”
A former AIG student herself, Shadroui credits her own middle school AIG teacher with motivating her to be the best teacher she can be.
“I really want my kids to discover the world,” Shadroui said. “Whether it’s cultures, people, or places, I want to bring the outside world into their universe.”
Her middle school AIG teacher gave her a hunger to learn, changed her life, she says, and she wants to pass that hunger on to her students.
“Last week, during their free reading time, they begged me to read them George Washington’s Rules of Civility. Isn’t that great?” she asks.
Her eyes sparkle as she remembers their desire to learn.
Across the county, another AIG teacher looks up to a mentor of his own. Paul Drucker teaches AIG at Overton Elementary. A second-year teacher, Drucker exhibits zeal and enthusiasm. Drucker has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, and is close to completing his AIG certification.
He has assigned many projects, which enable the students to discover answers for themselves. The need to discover is a trait of the AIG student, Drucker says. He proudly shows a toothpick roller-coaster built by his students. Each toothpick is worth a thousand dollars, he says, and the students had to budget their money.
His father is a 40-year veteran of education. He had a virtual wall of awards, and he taught Drucker himself for seventh-grade science.
“He taught me to focus on the instruction and the discipline will take care of itself,” Drucker says. “If you focus on discipline, the instruction and rigor will suffer.”
Drucker proudly shows a plaque given to him by last year’s students and parents.
“I was so proud,” he says. “To receive an honor like this in my first year was unexpected and amazing.”
One parent says Drucker takes a personal interest in the success of each of his students.
Overton includes high achievers with the truly AIG students. Drucker visits third- grade classes twice a week for an hour to team-teach with the regular teachers.
Back at Horizons, Feimster is working on a reference book of sorts for AIG teachers. The book will serve as a guide for AIG teachers, giving tips and examples of problem-based learning for students. “It will be a living document,” she says. “We will continue to add to it as time goes on.”
Feimster will meet with parents in each school district during the first two weeks of May, to develop a new state plan for 2010-2013.