FY 2002 Javits Gifted and Talented Program Funded Projects

Project CLUE: Clustering Learners Unlocks Equity

**(1) PR AWARD #: S206A020035**

**Grantee:** Ball State University

2000 University Avenue

Muncie, IN 47306

**Contact:** Cheryll Adams

\(765\) 285-5390

CADAMS@bsu.edu

**Target Grade Level:** 3-8

**Funding:** [FY 2002]{.underline} [FY 2003]{.underline} [FY
2004]{.underline} [FY 2005]{.underline} [FY 2006]{.underline}

\$348,248 \$401,112 \$425,018 \$429,252 \$491,967

At present only minimal effort is being expended in Indiana in
particular and in the nation in general in seeking out, assessing and
identifying, and then cultivating the skills and intellectual talents of
academically gifted K-12 students. Even less effort is expended on
identifying and serving gifted and talented individuals from underserved
populations. Harris and Ford (1991) recommended seven issues that must
be addressed to expedite the process of identifying and serving minority
students: continued professional education for teachers and
administrators, parental involvement, community involvement, public
education, a philosophy of pluralism, nontraditional assessment, and
curriculum that is differentiated.

Project CLUE, Clustering Learners Unlocks Equity, a partnership between
the Center for Gifted Studies and Talent Development at Ball State
University and the Indianapolis Public Schools, will implement all seven
areas of the Ford-Harris Model to provide comprehensive services to
gifted and talented students in grades three through eight (1) by
defining a set of instruments that will identify gifted minority
students English as a Second Language students, and other
under-represented students bringing their representation in gifted
programs to levels that reflect the diversity of the population in the
school corporation; (2) by providing professional development to
teachers in the content areas of mathematics, science, and language
arts, as well as differentiated instruction; (3) by restructuring the
current gifted services plan to include cluster grouping in each of 52
elementary schools, continuing through 15 middle schools; and (4) by
bringing parents, school, and community together to help these students
reach their full potential. In addition, counseling opportunities and
summer academies will support the social, emotional, and academic growth
of these students. Other outcomes of this project will be to provide
teachers with new techniques to use with diverse populations so that all
students are nurtured; to develop a set of curriculum units that extend
existing materials on differentiating curriculum, tailored to meet these
diverse needs both academically as well as socially/emotionally; and to
disseminate the information through various technologies as well as
print materials. In addition, the project will be presented at local,
state, national and international conferences, a website will be
developed to provide nation-wide access to the materials, articles will
be submitted to both scholarly and teacher-focused journals (e.g.
Science Scope, Mathematics in the Middle School) and newsletters will be
published for both local and nation-wide audiences.

**Project Scientists-in-the Schools (SIS)**

**(1) PR AWARD #: S206A020029**

**Grantee:** Lamar University

P.O. Box 10034

Beaumont, TX 77710-0080

**Contact:** Dr. Dorothy Sisk

\(409\) 880-8046

conn_chair@hal.lamar.edu

**Target Grade Level:** Middle & High School

**Funding:** [FY 2002]{.underline} [FY 2003]{.underline} [FY
2004]{.underline} [FY 2005]{.underline} [FY 2006]{.underline}

\$223,406 \$229,490 \$237,499 \$245,910 \$254,741

Project Scientists-in-the Schools (SIS) addresses the need to increase
the level of achievement of under-represented students, including
economically disadvantaged and limited English proficient students to
enable them to be identified as gifted and talented. SIS will field
test, and evaluate a scientifically based research inquiry model
developed by the San Francisco Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry
designed to provide content rich and challenging science education in
demonstration weekend and summer science academies at Lamar University
for middle and high school under-represented students. SIS represents a
collaborative partnership of Lamar University, Beaumont Independent
School District in Texas, scientist from NASA, business and industry,
and the university.

Objectives include: 1) Provide teacher training on the positive
characteristics of economically disadvantaged and limited English
proficient students, and how these can be used as strengths in the
learning process; 2) Provide teacher training summer institutes on the
inquiry model in science education; 3) Engage scientists in developing
standards-based science education to implement the inquiry process in
demonstration science academies; to serve as co-instructors; 4) Identify
high achieving under-represented student participants for the science
academies; and 5) Provide seminars for parents of under-represented
students to demonstrate the inquiry process, and the process of making
applications and securing scholarships for higher education.

Activities include teacher training institutes focusing on the inquiry
education model; curriculum development for the science academies using
scientist/teachers writing teams; research and teacher training
institutes and symposia at the regional and state level, and family
involvement to build support for the students to improve their school
achievement, and to seek higher education and careers in science.

Outcomes include increases in the achievement of under-represented
student participants, increases in the number of academic science
courses taken, the number identified as gifted and talented students,
and the number graduating and seeking admission to college with science
as a major.

Project LOGgED On: Learning Opportunities for the Gifted

Economically Disadvantaged \-\-- Online

**(1) PR AWARD #: S206A020048**

**Grantee:** University of Virginia

P.O. Box 400195

Charlottesville, VA 22904-4195

**Contact:** Dr. Mary S. Landrum

\(434\) 982-2346

<mlandrum@virginia.edu>

**Target Grade Level:** 6-12

**Funding:** [FY 2002]{.underline} [FY 2003]{.underline} [FY
2004]{.underline} [FY 2005]{.underline} [FY 2006]{.underline}

\$578,425 \$531,687 \$520,088 \$523,949 \$564,729

Addressing the problem of access to highly challenging academic programs
for economically disadvantaged gifted learners, Project LOGgED On has a
two-pronged thrust. First, professional development services for
teachers use widely available technology services to assist educators in
the provision of effective educational opportunities for
poverty-stricken rural and urban gifted learners. The second thrust of
the project is the development of curricula, instructional strategies,
and advanced learning experiences for economically disadvantaged
students. In the middle grades, students are exposed to case-based
learning experiences designed to improve content, writing, language, and
thinking skills. Subsequently, during the high school years students are
provided case-based, online advanced courses in the core academic areas.
The innovative nature of this project lies in the online distribution of
professional development services and learning opportunities to
students, a case-based format for teacher training and advanced learning
courses of study for economically disadvantaged students.

A partnership among the staff of the Educational Psychology and the
Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education Departments of the Curry
School of Education, UVA National Research Center for the Gifted and
Talented, state education and local education agencies, and alternative
educational programs serving economically disadvantaged gifted students
(Upward Bound and AVID) will develop and design the program with these
intended outcomes: (1) development and evaluation of the case-based
teacher training in an online format; and (2) effective and efficient
online delivery of differentiated education for economically
disadvantaged gifted learners, including online case-based preparation
for and the provision of advanced learning experiences similar to
Advanced Placement programs.

**Project Athena: A Research Demonstration Project for**

## Economically Disadvantaged Promising Learners

**(1) PR AWARD #: S206A020095**

**Grantee:** College of William and Mary

Grants and Research Administration

P.O. Box 8795

Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795

**Contact:** Dr. Joyce Van Tassel-Baska

Dr. Bruce Bracken

\(757\) 221-2362

<jlvant@wm.edu>

<babrac@wm.edu>

**Target Grade Level:** 3-5

**Funding:** [FY 2002]{.underline} [FY 2003]{.underline} [FY
2004]{.underline} [FY 2005]{.underline} [FY 2006]{.underline}

\$593,418 \$591,908 \$595,170 \$596,276 \$599,736

The *No Child Left Behind* Act of 2001 clearly delineates the need for
higher standards and more powerful curriculum interventions in our
schools. The complexity of translating national content standards into
effective curriculum models that reach a wide range of learner
abilities, particularly those of our top students who come from
disadvantaged backgrounds, cannot be over-stated. Recent curriculum
development initiatives and follow-up studies in gifted education have
begun to respond to this void at elementary grade levels in science,
language arts, and social studies, but the work has not been executed on
a large scale basis to broaden the base of learners exposed, especially
the economically disadvantaged, within more diverse contexts, and with
tighter designs.

This proposal will demonstrate how the implementation of high-powered,
research-based curriculum in language arts can raise the threshold of
performance in vocabulary, reading comprehension, and critical thinking
for economically disadvantaged promising learners in a variety of
settings. By employing high quality curriculum content and instructional
pedagogy and by working with administrators, teachers, students, and
parents to enhance learning expectations in general classroom practice
with supporting structures in the home and community, this project will
serve to advance important tenets of gifted education onto the general
landscape of education reform for all.

The project is designed around four key objectives: 1) to develop and
implement instrumentation sensitive to low social-economic learners for
purposes of identification and assessment of learning, 2) to implement,
refine and extend research-based language arts curriculum units of study
in grades 3 -- 5, 3) to develop and implement professional training
models for teachers, administrators, and broader school communities, and
4) to conduct research on short term and longitudinal student learning
gains and the mechanisms that promote innovation. Major outcomes of the
project will include the use and development of innovative assessment
tools to find and assess learning among culturally and economically
diverse populations, implementation and refinement of three language
arts curriculum units, the development of a professional development and
community model emphasizing constructivist pedagogy, and contributions
to the longitudinal research base on effective interventions.

**Project M^3^: Mentoring Mathematical Minds**

**(1) PR AWARD #: S206A020061**

**Grantee:** University of Connecticut

2131 Hillside Road, Unit 3007

Storrs, CT 06269-3007

**Contact:** Katherine Gavin

\(860\) 486-4679

mkgavin@uconn.edu

**Target Grade Level:** 3-5

**Funding:** [FY 2002]{.underline} [FY 2003]{.underline} [FY
2004]{.underline} [FY 2005]{.underline} [FY 2006]{.underline}

\$600,000 \$600,000 \$600,000 \$600,000 \$600,000

In 1980, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) made a
bold statement, "The student most neglected in terms of realizing full
potential, is the gifted student of mathematics." As test scores
indicate, progress since that time has been slow or nonexistent in this
area. Clearly our present system is failing. This is especially true for
underrepresented students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

We will address this problem through a carefully designed research study
that will examine mathematics achievement and attitude in students in
grades 3-5. Project M^3^, Mentoring Mathematical Minds, is a 5-year
collaborative research effort of faculty at the University of
Connecticut, the University of Northern Kentucky, and Boston University
and teachers, administrators, and students in 10 schools of varying
socioeconomic levels in Connecticut and Kentucky. A team of national
experts in the fields of mathematics, mathematics education, and gifted
education will create a total of 12 curriculum units of advanced
mathematics accompanied by professional development modules. A
mathematics talent pool of students will be identified in each of the
ten schools (total N = 800) and the units will be implemented in a
pullout program 2-3 times per week. We will also modify some of these
units to use with all students across ability levels and backgrounds in
differentiated classroom settings. Pre and post achievement and attitude
data will be gathered using standardized and criterion referenced tests.
To enhance the effectiveness of these units, we will provide extensive
professional development for a total of 40 teachers, including yearly
summer institutes, school year in-service, and an Internet portal for
continuous communication and dissemination of resources.

Research questions will focus on three items: measuring the changes in
mathematics achievement and attitudes for talent pool students, after
exposure to the intervention model; measuring the difference in
mathematics achievement and attitudes between the experimental and
comparison groups; and measuring the changes in mathematics achievement
and attitudes of students exposed to modified units in differentiated
classroom settings. The research questions will contribute to the
summative evaluation component. The formative evaluation will include an
annual assessment of the delivery of training using classroom
observations, teacher interviews and surveys, and student focus groups.

Findings generated through the project will be disseminated nationally
through presentations at professional conferences and meetings, journal
articles, websites, and an online graduate course.

**Louisiana State Department of Education Jacob K. Javits Grant**

**(2) PR AWARD #: S206A020063**

**Grantee:** Louisiana State Department of Education

PO Box 94064

1201 N. 3^rd^ Street

Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9064

**Contact:** Eileen Kendrick

\(225\) 324-5295

ekendrick@doe.state.la.us

**Target Grade Level:** K-12

**Funding:** [FY 2002]{.underline} [FY 2003]{.underline} [FY
2004]{.underline}

\$164,320 \$282,720 \$282,720

Need: The identified gifted children in Louisiana are not achieving to
their full potential. Disaggregated scores from the NRT/CRT assessments
indicate only a basic level of achievement for many of our gifted
students. The pressure to perform well on these accountability measures
has caused teachers and administrator to put under pressure on advanced
learners, without taking into account the unique needs of the gifted
students. The Louisiana Department of Education, Division of Special
Populations, proposes to address through this application the provision
of job-embedded staff development, enhancing student achievement through
pedagogically sound strategies appropriate for gifted populations.

Activities: This proposal addresses three distinct areas. The first
component will address the establishment of a virtual learning community
(online) through the development of Blackboard.com technology, enabling
teachers in all geographic areas of the state to work collaboratively.
As the project develops, various strands will be developed to facilitate
professional dialogue on topics of expressed need. The second component
is a summer institute for gifted teachers, administrators, and regular
classroom teachers that will provide a week-long training of graduate
level course instruction facilitated by a state university. The third
component is a mentorship program, which seeks to develop a viable and
sustainable program through extensive planning, training,
implementation, and maintenance as suggested by research as tenets of
sound staff development.

Outcome: The proposed projects of this grant will result in the building
of state capacity for student achievement through well-reasoned and
well-supported staff development.

**Project CONN-CEPT**

**(2) PR AWARD #: S206A020086**

**Grantee:** Connecticut State Department of Education

165 Capitol Avenue

Hartford, CT 06106

**Contact:** Jeanne H. Purcell

\(860\) 713-6745

Jeanne.Purcell@po.state.ct.us

**Target Grade Level:** K-8

**Funding:** [FY 2002]{.underline} [FY 2003]{.underline} [FY
2004]{.underline}

\$300,000 \$300,000 \$300,000

Project CONN-CEPT is an innovative, capacity-building, three-year
initiative that responds to seven intractable Connecticut issues that
are reflected nationally. It addresses the need to provide: (1)
rigorous, standards-based learning for all students, (2) differentiated
curriculum units for gifted and talented (g/t) students, (3) alternative
methods to identify g/t students from low-income and culturally diverse
homes, (4) teachers with access to rigorous content knowledge, (5)
high-quality, effective staff development, (6) emphasis on science and
social studies, K-8, and (7) increased collaboration between gifted and
regular education.

Grant activities will focus on the development of eight products. The
first is an on-line, introductory learning opportunity based on the
Parallel Curriculum Model (PCM), an integrated approach to curriculum
development that offers four different methods for delivering
differentiated, discipline-based content (e.g., Core Curriculum and the
Curricula of Connections, Practice and Identity). This no cost distance
learning opportunity will continue through all three years of the
initiative. The second product is the development of a novice-friendly,
K-8 reference book that supports teachers' acquisition of
discipline-based content knowledge in science and social studies. To
complete this product, content experts will identify, define, and
illustrate sets of core concepts, principals, skills, and representative
topics in 24 selected fields in science and social studies.

Concurrently, a cadre of Connecticut and national-level writers will
create procedures and templates for writing curriculum units based on
PCM. Subsequently, they will create 24 six-week replacement units and
accompanying professional development modules that build upon the
concepts, principles, skills, and topics identified in the first phase
of this project. Each unit will contain pre- and post-assessments,
rigorous core content lessons for all students, 6 lessons that require
ascending levels of intellectual demand from students, 6 parallel
lessons for use in the regular classroom that emphasize one of the three
other parallels of the model, and 6 aligned lessons that can be
implemented by a g/t teacher. The units will be field tested by teams of
K-8 classroom teachers and teachers of the gifted in multiple, diverse
school settings in Year Two. During Year Three all grant-funded products
will be disseminated through collaborating State Departments of
Education (AL, CA, CO, IN, LA, MN, OH, VA), NAGC, and NAGC affiliates.
The project will also support a video, an NAGC web site, and
face-to-face professional development to encourage the successful
upscaling of the 24 curriculum units, as well as the use of the model
and related templates to create additional curriculum units for all
students, including those who are gifted and talented.

## The CHAMPS Project 

**(Creating High Achievement in Mathematics, Problem-Solving, and
Science)**

**(2) PR AWARD #: S206A020015**

**Grantee:** Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science/

> Mississippi Department of Education

P.O. Box W-1627

Columbus, MS 39701-1627

**Contact:** Kate Brown

\(662\) 329-7676

kbrown@msms.k12.ms.us

**Target Grade Level:** K-12

**Funding:** [FY 2002]{.underline} [FY 2003]{.underline} [FY
2004]{.underline}

\$247,328 \$296,242 282,959

The CHAMPS Project (Creating High Achievement in Mathematics,
Problem-Solving, and Science) is submitted by the Mississippi Department
of Education's Mississippi School for Math and Science. CHAMPS is a
comprehensive program of identification, student service, and teacher
training that specifically targets underrepresented populations in the
23 poorest school districts in Mississippi. These districts, federally
designated as either Empowerment Zones or Enterprise communities, have
low numbers of students identified as gifted, few advanced opportunities
for highly capable learners, and substantial numbers of teachers who are
currently under emergency licensure and/or teaching out of their content
area.

The CHAMPS Project will work with the targeted districts to increase the
number of students identified as intellectually gifted who are from
traditionally underrepresented populations. In addition, a protocol will
be developed and implemented to identify students in grades 5-10 who are
highly capable in mathematics and science. These students will receive
advanced coursework opportunities through a two-week residential summer
institute and weekly distance learning seminars using two-way
interactive video. The teacher training component provides regular
classroom teachers in the targeted districts advanced training in gifted
education with a three-week institute that focuses on appropriately
differentiating the curriculum to effectively challenge the gifted
learners in their classrooms, with a particular emphasis on the fields
of mathematics and science.

Drawing on the combined expertise of the faculty of the Mississippi
School for Mathematics and Science, the graduate faculty in gifted
studies at Mississippi University for Women, and expert consultants in
the field of gifted education, the CHAMPS Project includes an intensive
follow-up component that offers support to participants through a
mentoring program, an interactive website, and seminar opportunities.

**Project Aspire: Creating Opportunities for Rural, Low-Income
Students**

**(2) PR AWARD #: S206A020001**

**Grantee:** Indiana Department of Education

Room 229 State House

Indianapolis, IN 46204-2798

**Contact:** Cheryl Boyer-Schrock

\(317\) 232 9107

cschrock@state.in.us

**Target Grade Level:** High School

**Funding:** [FY 2002]{.underline} [FY 2003]{.underline} [FY
2004]{.underline}

\$299,631 \$277,040 \$285,715

Under priority two of the Jacob K. Javits Gifted & Talented Students
Education Program, Project Aspire provides advanced curriculum to high
ability, low-income, rural students, a segment of the population that is
often overlooked and underrepresented in high school programs that serve
gifted students. The project focuses on the interaction of five program
components to provide appropriate academic services and new or modified
strategies for active, ongoing identification and recruitment of
high-ability, low-income students who have the potential to succeed in
advanced placement science and math courses; the development and
implementation of a sustainable advanced placement preparatory
curriculum with concurrent instructional strategies and assessment
appropriate to each course; strong academic and counseling support
services; and a unique implementation of on-line distance learning to
furnish advanced placement courses to ten project schools. The
interaction of these components under Project Aspire should provide new
experiential insights as well as extensive data indicating the success
of their implementation.

The project seeks to attain three learner-centered goals that focus on
the needs of high ability, low-income students in rural high schools.
Each goal description includes measurable criteria to assess the
outcomes of the project. The first goal is to increase the number of
high ability, low-income, rural students enrolled in the project's
advanced placement science and math courses and advanced placement
preparatory high school courses to equal or exceed the percentage of
low-income students in the total school population. The second goal is
to increase the achievement level of high ability, low-income rural
students enrolled in the project's advanced placement math and science
courses and preparatory, advanced placement preparatory high school
courses to equal or exceed that of all other students enrolled in the
same courses in the project high schools as indicated by advanced
placement examination scores or assessments of prerequisite
proficiencies. The third goal is to increase the use of differentiated
instructional strategies by the high school teachers of the advanced
placement preparatory science and math courses to enable high ability,
low-income, rural students to attain specific prerequisite proficiencies
at a level that equals or exceeds that of all other students enrolled in
the same courses or program as indicated by class grades and assessments
of prerequisite proficiencies.

**Project REAL**

**(2) PR AWARD #: S206A020021**

**Grantee:** Pennsylvania Department of Education

333 Market Street, 8^th^ Floor

Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333

**Contact:** Dr. Marian Sutter

\(717\) 783-6590

msutter@state.pa.us

**Target Grade Level:** K-12

**Funding:** [FY 2002]{.underline} [FY 2003]{.underline} [FY
2004]{.underline}

\$297,827 \$297,842 \$298,023

Let's get realistic about the crises situation of gifted students in
Pennsylvania. Project REAL, Rural Education for Accelerated Learners, is
a statewide training and demonstration initiative to assist high
potential rural students in maximizing their academic and personal
potential. Project REAL increases the capacity of Pennsylvania to
provide effective gifted education programs networked with the
Department of Education, higher education, a regional gifted liaison
system, web-based and summer accelerated learning opportunities and
community resources. The benefit is that greater numbers of gifted
students in rural communities will experience increased academic
achievement when giftedness is identified early and, the student and
family are connected with a network of research-based educational
services that includes individual educational counseling, mentoring, and
resources that will prepare them for advanced coursework.

Project REAL defines rural school districts as having a population
density of less than 400 persons per square mile and a student
population of less than 2,000. More than 58% or 295 of Pennsylvania's
501 public school districts meet these criteria.

Project REAL expands and focuses the Gifted Liaison structure and
Intermediate Unit Service Delivery network by including access to
video-linked and web-based education resources, assisting in the
development of individual education plans, replicating the ATOMS summer
gifted program, accessing the Johns Hopkins model for accelerated
mathematics, establishing student-content specialist mentor
relationships, and fostering the development at Indiana University of
Pennsylvania (IUP) of a center to meet the needs of rural gifted
children, their educators, and their families.