District Administration - May 2012 - (Page 71)

spanned the gamut of live musical performances, videos, PowerPoint presentations, poems and other written works, and more. Cippolone says the experience was “uplifting” for his students, who often feel inferior and lack self-confidence. “The Renzulli SEM program highlights what they’re interested in and what they do best instead of where they need remediation,” Cippolone says. With Renzulli as a springboard, New Venture implemented other enrichment writing, dance and community service programs through groups such as the New York-based Teachers & Writers Collaborative, the international Dream Yard Project, and the New York City-based El Museo del Barrio that let kids delve deeply into their own interests. One such program was a journalism unit for 6th through 8th graders that culminated in a student trip to Manhattan, where the students met some editorial staff members of The New York Times and toured the offices. Another was a performing arts unit, which ended with students attending Broadway performances of Mary Poppins and The Addams Family, a first visit to Manhattan for many students who’d never been farther than their school’s block in the Bronx. “One student who conducted an interview with me as part of the journalism unit,” says Cippolone, “said he’d never felt so respected in his life.” What the Critics Said Renzulli says that early critics of his reform model in the 1970s and ’80s comprised “the conservative element” of the gifted field, whose approach to enrichment consisted of “covering more material faster” and who opposed offering gifted curriculum opportunities to all kids. “The attitude was that we were giving away some kind of secret,” says Renzulli. “A second camp of critics were the general education folks who didn’t want us to ‘poke our gifted nose’ into their general education business, even though their intervention strategies were failing.” The Renzulli SEM has clearly made significant strides in overcoming objecwww.DistrictAdministration.com tions from these groups over the years. According to CompassLearning, more than 2,000 schools are using Renzulli’s model, with more than 500,000 students and 50,000 teachers registered. A survey of those registered shows that 58 percent of users are regular classroom students, 20 percent are gifted, 14 percent are in intervention programs, and an additional 8 percent are making up an unidentified “other” category. Gifted and Talented Veterans Weigh In Today, some of the Renzulli model’s most dedicated evangelists are seasoned professionals from the field of gifted and talented education. The Bayside Enrichment and with SEM as the central element. Differentiating learning and offering students as many choices and opportunities as it takes to succeed is the driving force of BELL, says Quatrano. “We like to say, ‘Educate children one at a time.’” Integral to the BELL curriculum are Renzulli SEM-based, semester-long cluster programs in which both students and teachers choose courses that reflect their interests and strengths. Among the choices for these applied classes are yoga, cooking, quilting, newspaper, drums, Latin dance, woodworking and community service. At the end of each semester, students present final projects. For example, students involved in community service clusters The Creative School of Inquiry at Chestnut Mountain Elementary in Hall County (Ga.) School District is one of several district programs that uses the Renzulli Learning model to develop students’ personal talents. Long Distance Learning (BELL) Academy, a public middle school in Queens, N.Y., for instance, was co-founded in 2007 by Principal Cheryl Quatrano, a 24-year education veteran and former director of gifted and talented education programs for New York City schools. In designing the school, Quatrano recalls that her team combined “the best of the best” practices from the 40 programs she had created and supervised in the past, raise money to help the homeless with clothing and food drives, collect toys for the Toys for Tots Foundation, and raise funds for Haiti relief and children with cancer at the Ronald McDonald Children’s Hospital. They also perform for and assist seniors at a local senior center. Within its first four years, BELL Academy became the number-one-performing school of all schools in the Borough of Queens, and it now ranks in the 98th May 2012 71 http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - May 2012

District Administration - May 2012
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Sustainability Update
Conversations
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Problem/Solution
Product Focus
Digital Reading Empowers Students
The Critical Task of Hiring a New Chief
Hard Acts to Follow
Leading the Way
Sally Reis & Joe Renzulli
CIO News
Not Your Mother’s Student Information System
Professional Opinion
Noteworthy Books
New Products
Going Mobile

District Administration - May 2012