Advanced Learners
Advanced learners, for purposes of this framework, are students who demonstrate or are capable
of demonstrating performance in ELA/literacy at a level significantly above the performance of their
age group. They may include (1) students formally identified by a school district as gifted and talented
pursuant to California EC Section 52200 and (2) other students who have not been formally identified
as gifted and talented but who demonstrate the capacity for advanced performance. In California,
each school district sets its own criteria for identifying gifted and talented students.
The informal identification of students’ learning needs
(#2 above) is important because some students, particularly
California’s culturally and linguistically diverse learners, may
not exhibit advanced learning characteristics in culturally
or linguistically congruent or familiar ways. For example,
a kindergartener who enters U.S. schools as a newcomer
to English and is fluently translating for others by the end
of the year may not be formally identified as advanced but
may in fact be best served by programs offered to gifted
and talented students. Likewise, students with disabilities
may not be identified as gifted and talented as readily as
others, yet some students with disabilities may be also gifted
and talented. They are twice exceptional and instruction
should address both sets of needs (International Dyslexia
Association 2013; Nicpon, Allmon, Sieck, and Stinson
2011). Although advanced academically, gifted and talented
students are not always advanced emotionally, socially, and organizationally, and instruction should be
sensitive to and support students’ growth in these areas. Teachers are prepared through preservice
and inservice professional learning programs to recognize the range of learners who are gifted and
talented. As noted previously, the populations discussed in this chapter are not mutually exclusive and
each is heterogeneous. A statement from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) about
the CCSS is provided in figure 9.5.
Figure 9.5. Excerpt from the NAGC’s Statement on the CCSS and Gifted EducationApplication of the Common Core State Standards for Gifted and Talented Students
Gifted and talented students learn more quickly and differently from their classmates.
They come from every ethnic background and socioeconomic group and vary from their
age peers and from other gifted students in the ways and rate at which they learn, and
the domains in which they are gifted. These differences require modifications to curriculum
and instruction, as well as to assessments, to ensure that these students are appropriately
challenged. Too many advanced students languish in today’s classrooms with little rigor and
much repetition. With careful planning, the new standards offer the prospect of improving
the classroom experience for high-ability students in significant ways; not only in how the
new materials are developed and presented, but also the ways in which student knowledge is
measured, leading to appropriate instructional decision-making.
In considering advanced students, grade-level standards will be inadequate in challenging
them each day with new information. Gifted learners are well able to meet, and exceed,
the core standards on a faster timetable than their age peers. Therefore, it is critical that
curriculum is matched to student ability through a range of content acceleration strategies
and that teachers are able to implement an array of differentiation strategies to supplement
and extend the curriculum. These include a variety of flexible grouping strategies, creativeThey [advanced learners] may
include (1) students formally
identified by a school district as
gifted and talented pursuant
to California EC Section
52200 and (2) other students
who have not been formally
identified as gifted and
talented but who demonstrate
the capacity for advanced
performance.Access and Equity Chapter 9 | 899