Audience
Researchers, School Administrators, Teachers
Keywords
Place-based education; Rural education; Rural gifted students; Low-income gifted students; Identification of gifted students; High-level curriculum; Gifted Education, Ability Identification, Place Based Education, Educational Attitudes, Teaching Load, Knowledge Base for Teaching, Teacher Expectations of Students, Fidelity
Author(s)
Azano, Amy Price; Callahan, Carolyn; Bass, Erika L.; Rasheed, Michelle
Date
2020
Abstract
Across the global landscape, the achievement and opportunity gaps between low-income students and their more economically advantaged peers present serious challenges for gifted education. Further, for rural students, these excellence gaps may be even more pronounced, and opportunities to maximise potential for gifted students in rural environments are even rarer. Drawing from prior curriculum work, What Works in Gifted Education (Callahan, Moon, Oh, Azano, & Hailey, Am Educ Res J 52:137–167, 2015), and ongoing work in a 5-year project focusing on promoting gifted education in rural schools, the initial focus of the chapter is on the major issues in rural gifted education internationally and specifically in the Australasia/Pacific Rim nations. These issues include fewer specialists in gifted education, limited resources, fewer programme options and fewer research opportunities and field trips (Alston & Kent, Aust J Gift Educ 47, 2003; Burney & Cross, Gift Child Today 29(2):14–21, 2006; Hébert & Beardsley, Gift Child Q 45:85–102, 2001; Riley & Bicknell, APEX NZ J Gift Educ 18(1):1–16, 2013). The description of issues is followed by a review of strategies to minimise these challenges. These strategies include an alternative process for identifying gifted students in rural schools and presentation of the CLEAR curriculum model. Modification of the empirically validated CLEAR curriculum model is illustrated by the integration of place-based pedagogy drawn from geographically and culturally relevant elements of the Australian, New Zealand and Pacific region. The modification provides an exemplar for engaging and challenging rural students in gifted programmes. Findings from the study of the model and, perhaps, more importantly, lessons learned and more global takeaways for the field conclude the chapter.