Finn Gardiner
I am a Master of Public Policy candidate at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management, concentrating in Children, Youth and Families. I earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Tufts University in 2014. My primary research interests are comparative social policy among Western countries (with particular emphasis on the United States and United Kingdom), disability studies and policy, racial disparities in education, and identity formation among people with disabilities and LGBTQ people.
Supervisors: Monika Mitra
Supervisors: Monika Mitra
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As a distinct population of students with educational needs that vary from their typically developing counterparts, gifted and talented students require support that is currently not available in many Massachusetts schools. Some schools have programs for high-achieving students, but many gifted and talented students may not earn high grades in the classroom because of boredom, disengagement, or a disability.
Furthermore, Black and Latino students are less likely to be identified as gifted and talented because of systemic racial bias and identification techniques that do not take into account racial disparities in educational outcomes. While there is a common misconception that very intelligent or creative students will manage on their own without adaptive education, this is untrue. The consequences of not meeting these students’ educational needs can be dire. Denying these students an education commensurate with their skills can lead to disengagement from the classroom, failing grades, an elevated risk of dropout, and other detrimental outcomes.
DESE should develop a systematic set of guidelines for assessing and serving gifted and talented students in the Commonwealth, including provisions for identification, assessment, and service provision for these students to ensure that they can receive an enriching, challenging education that allows them to thrive both in the classroom and in adult life after leaving the school system. DESE should root this rubric for gifted and talented assessment and services in principles of equity, inclusion, and educational needs to ensure that all students who will benefit from gifted and talented education receive the chance to participate. These guidelines include assessment procedures that consider multiple facets of intellectual and creative giftedness, universal giftedness screening, protocols for grade-skipping and other forms of acceleration, and comprehensive educational planning for gifted and talented students.
Using a polity-centric approach—a framework for political analysis introduced by Theda Skocpol (1993)—I will examine the history of the IDEA, the effects the disability rights movement have exerted upon its passage, and the roles civil society and institutions of government played in developing this legislation. Under this approach, the creation of policy is based on the intersection between identity and affinity groups; government institutions, political parties, and the rules established by those institutions; and the amount of access or leverage that these entities can exert on the policymaking process (Skocpol, 1993).
As a distinct population of students with educational needs that vary from their typically developing counterparts, gifted and talented students require support that is currently not available in many Massachusetts schools. Some schools have programs for high-achieving students, but many gifted and talented students may not earn high grades in the classroom because of boredom, disengagement, or a disability.
Furthermore, Black and Latino students are less likely to be identified as gifted and talented because of systemic racial bias and identification techniques that do not take into account racial disparities in educational outcomes. While there is a common misconception that very intelligent or creative students will manage on their own without adaptive education, this is untrue. The consequences of not meeting these students’ educational needs can be dire. Denying these students an education commensurate with their skills can lead to disengagement from the classroom, failing grades, an elevated risk of dropout, and other detrimental outcomes.
DESE should develop a systematic set of guidelines for assessing and serving gifted and talented students in the Commonwealth, including provisions for identification, assessment, and service provision for these students to ensure that they can receive an enriching, challenging education that allows them to thrive both in the classroom and in adult life after leaving the school system. DESE should root this rubric for gifted and talented assessment and services in principles of equity, inclusion, and educational needs to ensure that all students who will benefit from gifted and talented education receive the chance to participate. These guidelines include assessment procedures that consider multiple facets of intellectual and creative giftedness, universal giftedness screening, protocols for grade-skipping and other forms of acceleration, and comprehensive educational planning for gifted and talented students.
Using a polity-centric approach—a framework for political analysis introduced by Theda Skocpol (1993)—I will examine the history of the IDEA, the effects the disability rights movement have exerted upon its passage, and the roles civil society and institutions of government played in developing this legislation. Under this approach, the creation of policy is based on the intersection between identity and affinity groups; government institutions, political parties, and the rules established by those institutions; and the amount of access or leverage that these entities can exert on the policymaking process (Skocpol, 1993).