Together we can make a difference!
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Meade
We are looking for parents, teachers, and students who support advanced and gifted education for Rochester Community Schools in Michigan. Please subscribe to Rochester SAGE to receive updates.
Also, please visit the "How to Help" link in the upper right.
Beginning the RCS Superintendent Search 2012
With the resignation of former Rochester Community Schools superintendent Fred Clarke, the Board of Education has outlined the calendar and some changes to the process of selecting a superintendent.
The proposed changes include:
- Site visits before finalist interviews – In the previous search, no site visits were done. (Mrs. Geraldine Moore is the exception as she is at Rochester Community Schools.) For this search, it is proposed that representatives of the Board of Education along with some members of the administration team and others will visit the school district of each finalist before the finalist interviews. Read more…
Action Alert: MAGC Letter to Legislators
Residents of Michigan, a very important Education Finance bill will shortly be sent to the Michigan legislature. Please take a moment to view this Legislative Update from the Michigan Association for Gifted Children and add your name to to the electronic letter.
Together we can make a difference for gifted children!
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Action Alert! Input need on Michigan Education Finance Act!
Here is a great opportunity to let the Oxford Foundation, the rewriters of Michigan’s School Aid Act, know that we want education for gifted students included in the new bill. The bill is to be based on performance, not seat time, so think about ways that performance of gifted learners can be measured and tied to funding.
The Oxford Foundation wants your input! Please take a few minutes and fill out their form at http://oxfordfoundationmi.com/2012/09/19/michigan-education-finance-project-seeks-input-from-education-groups-parents-and-the-public/
This is a once-in-a-lifetime bill. We need to be heard now and heard loudly! This may be the best opportunity to change our education system to meet the needs of gifted children.
To see what the Michigan Association for Gifted Children has proposed in its meeting with the Oxford Foundation, view the PDF at http://oxfordfoundationmi.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/magc-requests-for-mi-ed-finance-act-2013.pdf
Thank you for reading Rochester SAGE. Together we can make a difference for gifted children!
True in Michigan as well…
Last month I had the opportunity to testify in Akron before the House Finance Extended Subcommittee on Primary and Secondary Education. This is the subcommittee that will be exploring ways to overhaul school funding in Ohio. The topic for the evening was categorical and weighted funding. As each witness was provided only six minutes to speak, much of what I wanted to share with committee members was included in written testimony. Despite the short length of time to testify, I was gratified that the subcommittee member questions were quite thoughtful. One question in particular cut to the core of why gifted students are so poorly funded and served in Ohio — as well as in many states across the country. The question was how can we dispel the myth that gifted education is elitist and that gifted kids can “get it on their own?”
It is more than a…
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A Focus on Students
Recently the state of Michigan declared a number of schools to be “Focus Schools”. These are the 10% of schools with the widest achievement gaps between the top 30% and the bottom 30%. These achievement gaps are not necessarily gaps between white and minority students or high-income and low-income students, but between high achievers and struggling students. While more students struggling widens the achievement gap, so does having more high achievers or having high achievers who are wildly successful. The state has created a perverse incentive for many schools to clip the wings of students who would soar. Read more…
Updates on the Gifted Front
Rochester SAGE and other advocacy groups have continued to work hard for gifted learners in the Rochester Community Schools and throughout Michigan. We are happy to report some progress and future opportunities for meeting the needs of gifted students.
Curriculum Committee
The district’s Curriculum Committee has made some changes to student acceleration and is considering more. Read more…
There is no manual for gifted children and what helps one succeed may not work for another. Sometimes you need to simply observe your child and try your best. Stephanie Tolan writes about this…
Long, long ago (1988 to be exact) I wrote a piece I called “Giftedness–Nature or Nurture?” It was not an academic piece attempting to answer this old question. It was a gardening metaphor that I hoped would assure parents that the task they faced raising highly gifted kids was as tricky as it felt, but possible. It was written in first person plural because I, too, was a parent facing uncertainties.
As written originally, I don’t recommend it! But when I was talking recently to a parent fairly new to dealing with her more than usually unusual PG child, I thought this pre-cheetah, pre-mermaid metaphor might at least help her not only recognize but accept the challenges and begin to trust herself to meet them. So here’s an update for just that purpose:
When we have a baby it’s like being given a flower seed that it’s our job to grow. Determined to be responsible gardeners, we start by doing…
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Governor Snyder’s Team Seeking Input Around State
We need your voice, because together we can make a difference for gifted children!
Michigan governor Rick Snyder’s Office of Constituent Services is in the middle of a 60 stop tour around Michigan seeking input from citizens on topics important to us. This is a great opportunity to speak to Michigan’s executive team about the need for gifted education legislation and funding, particularly in the elementary and middle school levels.
To find out date and times for mobile office hours near you, click the maps below. No appointments are necessary, but I do not know what to expect for turnout and wait times. I recommend bringing a one page summary of your concerns and proposals so that the governor gets your input correctly or in case you need to leave before a staff member is available. I’ve listed a few suggestions below the maps (click “more”), but please add your own in the comments so that we can speak loudly together. I suggest putting your contact information on the sheet if you are comfortable doing so.
More information is at reinventingmichigan.blogspot.com
Week of June 18
Week of June 25
Week of July 9
Week of July 16
Read more…
Thinking Smart, Acting Dumb
It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. – Rene Descartes
The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think – rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men. – Bill Beattie
Have you ever been astonished by the bone-headed mistakes of someone very smart? Ever wondered how a person can seem both intelligent and brain dead at the same time? We’ve all known that person. Many of us have been that person. But why is this the case?
Keith E. Stanovich in his book What Intelligence Tests Miss: The psychology of rational thought proposes that rationality and IQ are separate scales. While I don’t necessarily disagree with this, I believe that this disparity has a great deal to do with how we raise gifted children.
Read more…
A great post by Jen Merrill at “An Intense Life”
I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t deserve this. I shouldn’t be here.
Hi. My name is Jen and I suffer from Impostor Syndrome. Badly. What is Impostor Syndrome, you ask? Well, you’re in the right place, ’cause I’m gonna tell ya. Striking women more often than men, and gifted women in particular, Impostor Syndrome is that lovely set of lies the voices inside your head tell you when you are successful. That nasty little voice that whispers at you, sneering at your success, and is so persuasive that you believe it time and time and time again.
I didn’t suffer enough. I don’t deserve it.
With a flute performance background, you’d think I would have learned how to better cope with this. You’d be wrong. See, while I was naturally inclined to be better than average on the flute, I had to work my ass off to…
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Rochester SAGE - Supporting Advanced & Gifted Education 