The International Schools Review Forum

A very laudible movement to get IS's to be more inclusive. Lots of heavy hitters on the schools list on their website. Very well known people behind this. Check it out!
In my past schools I have seen lots of initiatives for help with language skills, ADHD, ADD, dyslexia, etc yet the top part of the bell curve seems underserved. What are we actually DOING to challenge our gifted kids? Offering AP or subjects at IB HL seems to be the only response.
Do any of your schools accelerate? Offer alternative opportunities? Telescope the curriculum? Actually DO ANYTHING other than the lock step one-size-fits-nobody approach?

My school encourages students to take advanced courses from MIT and Stanford online in math, sciences, and humanities. They do get a diploma after successful completion of courses and these programs do 'stretch their minds' beyond the conventional curriculum.

Thanks Fine Dude, good to hear from you.
Yep, have seen and helped kids participate in some of these. They are very good stuff in the main. Do you sometimes feel that the timetable has an almost god-like rigidity so that kids who arrive during the year end up doing stuff they really don't want to? I sometimes feel that this rigidity affects how we approach G&T kids.

You are spot on, Cheery. That's one of the drawbacks of a floating expat pool of students and I don't think that'll disappear. It gets worse if your school is in a big city, which also happens to be the nerve center of major corporations. I feel the schedules will get even more rigid trying to accommodate the needs of such uncertain student pool, which constantly changes every six months. Eventually, both the students and teachers will get stressed out without being able to meet each other's needs or expectations and parents want stellar results on the go as the admin makes all kinds of promises during admission time. After all, who wants to let go of a 20 or 30K check or even a bigger donation from the student's parent company?

Wow, this looks like a really high-profile thing. But I can't figure out from that website what it's actually about.

How would a school differentiate its offerings up for gifted kids without spending any money? I'd like to see the answer.

In addition, once you depart from a "lock-step" approach to class placement, how do you deal with the problems that flexibility poses? How do you tell Mr. and Mrs. Moneybags that their precious little one has no business being accelerated like some others?

Without spending any money? Certain things are possible. A compressed curriculum is free - the student does only the vital pieces of the regular course, to demonstrate they have mastered the requirements, and the teacher pushes them forward in the remaining time with independent projects. Costs nothing, but requires a little commitment/planning from the teacher (which they should be doing for all students anyway) and a lot of commitment from the student - this only works if the student is gifted PLUS self-starting, which they aren't always.
Or they can be pulled out for a special unit with any adult in the school willing to contribute a couple hours a week for six weeks or so - admin types often love this type of assignment since they may well miss being in the classroom with kids.
Giving a suite of summative assessments for students to choose from can work too - target one or more at basic, regular and advanced levels, and guide students to one that represents the right challenge for them.
Some after-school activities, the ones all teachers are contracted to do anyway, can be targeted for high flyers.
And I'm sure there's more if I think about it.
Other things may cost money, but gifted students deserve that money as much as lower-achieving students. Each student in school needs to have their needs met, to be pushed and pulled and supported as far as they can go.