Federal Law Drains Resources for the Gifted
By JOSEPH BERGER
Published: February 7, 2007
Adam Harris has built a robotwhose arms bang out “Hot Cross Buns” on a piano keyboard. Cinzia Alfanois cobbling together a board game that teaches players why the Titanicsank so quickly — in sophisticated engineering detail. Mariam Hellalatis staging a murder scene speckled with DNA, fingerprints and bulletcasings to intrigue, and mislead, student detectives, and she hasresearched the forensics to back up different theories of whodunit.
Allthree eighth graders carry the same academic load as their classmates,but they are pulled out of class several times a week to work on thesemind-stretching projects. The well-off suburban families of WestHartford are willing to pay for them to pursue these enthusiasms,spending $678,000 this year for teachers at 14 schools to shepherd the13 percent of students deemed intellectually gifted through suchactivities.
But across the country, programs like this can behard to sustain. The federal No Child Left Behind law requires thatvirtually all children become proficient in reading and mathematics by2014, and this demand is forcing many school districts to focusattention — and money — on students who are not proficient in readingor math. Many families of exceptionally bright children like to saythat it is the gifted who are being left behind.
The rest of this artice can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/education/07education.html?em&ex=1170997200&en=79b533dd62d5ea75&ei=5087%0A
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