Going Above and Beyond — Shelby County Beefs Up Programs for Gifted Middle School Students

By Lindsay Melvin

In second grade, Elise Jordan’s daughter was reading novels that some middle schoolers struggle with.

So Jordan wasn’t surprised when Samantha was labeled a “gifted student.”

But when it came time for Samantha to graduate elementary school, Jordan was disappointed with how little Shelby County Schools had to offer a gifted child at the middle school level.

Now a sixth-grader, Jordan’s daughter is in her first year of private school.

“Where I had to draw the line is they couldn’t offer the things that were above and beyond,” she said. “These are such critical years.”

County school administrators are now trying to hold on to students like Samantha by expanding gifted instruction.

After endless complaints and losing some of their brightest pupils to private schools, the district is taking the first step to beef up its middle school program.

Starting next school year, gifted students in sixth and seventh grades will go from being offered two advanced classes each month, to 50 minutes a day of language arts instruction , designed specifically for gifted students.

The program will be extended the following year to eighth grade.

“Some people might say ‘Why did it take so long?’ Well, you want to do it right,” said head of gifted instruction Becky Sadowski.

For three years, Sadowski has been studying other Tennessee school districts, talking with parents and working with school staff to craft a solution, she said. “This is what parents have really been wanting.”

There are about 2,500 gifted students in county schools with 34 teachers serving them. Students are evaluated as gifted as early as third grade using state standards.

The district’s program would bring in 16 more teachers with the ultimate goal of adding more subjects over time, Sadowski said.

It will allow for a seamless transition between the Academic Program for the Exceptional (APEX) at the elementary level and the college credit courses offered in high school, Sadowski said.

After watching her son become bored and withdrawn in mainstream classes, Marlene Strube transferred her gifted seventh-grader from Germantown Middle to Briarcrest Christian School early this year.

“The pace is slow. It’s not fast enough for those who truly want a challenge,” she said of the public school setting.

An involved parent who helped found the Shelby County Schools Education Foundation, Strube begged for more challenging middle school courses, she said.

Despite her devotion to the district, in the end, the system lost both her, her son and her elementary-age daughter.

Sadowski is now working to get the word out about the more rigorous courses. “The parents I talk to don’t want to leave Shelby County Schools,” she said.

The school administrator predicts the stepped-up courses will bring more scholarships and recognition to students in the district. And, she anticipates, the return of families that have strayed.

“I hope they’ll say ‘Maybe we can go back,’ and I hope we get them back,” she said.

– Lindsay Melvin: 529-2445

Originally published by Lindsay Melvin / lindsay.melvin@commercialappeal.com .

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