Applying gifted education pedagogy to total talent development for all students

Focus on the Act of Learning

School improvement must begin by placing the act of learning at the center of the change process. Organizational and administrative structures, such as vouchers, site-based management, school choice, multi-aged classes, parent involvement, and extended school days, are important considerations, but they do not address directly the crucial question of how we can improve what happens in classrooms where teachers, students, and curriculum interact with one another. One of the things we have done in developing the Schoolwide Enrichment Model is to base all recommendations for school improvement on the learning process. It is beyond the scope of this summary to explain all components of the act of learning, but a figural representation of the learning process is depicted in Figure 1. The Learner Circle highlights important components that students bring to the act of learning. Thus, when examining the learner we must take into consideration: (a) present achievement levels in each area of study, (b) the learner's interest in particular topics and the ways in which we can enhance present interests or develop new interests, and (c) the preferred styles of learning that will improve the learner's motivation to pursue the material that is being studied. Likewise, the teacher and learner dimensions have subcomponents that must be considered when we place the act of learning at the center of the school improvement process (Renzulli, 1992).

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The Use of Time

Although it would be interesting to speculate about why schools have changed so little over the centuries, at least part of the reason has been our unwillingness to examine critically the issue of school time. If the ways we currently use school time were producing remarkably positive or even adequate results, there might be an argument for maintaining the traditional schedule and calendar. But such is not the case.

A universal pattern of school organization that has emerged over the years has contributed to our inability to make even the smallest changes in the overall process of learning. Our uncontested acceptance of the elementary and secondary school schedule causes us to lose sight of the fact that it is based on a fundamental flaw in education design: the assumption that learning is regulated by the clock and defined by an annual calendar (Jones & Schwartz, 1994). In dealing with current reality, however, the Schoolwide Enrichment Model proposes a number of alternative scheduling patterns based on selectively borrowing one or two class meetings per month from the major subject areas. This approach guarantees that a designated time will be available each week for advanced-level enrichment clusters.

A Gentle and Evolutionary (But Realistic) Approach to School Improvement

The approach to school improvement being recommended in this model is realistic because it focuses on those aspects of learning and development over which schools have the most influence and, therefore, the highest probability of achieving success. We believe that school improvement can be initiated and built on through gentle and evolutionary strategies for change. These strategies must first and foremost concentrate on the act of learning as represented by the interactions that take place between and among learners, teachers, and the curriculum. In the early stages of the change process, these strategies should make minimal but specific suggestions for change in existing schedules, textbook usage, and curricular conventions. And, these strategies should be based on practices that have already demonstrated favorable results in places where they have been used for reasonable periods of time and with groups from varying ethnic and economic backgrounds. We also believe that the individual school building is the unit-of-change for addressing school improvement, and that effective and lasting change can only occur when it is initiated, nurtured, and monitored from within the school itself. A simple but sincere waiver of top-down regulations; a plan that involves consensus and shared decision making on the parts of administrators, parents, teachers, and school counselors; and incentives for specific contributions to the change process are the starting points and the only big decisions policymakers need to make to initiate a gentle and evolutionary school improvement process.