CALIFORNIA MENTALLY GIFTED MINOR PROGRAM

A BRIEF HISTORY

By Paul D. Plowman, Ed.D., Consultant in Education of the Mentally Gifted

INTRODUCTION

The State of California encourages school districts to provide qualitatively different and uniquely appropriate learning experiences for children in the upper two percent of general mental ability. Through guidelines, consultant service, and extra funds, the state seeks (1) to prepare over 100,000 mentally gifted minors for responsible and productive adult roles in government, business, and the professions; (2) to help each gifted child gain a realistic and healthy concept of himself-his strengths, his weaknesses, his areas of needed improvement, and his potentialities; and (3) to develop these children into intellectually and creatively capable, productive, and compassionate human beings.

Specific learner objectives are for the child:

1. To excell in academic attainment:

1.1 Through acquisition, organization, and evaluation of knowledge, and

1.2 Through perfecting skills of reading, writing, and use of numbers.

2. To become adept at such intellectual skills as:

2.1 Analysis of problems.

2.2 Definition of problems.

2.3 Identification of alternative solutions to problems.

3. To create original and worthwhile products.

4. To gain leadership skills.

5. To acquire knowledge about a number of career possibilities: 5.1 Through which he might gain personal satisfaction and/or 5.2 Through which he might help to improve the society in which he lives.

Program inauguration and development are based upon :

1. Reported neglect of intellectually gifted children in the classrooms of the state.1

2. An awareness that these children have unique learning needs which require certain types of programs, learning experiences, materials, and teachers.2

3. Research evidence that shows "striking gains in achievement with accompanying personal and social benefits" resulting from special programs.3

Furthermore, it can be said that programs for gifted children are consistent with basic principles of American education and of Ameri

See references on p. 226.

can democracy and that such programs are logically a part of a broader concern for optimum development or full development of all children with special talents and special needs.

This report (1) outlines historical roots and development of the California Mentally Gifted Minor Program from 1925 to 1971; (2) reviews major contributions of developmental projects made possible through USOE Cooperative-Research and Title V, Elementary and Secondary Education Act funds; and (3) describes the current status of the program.

HISTORICAL ROOTS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CALIFORNIA MENTALLY GIFTED MINOR PROGRAM

Roots of the California program for children in the upper two percent of general mental ability extend back to the monumental research efforts of Lewis Terman of Stanford University. In 1925 he published his first volume of Genetic Studies of Genius. This book described characteristics of 1,000 California gifted children. By 1951, San Diego and Los Angeles had established conceptually sound and comprehensive educational programs for gifted children and youth. In 1955 and 1956, personnel in the California State Department of Education held exploratory and planning meetings regarding the role of the state in encouraging school districts to make special provisions for these children. A California State Study conducted from 1957 to 1960 evaluated 17 different kinds of programs and 929 pupils and concluded:

The special provisions made in these programs were beneficial for the gifted. . . participating pupils made striking gains in achievement with accompanying personal and social benefits."

Per pupil support levels documented and recommended by the State Study in 1960 were: $200 per pupil per year for additional operational expenses and $40 per pupil for costs incurred in the initial identification of a child as a mentally gifted minor. Assembly Bill 361, passed in 1961, provided $40 as the total amount available per pupil per year for both identification and operational expenses.

During the first year, school districts spent an average of $83 per participating mentally gifted minor for these extra expenses. In-depth studies revealed program costs for special classes and counseling and tutoring still exceeded the recommended $200 level.

At the present time (ten years after the start of the program) state money available to school districts for extra costs of identification and conducting a program amounts to up to $40 for identification on a onetime basis and up to $60 per pupil per year for the extra costs of instruction. Over the past ten years there have been a number of legislative bills submitted to the Legislature and studies made which pegged the needed support level at $150 to $200 per pupil, plus funds for identification.

Assembly Bill 361 (1961) also established a consultant service within the State Department of Education. During the first few years of the State Mentally Gifted Minor Program two consultants concentrated their attention upon interpreting legislation and rules and regulations to school districts throughout the state and developed guidelines for school districts to follow in inaugurating programs. Then in

1963, they procured $249,000 of federal (USOE Cooperative Research) funds to demonstrate model aspects of four of the state program types. Since the conclusion of the federally financed project, California Project Talent, efforts have been directed toward developing exemplary curriculum guides and a statewide framework.

Key elements in the operation of mentally gifted minor programs are: procedures for identifying children as mentally gifted minors and for placing them in one or more programs approved by the State; consent of parents; written plans developed by school districts; and a case study on each child. The case study is prepared as part of the identification process and becomes the basis for planning suitable educational provisions for each child.

It is to the credit of many school administrators and interested civic groups that local school districts have over the past ten years contributed their own funds to augment the support provided by the state. During the first year of the program (1961-1962), school districts spent an average of $83 of extra money per pupil in offering programs for mentally gifted minors. A few school districts spent as high as $900 of extra money per pupil in offering such programs. The average per pupil extra expenditure for 1969-1970 was $121. As the chart, Enrollment and Expenditures", shows, the growth of pupil participation from 35,164 full-time equivalent pupils (over 38,000 individuals) in 1961-1962 to approximately 112,000 full-time equivalent pupils in 1970-1971. At the present time, 250 California school districts (with an estimated aggregate pupil population of about 95 percent of the statewide pupil population) make special provisions for mentally gifted minors. State money available for the mentally gifted minor program in the 1970-1971 school year is approximately eight and one-half million dollars.

Authorized expenditures include the purchase of instructional materials, inservice education, salaries of consultants, and psychologists or psychometrists, transportation to areas of special learning (including field trips). Expenditures made under this program are to be those incurred solely for providing the special program and must be readily identifiable in the accounting records of the school districts. The expenses incurred shall also be directly related to pupils enrolled during the fiscal year in the special program and would not have occurred had the program not been initiated.

The following chart outlines expenditures authorized from 19611962 through 1969-1970. It also shows enrollments for the same period.

Enrollment and expenditure data are from Fiscal Year Apportionment Reports and computer-run fiscal-year summaries.

#Estimates

Column "C" contains summer program enrollments as one semester.

Excess cost reimbursement basis of funding 1961-62 to 1966-67. Current cost basis of funding 1967-68 to present (3/18/71).

The drop in the total allowance for 1968-69 is attributed to a return to an annual support level of $40 per mentally gifted minor. (See interpretation and attachment from Vol. XVIII, No. 1, March 1970, Special Education Newsletter.)

*The arrows from Column "g" to Column "f" indicate that these "state allowances" were paid on an excess cost reimbursement basis to offset at least a portion of the extra expenses incurred during and reported for the previous school (fiscal) year.