Finding the Time!
Meeting the Needs of High Ability Students
Presented at OCCGATE Fall 2012
 Curriculum
compacting is a procedure used
to streamline the regular curriculum for
students who are capable of mastering it at a
faster pace.
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The compacting process has three basic phases:
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Determine the goals and objectives of the regular
curriculum.
Assess students for previous mastery of these
objectives.
Substitute more appropriate (challenging) options.
 Students
already know most of their text’s
content before “learning it”.
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Taylor and Frye (1988) found that 78-88% of fifth
and sixth-grade average readers could pass
pretests on basal comprehension skills.
Flanders (1987) found that students in grades two
to five encounter approximately 40-65% new
content.
 Textbooks
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have been “dumbed down”.
Decreased vocabulary
Simplification of vocabulary
Narrowed range of reading ability
Sentence structure simplified
Adjectives and other describers are limited
 The
quality of textbooks has failed to
improve.
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A Nation at Risk (1983) recommended that
(textbooks) and other tools of learning and
teaching be upgraded to assure more rigorous
content.
Chall and Conrad (1991) indicate that readability
levels did not change in any appreciable way.
Tyson-Berstein (1988) state “editors are
increasingly organizing elementary reading series
around the content and timing of standardized
tests.”
 The
needs of high-ability students are not
often met in classrooms.

The National Research Center on the Gifted and
Talented – “The Classroom Practices Observation
Study” (1992)
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Little differentiation in instructional and curricular
practices including grouping arrangements and verbal
interactions.
Gifted students received homogenous grouping only
21% of the time.
GATE or high-ability students experienced no
instructional or curricular differentiation in 84% of the
instructional activities in which they participated.
 Compacting
provides time for more
challenging learning experiences.
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Pursuit of independent studies
Reading self-selected materials
Other replacement options
 The
pace of instruction and practice time can
be modified.
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Elementary classroom teachers can eliminate as
much as 40-50% of the basal regular curriculum
for high-ability students.
For gifted learners, that percentage may be as high
as 70-80%.
Middle school students can compact out up to
50% of core curriculum.
 Compacting
guarantees educational
accountability.
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Not all high-ability and gifted learners will know
it all.
When compacting curriculum, teachers can
document the student’s strengths and teach
missed concepts commensurate with student
ability.
 Identify
the relevant learning objectives in a
given subject area or grade level.
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California Department of Education – Grade Level
Standards
Common Core Standards
District pacing guides
Teacher’s manuals
Curriculum specialists
 Find
or develop some means of pretesting
students on one or more of these objectives
prior to instruction.
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District assessments
Adopted curriculum assessments
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Chapter tests
Unit tests
Beginning of the Year/End of Year assessments
OARS – Online Assessment Reporting System
 Identify
students who may benefit from
curriculum compacting and should be
pretested.
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GATE identification list
GATE folder list/merit list
STAR data
Teacher recommendation
 Pretest
students to determine their mastery
levels of the chosen objectives.
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Determine as a grade level or site what constitutes
mastery.
Determine what students will participate in
extension activities or enrichment projects.
Determine what students need to have small
group instruction for missed concept(s).
 Eliminate
practice, drill, or instructional time
for students who have demonstrated prior
mastery of these objectives.
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Students “buy time” to work on extension activity
or enrichment project.
Differentiate assignments based on student need.
 Streamline
instruction of those objectives
students have not yet mastered but are
capable of mastering more quickly than their
classmates.
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Small group instruction
Practice worksheets
Computer software/on-line resources
Cooperative learning
Peer tutoring
 Offer
enrichment or acceleration options for
students whose curriculum has been
compacted.
 Classroom
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Independent or small group study
Escalated coverage of curriculum
Special interest groups
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Activities:
“Interest-A-Lyzer” – Joe Renzulli
“My Way” – Joe Renzulli
“If I Ran the School” – Sally Reis and Del Siegle
Lessons to further cognitive and affective
processes
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Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) – Type II Process
Skills
 Keep
records of this process and the
instructional options available to
“compacted” students.
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Personalized Education Plan (PEP)
Report card
“The Compactor” – Individual Educational
Programming Guide
 Start
small – choose a small group of students
for whom compacting would be appropriate.
 Select one area – choose one curricular area in
which the targeted group has shown
considerable mastery and that you have
appropriate enrichment materials.
 Experiment with pretesting – find a method
compatible with the curriculum, the students,
and you.
 Compact
by topic – compact for a unit,
chapter, or topic rather than a grading period.
 Decide how to document – determine at the
site how a child’s progress will be
documented and define proficiency based on
site consensus and district policy.
 Find a wide variety of alternatives – find and
create a wide range of enrichment
opportunities to replace content that will be
eliminated through compacting.
 Keep
experimenting – try new ideas, reflect
upon success, and modify as needed.
Comic Book
Bridge
 Curriculum
Compacting: The Complete
Guide to Modifying the Regular Curriculum
for High Ability Students

Sally Reis, Deborah Burns, Joseph Renzulli
 Independent

Study
Sandra Kapan and Bette Gould
 The
Parallel Curriculum: A Design to Develop
Learner Potential and Challenge Advanced
Learners

Carol Ann Tomlinson, Sandra Kaplan, Joseph
Renzulli, Jeanne Purcell, Jann Leppien, Deborah
Burns, Cindy Strickland, Marcia Imbeau
 Type
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www.gifted.uconn.edu/sem/typeiips.html
 My
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Way (Expression Style Inventory)
www.gifted.uconn.edu/sem/pdf/myway.pdf
 The
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II Processing Skills
Compactor (Documentation of Services)
www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/curriculumcompa
cting/SEC-IMAG/compactor.pdf
 Interest-a-lyzer
(Small group or independent
project survey – upper elementary)
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http://enrichmenttriadmodel.weebly.com/uploa
ds/7/6/4/7/7647438/the_interest-a-lyzer.pdf
 If
I Ran the School (Small group or
independent project survey – primary)
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http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/curriculum
compacting/SEC-IMAG/ranschol.pdf
Krisa Muller
Woodsboro Elementary
Placentia-Yorba Linda School District
kmuller@pylusd.org