The Configuration of School Systems and How It Affects Gifted Students

A Crash Course on Giftedness and the Schools

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The Configuration of School Systems

The physical configuration and organization of our school systems — i.e., separate buildings for elementary school, junior high or middle school, and high school — creates a significant artificial barrier to meeting individual needs. The old one-room schoolhouse allowed students to progress through the available curriculum at their own pace regardless of age; students got materials and instruction when they were ready and graduated when they had finished. There was no kindergarten; younger children stayed at home. School was for grades one through eight. Many students went on to four years of high school, but just finishing eighth grade was considered a worthy goal, especially in rural areas, until the mid-1900s. Skipping grades was quite common for the brightest children, and such advancement was possible because curriculum for all grades was available in the same building.

After World War II, public school systems built consolidated school districts where schools would feed into one large central high school. Most school systems attempted to have smaller schools for the younger children — usually kindergarten through sixth grade — throughout the district in neighborhoods. This physical separation of age groups by grades continues into the 21st century. Each school district usually has a handful of elementary schools, one or two middle schools, and one centrally located high school. In large, urban districts, there may be several high schools in a district, with several middle schools and elementary schools feeding into each high school. Middle schools then supplanted junior high schools with the intention of providing less academic rigor and a more social, family atmosphere for adolescents who were thought to need more emphasis on socialization at this pre-adolescent age[1]. The problem with the current three-building configuration of elementary, middle, and high schools is that it results in a school “ceiling effect” for those students who out-pace or learn ahead of their age-mates. When they’re ready to move into the next building and higher challenges, they can’t; they have to wait until they reach the appropriate age.

Age Grouping and the Demise of Ability Grouping

For each grade from kindergarten through eighth or ninth grade, instruction is delivered to children who are most often grouped solely by age. Such grouping