A consistently struggling learner is denied access to special education services because her IQ isn't low enough. Or, a student two years ahead in math isn't given a chance to stretch, because he tests too low in reading to be placed in the school's gifted program.
Such cases happen in America's cash-strapped schools, where access to specialized programs and resources is often dictated by rules, well-meaning reforms -- even magic numbers -- instead of by teachers and specialists.
But curriculum experts at the newly formed Canyons School District want to change that by building a data system to track students' achievement and, with input from parents and teachers, tailor instruction to students' individual needs.
It's called "Response to Intervention" (RTI), an educational strategy taking hold in schools across America and driven by the belief that every student, whether struggling or gifted or somewhere in between, deserves an appropriate education.
"We're dealing with people, not products here," said Amber Roderick-Lanward, elementary schools director at Canyons.
RTI got its start in special education as a way to prop up struggling learners before they fail and require full-blown, federally monitored Individualized Education Programs. But Roderick-Lanward and her team want to apply it to all learners, including high achievers.
There are already schools in Utah using the RTI model, which is likely the wave of the future, said Mary Ruth Coleman, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and past president of the Association for the Gifted, a division of the Council for Exceptional Children.
When done right, RTI makes it possible to identify children whose giftedness may have gone unseen -- English language learners from disadvantaged families and bright kids with learning disabilities, said Coleman.
But it's time-consuming because it involves measuring how students respond to changes in instruction, she said. And whether it works may largely depend on the kinds of instructional enrichment Canyons delivers.
Is it enough for example, to give Johnny independent study time or should he be allowed to skip a grade? If Sally excels at science, should she be given more advanced lab work or paired with like-minded peers in a special study group?
Hollie Pettersson, an evidenced-based learning specialist at Canyons, said the district hasn't settled on a menu of instructional techniques, but will use only those with research-proven track records.
Canyons retained the gifted magnet program it inherited from its parent Jordan School District and began testing students for admission last month, analyzing their cognitive and academic abilities.
For in-district students, the testing was free.
The 500 students already enrolled will remain enrolled, but how many newcomers will make the cut is unknown. Nor has the district budgeted any particular amount for the program.
All the uncertainty has frustrated some parents.
"We're in limbo. Some of us have applied to charter schools and face deadlines for making decisions about where to place our children next year," Dara Michalski told district officials at a parent meeting last month. But Pettersson said the district doesn't want to "build a program and find kids to fill it. We want to assess kids and shape programming around their needs."
It would be easier, said Pettersson, to set a cut score and say only those in the top 3 percentile get services.
But that shuts out other advanced, and equally at-risk, kids who might benefit from a magnet setting or another type of instruction, she said. "I don't want to throw a profile out there, because the spectrum of gifted students is broad."
