http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4808099.html Will elite magnet program lose pull? Some fear that HISD's changes to Vanguard classes will take away the academic edge HISD is revamping its program for gifted-and-talented students. Some of the changes include: • All programs for gifted-and-talented children will carry the Vanguard name. • Vanguard magnet campuses will no longer have separate gifted-and-talented programs for neighborhood children. • All qualifying kindergarteners and sixth-graders will be automatically enrolled in Vanguard classes by 2008-09. Parents may choose to opt out. • High school students will be required to take two advanced-level courses, instead of just one. • All gifted students who are zoned to a Vanguard magnet school will have the option to attend that magnet. • The Tier 1 distinction for highly gifted students will be eliminated for 2008-09. • By 2008-09, qualified siblings will account for no more than 25 percent of a Vanguard magnet. Parents of some of Houston's smartest students are stressed about who their children will sit next to in class next August. They fear that a merging of the minds — the Houston Independent School District's move to combine its selective Vanguard programs with its standard gifted-and-talented offerings — could lead to a watered down curriculum for their children. Under the revamped program, highly gifted students could be attending class alongside more children who are less gifted. And any remaining seats in the classes could be filled by not-quite-gifted children. Some parents view HISD's Vanguard program as a sort of oasis of academic excellence in an otherwise struggling school district. If Vanguard classes lose their academic exclusivity, some fear parents might leave for private schools. "There is anxiety and I think some people are voting with their feet and leaving the schools," said HISD parent Martin Cominsky, who chaired the committee that recommended opening HISD's Vanguard classrooms to more gifted children. Most of HISD's gifted students — about 20,000 of them — are enrolled in neighborhood school programs that the committee concluded offer inconsistent levels of quality and academic rigor. Competition is fierce, meanwhile, among gifted students for 4,000-plus seats in the Vanguard program, where students are more isolated from regular students. Vanguard students are more likely to be Anglo or Asian and less likely to live in poverty than the typical HISD student. Cominsky's committee determined that many deserving HISD students weren't getting into the Vanguard programs simply because their parents didn't fill out the applications. So the school board voted to automatically admit students with strong test scores and teacher recommendations. The board also decided to give the Vanguard label to all gifted-and-talented classes. "I know what we dreamed of. I just think it's going to take time," he said. "I'm scared of the transitional years. I don't want to see people suffer." Although both programs serve gifted students, Vanguard schools have operated as so-called magnets that draw students from all over the city to 20 select campuses. Regular gifted-and-talented programs, on the other hand, typically serve students attending their neighborhood schools. Parents at Vanguard magnets, including Herod, Travis and River Oaks elementaries, may not wait around to find out how the changes will affect their children, Cominsky said. Enrollment figures for the upcoming school year aren't available yet. Each campus is tackling its own unique issues as administrators hurry to redesign their programs. Principals have until next month to decide whether they'll make classes of just gifted children, or whether they'll cluster gifted students with non-gifted students. Some will use a combination of the two models. Deciding how to structure the classes caused waves at Oak Forest Elementary, where parents were asked to help administrators divvy up the 60 gifted first-graders for next year. The first option was to divide the children into three classes of 20 and then to add two non-gifted children to each class to reach the state-mandated cap of 22. Or they could create two classes of 22 gifted children and then a third class with 16 gifted and six non-gifted children. After much deliberation, Oak Forest parents endorsed the first option. "They were worried about children who had not qualified being in class with their children and lowering the level of education, making the Vanguard level a little less distinct," said parent Jennie Biggs, who has a first-grader in Oak Forest's Vanguard program. "It came down to, if you really want a homogeneous class, volunteer to put your kid in the classroom (with six unqualified kids)." To fill up the classes, HISD officials said, they'll pick high-achievers who just missed the gifted cutoffs. Those students shouldn't have trouble keeping up, officials said. Will Weber, a University of Houston professor who served on the Vanguard committee, said parents shouldn't worry if their gifted children are in class alongside non-gifted students. HISD enrolls more than 11 percent of its 200,000 students in the program, more than double the percentage researchers say are truly gifted, he said. Other parents are worried about more program changes planned for 2008-09. At that point, fewer qualified siblings of Vanguard students will receive automatic admission into the magnets. HISD will also do away with the tier system that lets highly gifted students gain automatic admission into the Vanguard of their choice. HISD trustees said they understand the Vanguard program can't afford to lose its luster. They said they're confident the higher standards will equate to an even better education. "It's very important that every child that qualifies for a gifted-and-talented program have strong instruction. It's very important that these kids move academically," trustee Dianne Johnson said. "One of the downsides of the minimum standards that we've had in Texas for a long time has been the neglect of these children." jennifer.radcliffe@chron.com
