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Playing Favorites examines the ways in which gifted education disrupts the classroom community, deskills regular classroom teachers, limits their ability and willingness to meet individual needs, and impairs the creation of a climate of inclusion and acceptance of difference. Sapon-Shevin shows here that current models of gifted education are elitist and meritocratic, treating some children, not just differently than others, but better; and that in large urban districts, gifted education programs are often racist as well. By creating and funding gifted programs, the author contends, schools engage in a form of "educational triage," serving those children for whom inadequate programming and educational failure would not be acceptable while maintaining the status quo for the majority of the school population.



This book provides support for teachers, parents, and administrators who have found themselves caught in the struggle of insuring an appropriate education for some children without sacrificing the good of all. Incorporating the words of teachers, parents, and students, as well as related research and theory, this book analyzes the relationship between diversity, community, and social justice. Sapon-Shevin challenges the reader to reconsider ways in which schools can meet individual educational needs while preserving communities of learners as well as the commitment to the education of all children. Finally, the book extends the challenge and assurance that we need not choose between quality education for some and mediocre education for all.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Introduction: Schools as Communities
• 1 Underserved and Over-Deserving: Rationales for the Support of Gifted Education
• 2 They're Good, They Don't Ask: Silence and Voice on Gifted Education
• 3 It Takes a Special Person to Work with Those Kids: Teachers and the Gifted Category
• 4 These Kids Really Show Themselves Early: Choosing Children for the Enrichment Program
• 5 I Only Want What's Best for My Child: Parents and Gifted Education
• 6 The Kids with Disposable Incomes: Meritocracy and Gifted Education
• 7 Visions of an Inclusive Future
• References
• Index

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CHOICE Review

Sapon-Shevin proposes that we return to the heterogeneous classroom as the primary source of children's communal and intellectual needs. According to the author, each child, no matter how exceptional, should have a place in that community. The full inclusion movement is predicated upon increased funding for staff development and support personnel, yet federal money for gifted students currently stands at $9 million dollars, hardly meaningful when distributed nationwide. Sapon-Shevin argues that labeling "de-skills" regular classroom teachers by reducing their responsibility to teach all students. However, techniques proposed by gifted education advocates for working with gifted students in the regular classroom, such as acceleration or cross-age ability grouping, are dismissed as elitist rhetoric by the author. No considered instructional or curricular alternatives are offered save having more able students assist their classmates. This contentious volume adds an important philosophical perspective to the debate about labeling and addressing the needs of gifted children and should engender questions about restructuring not only schools, but the community in which schools are located. All levels. R. F. Subotnik; Hunter College, CUNY

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Mara Sapon-Shevin is a professor in the Teaching and Leadership Program at Syracuse University. She teaches in the Inclusive Elementary and Special Education Teacher Education Program which provides teacher preparation for heterogeneous classrooms. Her areas of interest and expertise include full inclusion of students with disabilities, cooperative learning, teacher education and anti-racism, and diversity education. She is the author of many book chapters and articles related to these topics, and is a frequent presenter within the United States and abroad. She is active in teacher education reforms as well as school change projects throughout the country.