We have two gaps in our educational system… One we work hard at and one we ignore–to our detriment.

The one that we work hard at is the gap between the lowest performing students and the middle (making AYP under the No Child Left Behind Act).  Let’s say, the bottom 50% of achievement. The one we ignore is the gap between students who already have grade level skills and the top students–gifted, talented, etc.  That is, closing the gap of potential–how do we focus on getting, let’s say, the top 50%  to achieve to their potential.

Here is an important and timely debate on this issue.

http://educationnext.org/are-we-lifting-all-boats-or-only-some/comment-page-1/#comment-69127

The question debated  is, are we short changing or even ignoring the top students? In my view we are. To our detriment as a nation. In fact, I think we are on a suicide mission–when we compare how we educate our top students with other advanced countries.

Thank you for this timely piece. Your thoughts?

About Miriam

Miriam Kurtzig Freedman, JD, MA—an expert in public education, focused on special education law— is a lawyer, author, speaker, consultant, and reformer. For more than 35 years, Miriam worked with educators, parents, policy makers, and citizens to translate complex legalese into plain English and focus on good practices for children. Now, she focuses her passion on reforming special education, with her new book, Special Education 2.0—Breaking Taboos to Build a NEW Education Law. Presentations include those at the AASA Conference, Orange County (CA), Boston College (MA), CADRE (OR), and the Fordham Institute (DC). Her writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Education Week, Education Next, Hoover Digest, The University of Chicago Law Review on line, DianeRavitch.net, and The Atlantic Monthly on line.

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