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Goal(s)

GOALS:
Introduction

Immokalee Middle School (IMS), a Title 1 school, has achieved great success in becoming a “B” school for the first time in 13 years! IMS provides youth with superior educational, social, and extracurricular activities, and is linguistically and ethnically diverse. Diversity is also evident in IMS students’ rates of learning, and many extraordinary gains were made with students who were in the lowest 25% percent in both the areas of math and ELA. For higher achievers, there were also gains; however, their gains were much smaller. Additionally, a cursory review of students categorized as Plan A and Plan B Gifted indicates some levels of possible underachievement. Each student identified as gifted at IMS (both Plan A and Plan B) was reviewed in FOCUS (grades from the previous school year, whether a student had a 504 or an IEP, and their FAST scores). It was estimated that approximately 50% of the Plan A gifted students and 37% of the Plan B students were underachieving.
Project Goal and Outcomes
The overall goal of this proposed project, Aspire, is to provide gifted students with needed services particularly in the social-emotional area and reduce their levels of underachievement. Research has indicated that improving students’ social-emotional functioning even more than cognitive functioning improves academic performance (Fonseca, 2015). Specifically, gifted students show an even greater need to receive social-emotional services (Fonseca, 2015; Raoof et al., 2024, & Peterson, 2009). As a graduate student, I worked with gifted students at the Belin Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development as a counselor and I helped form a program for underachieving students with the potential for high achievement for the Honors College-both at The University of Iowa. I saw firsthand underachieving students struggled with multipotentiality, executive dysfunction, underachievement, hypersensitivity, and asynchronous development. Ultimately, I would like for IMS gifted and students with the potential for high achievement to achieve greater self-awareness, self-management, relationship skills, intrinsic motivation, self-esteem, and responsibility.
 

 

Category

Other -  

 

Project Description

Project Description (Aspire):
64 students identified as gifted will have the opportunity to participate in the program. Services will be delivered during lunchtime in a small group format at least once per week. If by parent/guardian consent, a student is granted permission to participate in Aspire, a teacher/Educational Plan consultant will complete a 1 minute empirically based, well researched measure called the Devereux Student Strength Assessment (DESSA) Comprehensive System Mini (LeBuffe, Naglieri, & Shapiro) to screen student’s social emotional competence. If it is clinically determined that a student will need a deeper assessment, a teacher/Educational Plan consultant will be given the full DESSA to complete. Students will be grouped based on needs with students who have less severe needs receiving less intervention time and intensity. After identification of needs, goals will be set both social-emotionally and academically. Students will receive educational incentives for reaching their short and then long term goals.
The program will primarily revolve around Chrisine Fonseca’s (a school psychologist) “ I’m Not Just Gifted: Social-Emotional Curriculum” which is an empirically validated program that provides 30 minute lessons using methodologies such as small group discussion, bibliotherapy, videotherapy, performing and visual arts. Some examples of specific lessons include “Failure Isn’t the End”, “The Art of Making Decisions”, “All About Balance”, and “The Art of Gratitude”.
 

 

Expected Outcomes

Benefits to the Students:
The Casper Assessment for Social-Emotional Skills (CASES) developed for gifted students will also serve as a rubric for setting goals and tracking progress. The DESSA-mini forms for which there are four equivalent forms for multiple administrations will also be used to track student progress.
It is hoped through demonstrated success that this program can be created every year for IMS students and also replicated and implemented at other schools to aid their gifted population.
Humbly, if my request is funded it is hoped that the students will be able to increase their self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, goal directed behavior, relationship skills, decision making, and optimistic thinking. The aforementioned are the lead domains on the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA). It is also hoped that gifted students, particularly those that are underachieving will increase their G.P.A. and/or FAST scores depending on the area of underachievement.
 

 

Purpose of Funding

Firstly, the DESSA kits and progress monitoring forms are to measure the progress of students in the empirically validated program-"I'm Not Just Gifted: Social Emotional Curriculum for Guiding Gifted Children". The 45 lessons for this curriculum were reviewed and materials needed based on the lessons were enumerated. The materials listed with the exception of the bell, yarn, balloons. and string will be used across all of the lessons. 

 

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