The 2009 Berta Excellence in Education lecture will be held October 26 and 27.  There will be an evening session for parents on the 26th and an all-day professional development workshop for teachers and administrators on the 27th.  Both workshops will be given by Dr. Virginia H. Burney and Dr. Kristie Speirs Neumeister, faculty members at Ball State University and experts in educational psychology relating to gifted young people.  Both events are FREE and open to the public.

Virginia H. Burney, Ph.D. is a Consultant for High Ability Education at Ball State University, where she also teaches graduate courses in Educational Psychology relating to gifted education.  She also has two graduate degrees in guidance and counseling and has worked as a school counselor and a guidance director.  Ginny is a past president of the Indiana Association for the Gifted and recently concluded 5 years of service on the National Association for Gifted Children’s Board of Directors.  She and her husband are the parents of three gifted children, now young adults.

Kristie Speirs Neumeister, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at Ball State University in Educational Psychology where she directs the Gifted Licensure series and teaches graduate courses in gifted education.  She is Vice President of the Indiana Association for the Gifted and completed recent service on the Board of the Council for Exceptional Children: The Association for the Gifted (CEC: TAG). Her research interests center on the social and emotional needs of gifted students.  She and her husband are the parents of a gifted first grader and infant twins.

Parent Night
Social and Emotional Characteristics and Issues of High Ability Children
This presentation will describe the characteristics of gifted children and associated (possibly problematic) behavioral manifestations of those characteristics.  Issues that gifted children face will also be discussed, including tips for parents and teachers in assisting positive development.

Professional Development
Meeting the Social and Emotional Needs of the Gifted in School
The affective characteristics and needs of gifted children interact with school culture to influence motivation and school achievement.  Students with high ability are likely to have greater sensitivity to their environment which may be manifested in different ways and cause them to have some social and emotional issues.  Participants will learn about and discuss the characteristics, behavioral manifestations, and issues facing gifted individuals.  Through participation and interaction, participants will practice strategies for meeting the needs of these students and for assisting others in understanding gifted children.  Participants will be assisted in understanding a framework for developing their own affective curriculum for gifted learners in the school.  Resources will be provided.

It is thanks to the generosity of Vince and Kathleen Berta, that this event is free and open to the public.  In 2001, Vince and Kathleen Berta of Bowling Green, KY, donated $100, 000 to The Center for Gifted Studies to establish The Berta Fund for Excellence.  The Bertas realized that gifted children had needs that came from their strengths and meeting those needs required both parents and teachers.  The Berta Fund for Excellence brings in experts in the field of education to conduct seminars and presentations designed specifically for the parents of gifted children.  And because educating gifted students requires teachers as well as parents, The Berta Fund for Excellence also sponsors a professional development seminar for educators to learn how to better meet the needs of gifted young people in the classroom.

KENTUCKY ASSOCIATION FOR GIFTED EDUCATION
FALL WORKSHOP 2009

Making Developmental Sense of Giftedness
with Jean Petereson, Ph.D.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Hyatt Regency Lexington
Lexington, KY

To download a copy of the workshop flier in .pdf, click here.
Click here to register online.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM:
Giftedness is a complex overlay and can be both asset and burden, but performance or non-performance may narrowly preoccupy educators, peers, and even parents. Gifted students themselves may be reluctant to reveal their inner world, according to Dr. Peterson’s own extensive research. Yet social and emotional development, with implications for students’ well-being, is usually not addressed directly in programs. Counselors and psychologists, too, may lack specific information about pertinent characteristics, perhaps even inappropriately pathologizing some of them. The non-asset, “dark” side of giftedness, for both high and low achievers, is actually not discussed much in the field in general-or psychoeducationally with students themselves. Using family-system, school-system, and developmental lenses and avoiding simplistic cause-effect and stereotypical thinking, Dr. Peterson will look at relationships, cultural dimensions, mental-health issues, needs, and how adults can be of assistance in and outside of the classroom when life events, transitions, and high stress affect gifted individuals. With reference to affective curriculum, she will demonstrate proactive, developmental small-group work with gifted students, whose experience of “growing up” may be qualitatively different from that of others.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER
JEAN PETERSON, Ph.D., is a highly sought-after presenter on the social-emotional needs of the gifted. Dr. Peterson is Associate Professor, Counseling and Development in the Department of Education Studies at Purdue University. In her ten years as a counselor educator, she has developed and led school counseling programs in two institutions, has contributed 70 publications to the school counseling and gifted education literature, and won numerous awards in teaching, scholarship, and service. Click here for Dr. Peterson’s website.

EILA CREDIT AVAILABLE.

COST: Registration is $125 for current KAGE members, or $155 for registrants who are not a current KAGE member (complimentary membership included) or renewing membership.

ISSUES FOR LEADERS IN GIFTED EDUCATION will be held Monday, September 21 from 8:30 am – 3:30 pm at the Hyatt Regency Lexington. If you are attending the Fall 2009 Workshop on Tuesday September 22 there is no charge to attend the Issues workshop on Monday. If you are only attending the Issues for Leaders workshop, the cost is $40. Click here for a copy of the agenda for the Issues for Leaders in Gifted Education day.

PARENT NIGHT will be Monday, September 21 from 7 – 9 pm. Dr. Peterson will speak on A COUNSELOR’S PERSPECTIVE ON PARENTING GIFTED CHILDREN AND ADOLSCENTS. This event, which is co-sponsored by LexKAGE, is free and open to the public! For a .pdf of the Parent Night flier click here.

Hotel Information: Contact the Hyatt Regency Lexington at 859.253.1234, (401 West High Street, Lexington, KY). Cut-off date for the KAGE rate of $105 (plus tax) is August 31, 2009.

If you would like to receive a mailed or faxed copy of the Fall 2008 Workshop flier, please send your name, address, or fax number to kage@wku.edu or call the KAGE office at 270.745.4301.

Please call or fax today before 5:00 EDT members of Congress to tell them how important it is to include funding for the Javits Gifted and Talented Student Education Program in the 2010 budget.  This twenty-year-old program is the only federal legislation for gifted education.  Members of the House Appropriations Committee will meet tomorrow so it is important to get a message to them today.  The message is to please restore the funding for the Javits in the 2010 budget.

If you live in Kentucky, Congressman Ben Chandler (202.225.4706 or fax 202.225.2122) and Congressman Hal Rogers (202.225.4601 or fax 202.225.0940) are on the Appropriations Committee so they are the members of Congress to contact.

A complete membership list for the Appropriations Committee is available online for our friends who are not from Kentucky.

The Center for Gifted Studies was funded for a five-year Javits grant last October.  The focus is on developing high interest and increasing achievement in mathematics and science among elementary children, especially those from backgrounds that have been underrepresented in careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  The research study includes six schools in Warren County.  Four of the school will have professional development on problem-based science and math, and two of those schools will send 15 students each for an all-day magnet program in problem-based math and science.  Two of the schools serve as the control group.  This research can provide data on best practices for teaching students who are gifted and talented, especially those children from low-income families and children with special needs.

Please make your voice heard today.  You can send an email to the office of your Representative at the following link.

You can follow updates regarding funding for gifted education on Twitter.

For more information, contact The Center for Gifted Studies at WKU at (270) 745-6323 or gifted@wku.edu.

A grant from the J. Graham Brown Foundation to the Prichard Committee will fund a special Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership (CIPL) focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This institute will be implemented in partnership with the Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky and The Center for Gifted Studies at Western Kentucky University.

The institute will be conducted Sept. 17-18, Oct. 22-23 and Nov. 19-20 in Louisville to provide leadership training and support parents to advocate for improved science and math education in their schools.

The Commonwealth Institute’s curriculum focuses on training parents to better understand Kentucky’s standards-based educational system, accountability system, leadership skills as well as planning and strategic development of a project to implement as a partner with their schools to improve student achievement.

The cost of the program – instruction, supplies, meals and lodging – is covered by the J. Graham Brown Foundation grant. Applications are being accepted from across the state of Kentucky; class size is limited to 30 parents. To apply or receive more information, visit www.cipl.org or call Lou Ann Cavenee-Ramos at (859) 233-9849, ext. 231.

CIPL, entering its 12th year of nationally acclaimed parent training, is an arm of The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

For information, contact Beverly N. Raimondo or Lou Ann Cavenee-Ramos at (859) 223-9849.

The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky is a proud partner in the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership.  The Gatton Academy encourages parents to become involved in their districts as advocates for education opportunities.

The Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership offers a variety of programs aimed at bringing together parents, teachers, community members, and school administrators for training, information, and experiences that help them work as partners to raise student achievement. The program was developed by the Prichard Committee in 1997 as a way to support informed, skilled, and parents as effective advocates who are passionate about improving Kentucky public schools.

Since its inception, 11 years ago, CIPL has trained an army of more than 1,500 Kentucky parents on how to effectively advocate for high-quality schools. More than three dozen CIPL fellows have served on school boards, and hundreds more are involved daily in education advocacy. The program has been so successful that eight other states and Washington, D.C., have adopted it to help improve their schools, too.

Below is a video that explains CIPL and the Center for Parent Leadership in greater detail. The clip includes testimonials from parents, educators, and administrators.

Additional Information

Application to Participate in CIPL STEM 2009 (Deadline April 15, 2009)

The Pritchard Committee for Academic Excellence

With the support of the AT&T Foundation, 31 parents from throughout Kentucky are participating in a special Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Based on the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence’s 11-year-old parent leadership institute, the program is designed and implemented in partnership with the Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science and The Center for Gifted Studies at Western Kentucky University.

The two-day sessions are being held at the Holiday Inn University Plaza, Bowling Green, on September 11-12 and October 9-10. Fayette County parents include Sherri Ball, Lucy Blankenship, Allen Lind, Kathy Smiley and Debra Walker.

The Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership prepares parents to work toward higher achievement for all public school students. The institute’s curriculum focuses on leadership skills, planning and strategic development as well as elements of Kentucky’s education and accountability systems. Almost 1,500 Kentucky parents have now completed this training and returned to work as partners in their districts and schools. After completing the institute, parents work with educators and other parents on projects targeting specific areas of student achievement. Projects in this institute will focus on increasing student achievement in science, mathematics and technology in the participants’ schools and districts.