With a federal mandate to bring underperforming public school students up to grade level, advocates for gifted and talented students want to make sure the state's best and brightest are not being left behind.

To combat that, the Board of Education has a new policy requiring all public schools to offer gifted and talented programs.

Although most schools have a plan to address the needs of their gifted students — 17,000 to 18,000 across the state — there is no method for identifying and teaching these youngsters.

Statewide, gifted and talented programs have been described as "episodic" to the point where some students lose services when they switch grades or schools.

The strengthened board policy is especially needed as more school funding falls under the discretion of principals, who can target the money for students with the most needs.

"The reason why the board passed the policy is to give assurance that when the money goes into the hands of the principals, there is stronger language that the needs of the gifted students will be addressed," said Katherine Sakuda, an educational specialist in the state Department of Education's accreditation and school improvement section.

NATIONWIDE CONCERN

However, some complain that the DOE needs to go beyond offering advanced classes and extra work to focus on strengthening curriculum and teacher training to meet the needs of gifted students.

The worry that No Child Left Behind Act is taking focus away from gifted students is a concern nationwide, as schools seek to avoid sanctions by focusing on those lacking proficiency in core subjects.

The National Association for Gifted Students has suggested that gifted children are the federal law's biggest victims, with the least funding among special-needs groups and the lowest achievement gains in school.

The DOE, which under the Felix consent decree was required to improve its services to special-needs students, spends $353 million a year to educate its 19,714 special-education students, who often require costly services.

By contrast, $4 million goes to the gifted and talented population, which has only 100 dedicated gifted and talented teaching positions for more than 250 schools statewide, meaning many positions are part time or shared between schools.

Even at schools that provide numerous honors and advanced placement courses for their highest-achieving students, some of the brightest feel it isn't enough.

"I'm in honors classes and I don't feel all that challenged," said Henry Cheng, 16, a senior at Kalani High School who worries that his public school education will not prepare him for a highly selective university.

Cheng does not fault Kalani, but he found that he needed to supplement his education by joining the DOE's Running Start program and enrolling early at the University of Hawai'i, taking honors chemistry, calculus, psychology and biology.

He is also vice president of the Serteens, a service-oriented club for gifted teens that allows him social interaction with his intellectual peers.

Nevertheless, the teen said, "It's just hard to get the education you deserve."

Darlene Martin, a board member for the Hawai'i Gifted Association and a faculty member at the Institute for Teacher Education at UH-Manoa's College of Education, perceives a discrepancy between services on the upper and lower ends of the spectrum for students whose needs are "special."

"I'm doubtful that the needs of gifted learners are being met to the same degree," she said.

Classroom teachers have told her they lack the confidence, knowledge and time to adequately differentiate their curriculum with gifted students in mind, especially when they have to focus on testing and No Child Left Behind demands.

MINIMAL TRAINING

Martin, who has been involved with teacher certification, notes that the topics of gifted education are covered minimally during teacher training, while education majors can specialize in special education.

Parents of gifted preschool-age children and college graduates have expressed frustration about communicating with educators and seeking a quality education, Martin said.

Janet Shores, president of the Hawai'i Gifted Association, has revived the nonprofit, which works with parents of gifted and talented students.

"I don't feel that there are adequate programs for gifted students in Hawai'i," she said.

In addition, because schools often select the top achievers in the class for gifted programs, she worries that some are being missed since the gifted do not necessarily get the best grades and may even perform poorly.

"Bright kids know the answers, but gifted kids are the ones asking the most interesting questions," she said. "It can't be looked at by grades alone. There has to be a broader spectrum."

The issue is of personal interest to Shores, the parent of a gifted 4-year-old who has just entered kindergarten. "As a parent, I'm often educating the teachers about gifted kids myself," she said.

Advocates point out there are ways to improve gifted and talented options without increasing funding. For example, students could study with others at a higher grade level, or classroom teachers can differentiate instruction so that each student can work at his or her own ability.

Much of this is already being done, although it varies from school to school. "Every school does it differently, so there's no 'one size fits all,' " Sakuda said.

Sakuda has found that even when schools are limited by the state budget for meeting the needs of their gifted students, they often find money elsewhere to provide more challenging curricula for those who need it.

The department is taking other measures to make sure the needs of gifted students are met: A task force is updating its guidelines on the condition under which students can skip grades and Deidre Glendon, the new head of the gifted and talented section, is revising the gifted and talented program guide.

Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto also said the DOE will work to offer more advanced-placement courses and college placement test preparation for high schoolers.

Shores hopes the state works swiftly to put gifted programs in every school. "I think every child should have the opportunity to be in a challenging learning environment that recognizes differences in their learning."

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.