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CAMPY's Position Paper

Meeting the Needs of Connecticut's Mathematically Gifted Youth:

A Discussion Paper for Launching the Connecticut Association for Mathematically Precocious Youth and the Connecticut Center for Mathematically Precocious Youth. Connecticut has a small, but precious resource: our mathematically precocious youth.  Like those with extraordinary artistic talent or special physical prowess, our mathematically gifted need to have their special talents encouraged and nurtured. Many of Connecticut's mathematically gifted students do not receive any additional special services, or nurturing of their talents, than placement in the same Honors of Accelerated classes designed to serve between 15 and 20% of their fellow students.  In many elementary schools, gifted students are often relegated to a program of loosely monitored independent study, often pulled out of classes periodically to work with a teacher of the gifted and talented, if the district even has such a person.  It is increasingly clear that these approaches are insufficient to meet the needs of these students. Accordingly, we believe that a new set of structures and programs must be developed to better serve the unique needs of the mathematically gifted.  This discussion paper attempts to make the case for who needs to be served, why they need to be served, and how best to meet these needs in Connecticut.

 

Who is Mathematically Talented and Gifted?

For purposes of this discussion, we believe that there are three different, but not necessarily distinct, populations of mathematically gifted students.

• Mathematically talented - The first group, perhaps 15% of a grade level cohort of about 75,000 students statewide, enjoy studying mathematics, learn it quickly, and demonstrate their understanding and command of the subject matter by being good problem-solvers.  These students have a talent for mathematics that, for the most part, can be appropriately nurtured through acceleration.  If these students are not challenged with significant mathematics, they may be "turned off" from the subject, and, indeed, from school itself.
• Mathematically gifted - A second group, perhaps 1 or 2% of a cohort or roughly between 5,000 and 10,000 students statewide, is an order of magnitude more talented than the first group.  These students have a gift for mathematics.  While these gifts are such that the accelerated or honors "tracks" meet a large proportion of their needs, these students would benefit from instructional enrichment that broadens and deepens access to mathematical ideas, as well as other programs that cultivate and nurture their talents beyond the traditional course of studies.  These students are set apart from their talented peers by having an insight into mathematics that even their teachers may not appreciate, and they may require the intellectual stimulation of someone with comparable insight to maintain their commitment to mathematics.  Additionally, these students tend to score very high on IQ measures and at the 99th percentile on many standardized tests.  They tend to "play the game," follow the rules, end up with 5's on the AP exam, but rarely acquire the spark for mathematics.  Simply accelerating these students through the program by more then one year is unlikely to meet their needs fully.  Instead, it appears that broadening and deepening the curriculum at all levels is a far more beneficial strategy for nurturing these students.
• Exceptionally gifted - The third group, numbering only about 200 students statewide, or less then one tenth of one percent of a cohort, are the exceptionally gifted.  These are students whose talents are so great that it is unlikely traditional school structures or organizations can reasonably be expected to meet their needs.  When recognized, these students score in the range of 22 to 25 on the Annual Junior High School Mathematics Exam or are likely to score over 700 on the SAT as 6th or 7th Graders.  Early on, teachers recognize that these students are very, very different in their abilities from other students, very different in their ability to make mathematical connections, and very different in their mathematical insights.  Often the insights of these students take the form of perception of connections and generalizations beyond the ken of less gifted persons, and of novel solutions to problems that they themselves may not be able to articulately clearly or fully.  In addition, while some of these students may enjoy exploring the relationships between mathematics and other fields, others may be attracted to the study of mathematics for its own sake.

 

Why is Serving the Mathematically Gifted so Important?

Mathematical talent is a rare and precious resource that too often seems to go unnoticed, untapped, unappreciated, or simply ignored.  Connecticut's pool of mathematically gifted, like their counterparts across the country, are not treated significantly differently: they do not receive a suitable educational program. Stifling or squandering this talent in such a technologically rich world and such an innovation driven economy as ours is extremely shortsighted.  Since many of the greatest mathematical discoveries are made by mathematicians younger than thirty, and acknowledging that such mathematical talent is likely to wither if not nurtured, it serves us all to better identify, support, serve, and mentor these extraordinary young people. In addition, we expect schooling to be intellectually satisfying to all students, and in living up to the goal of meeting the needs of every student, we should expect school programs to meet the particular needs of the talented and gifted.

 

How Can Connecticut's Mathematically Gifted Best Be Served?

• a web site and information clearinghouse that addresses the issues raised in this paper and provides information about programs and policies for mathematically gifted youth accessible to students, parents, teachers, and other school personnel.

 
• support from others in similar situations, and opportunities for socialization and interaction with others of similar ability and interests; and

 
•  after school and Saturday enrichment programs.

 

In addition, for the mathematically gifted:

•  regional summer enrichment programs; and
•  in-school enrichment opportunities, both within traditional classes and outside of formal mathematics classes, including math clubs.

 

In addition, for the exceptionally mathematically gifted:

• regional summer enrichment programs;
• internships, independent studies and projects;
• well designed opportunities for acceleration;
• the opportunity to take classes at high schools and colleges (for middle school students) and at colleges and universities (for high school students)
• mentoring arrangement with mathematicians, scientists, engineers, and others.

 

Next Steps

Two critical ingredients for supporting such new programs and structures are the effective dissemination of information and broad based advocacy.  In educational circles, the most common mechanism for providing such information and advocacy is some form of organization or association of interested people who are willing to work together on behalf of a common cause. Accordingly, it is proposed to organize a Connecticut Association for Mathematically Precocious Youth (CAMPY) comprised of educators, parents, business leaders, and others interested in the issues addressed in this paper.  It is envisioned that this organization would, over time, do such things as:

• create take forces to carry out its mission
• develop and disseminate position papers
• design an ongoing, yet informal, Connecticut Center for Mathematically Precocious Youth to conduct activities for these students and their parents and teachers, including those activities suggested above.

In addition, CAMPY would help interested people deal with the complex issues of identification of programming for mathematically gifted youth.