Schoolwide Enrichment Model

What Guidelines does the Model Convey?

Advisement

Acceleration

Enrichment

Grouping

While the SEM advises that there is a schoolwide enrichment specialist at every school, I did not see a lot of specific information on how the students would be advised as to their best level of tier within the SEM. (Renzulli)

Students accelerate by using curriculum compacting to advance their studies more quickly than those of their peers. Students are also given more specific acceleration options, like Early Admissions, Subject Acceleration, Grade Skipping, and College Classes. (Renzulli)

Enrichment is also an important part of the SEM. Once students have finished with the required curriculum at an advanced rate, using curriculum compacting, students are encouraged to pursue individual research interests, participate in special enrichment programs, and pursue internships and mentorships. (Renzulli)

Students are placed in within class and non-graded cluster grouping by skill. These cluster groups are flexible so that all students have the chance to move up within groups. Students are also placed in pull-out groups by target abilities and interested areas and in enrichment clusters. Grouping is an important aspect of the SEM. particularly at the elementary and middle school levels. (Renzulli)

Examples of Services

Tier 3

Individual students or small groups of students work independently to conduct research investigations in areas of interest. These students work on their own and “buy time” by completing required curriculum through curriculum compacting.*

Tier 2

Alignment to Principles of a Differentiated Curriculum for the Gifted and Talented

Content

Advanced research opportunities using critical inquiry, problem solving, and creative thinking skills that occur in the classroom setting or in a small group. These students are usually guided by a classroom teacher.

Tier 1

The SEM provides all students the possibility to learn content in multi-disciplinary units and provides opportunities for high achieving and gifted students to have an opportunity for in-depth individualized learning. (Principles)

Guest Speakers, Field Trips, and Demonstrations

Product

Process

At the Tier 3 level, students are given the ability to develop a product that is a creation of a new idea, following the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. (Principles)

*curriculum compacting: A method for eliminating unnecessary repetition of material already learned. What a student already knows is determined and then the student is allowed to move on. Students "buy back" school time that teachers plan for all students so they can "spend" this time in other more productive ways.

http://www.coe.unt.edu/gifted-education/glossary

Students are allowed to develop independent study skills through individual research projects. All students are able to focus on open-ended tasks and integrate basic skills and higher-level thinking into the curriculum at the Tier 1 level through active and engaging field experiences. (Principles)

Introduction

Affect

Students are able to move at their own pace and choose the Tier at which they think their level is most appropriate as long as they are also able to prove to their teacher that they can function at the independence level of Tier 3. (Principles)

Based on the Enrichment Triad Model, but with the following changes: a more flexible approach to identifying high-potential students and a model that is applicable to a general school population and not merely gifted students. (VanTassel-Baska 346).

Applicable to a whole school. All students are able to participate in Tier 1 services, while higher achieving students and gifted students move up to Tier 2 and Tier 3 enrichment services.

Evolved after 15 years of research and field testing through the help of Joseph Renzulli (VanTassel-Baska, 346).

Helps to promote acceleration and enrichment across an entire school population.

Offers a flexible approach to the identification of high potential students.

Focus on curriculum compacting and flexible acceleration and enrichment based on student interest.

Main Components

How will this model impact students?

The SEM allows for a chance at moving all students up to a higher level because it focuses on being flexible and on identifying specific strengths and interests in all students. Because SEM is a schoolwide model, it allows for growth of all students and not merely students that are already identified as gifted. However, the SEM also pushes those students that are truly gifted by using a tiered system to make sure that they are working at their level.

Citations

Principles of a Differentiated Curriculum for the Gifted and Talented. http://www.texaspsp.org/resources/PrinciplesDiffCurriculum.pdf.

Mountain Park Elementary: Schoolwide Enrichment Model. http://school.fultonschools.org/es/mountainpark/Pages/SchoolwideEnrichmentModel.aspx

Renzulli, Joseph and Sally Reis. What is Schoolwide Enrichment? And How Do Gifted Programs Relate to Total School Iprovement? http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/sem/whatisem.html

VanTassel-Baska and Elissa Brown. Toward Best Practice: An Analysis of the Efficacy of Curriculum Models in Gifted Education. Gifted Child Quarterly. Volume 51, Number 4. 2007. http://gcq.sagepub.com

Schoolwide Enrichment Model

Based on Jim Harvey's speech structures