Case
Gifted program

In a school district beginning a gifted and talented program, a teacher must choose four students to recommend for the program from her class, but she has five potential candidates. The parent of one of the students has threatened her if she does not recommend his daughter.
How should she respond?

Posted on: 10/06/14 | Views: 1399
Solution #1
Top Solution
First and foremost the teacher needs to notify her principal of the parent's threats. She should then follow the procedures set in place to determine which students are eligible for the program. The teacher doesn't need to allow the incident with the parent to cloud her judgement regarding the eligibility of the student. The teacher needs to make sure she documents the procedure she follows and provide evidence to support the students' eligibility. This will help to assure that the teacher did not make a decision based on personal feelings.

I would contact my administrator and inform them of the threat.I would not take threats from anyone lightly nor would I try to handle something alone. There needs to be witnesses especially if things escalate.

I would notify my supervisors of the threats. I agree that judgement toward the student should not be clouded and the parent should be disregarded.

I agree that an administrator does need to be involved in this situation.

I also agree that you should be contacting an administrator.

I agree with contacting an administrator.

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Solution #2
As said above, I would tell Administration about the threat, but I would also do some digging to see if I can actually get 5 tested rather than just four.If it's in the best interest of the children and the school, I don't know why they would resist. Most schools love to increase their numbers for gifted, and perhaps another teacher only recommended 3, or maybe they would just test an extra child. I've never been limited to how many I can recommend, so I would definitely give this approach a try.

I agree. Schools receive funding for providing gifted services, so I would think most would be amenable to adding a fifth viable candidate.

I agree with the solution. However, it is still not acceptable for a parent to threaten a teacher.

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Solution #3
Most certainly notify the supervisors. A threat is a threat, regardless of who it is from. As difficult as it might be, the teacher should disregard the threat and place the students based upon their scoring. If that student is not placed then the teacher might consider informing the resource officer regarding the matter for her own safety.

Informing the resource officer is a great point!

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Solution #4
The teacher needs to report the threat to the principal. Threats are serious and can be potential dangerous. However, if you think the student should not be recommended, the parent can always recommend. Potential gifted students can be recommended by teacher, parent, or peers. Send home the necessary paperwork to the parent. Your psychologist, counselor, or gifted coordinator should have this paperwork.
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Solution #5
The teacher should involve an administrator to make sure that the parent is aware that his comments are inappropriate. Then the teacher needs to review the student's work portfolios and achievement scores. If there is not an obvious four students after doing this, then the teacher needs to find another screening method to differentiate the students. A creativity test could be used as well. Hope fully it will be obvious after the screening process who should be admitted.
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Solution #6
If a teacher is being threatened by a parent, it need to be immediately reported. There should be a 0 tolerance policy for violence. I would then look at the students in question, their qualifications, and what makes them a good candidate. I would then choose the student that is the best fit for the spot. It is not fair to deny a student this praise out of fear of retaliation from another parent.
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Solution #7
I agree, the most important thing to do first is to share the threat with your administration. There is a criteria in place to test gifted children and recommendation to the program should be based on meeting the criteria and definitely not by feelings based on threats. However, in the case that this student is highly gifted and needs to be provided with this service, it would be detrimental to her to be kept from the gifted program. I observe all students and provide them with a variety of assessments to assist with deciding whether they actually qualify for meeting the standards to be tested for the gifted program. Base who you recommend on pre-qualifying assessments that would lead to the recommendation.
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Solution #8
It is important that this teacher notifies her administrator of the parental threats. During this meeting I would also explain to the administrator that there are five potential students who would benefit and excel in the gifted program and see if the principal can offer any insight on how to narrow down the candidates, sans the influence of the threats.
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Solution #9
Tell someone about this
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