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3.1 Project Objectives and Activities Our objective is to grow capacity for sustained engagement of academically talented students from rural areas and high-poverty schools in: 1. The identification of -and services for- gifted students; 2. Computer science engagement; and 3. The promotion of effective instruction for gifted students. Proposed Activities include:
- Identification of gifted students in rural areas and high-poverty schools (RaHPS). A. Targeted Outreach Recruitment. Providing curated communication and in-person events to share the characteristics of gifted students and identification best practices. B. Targeted Services. Supplemental academically challenging educational opportunities.
- Computer Science Engagement for gifted students in RaHPS. A. Targeted Services. Provide rigorous computer science learning opportunities.
- Promote Effective Instruction of gifted students in RaHPS. A. Targeted Outreach Training. Provide training to educators in RaHPS. B. Create new knowledge through an experimentally designed research study. 3.2. Applicable Priorities As shown above, this proposal is applicable to all three competitive priorities. 3.3. Proposed Project 4-year Outcomes
- Increased Identification of gifted students in rural areas and high-poverty schools. A. Targeted Outreach Recruitment. A.1. Provide 60 outreach recruitment sessions to at least 3,000 parents in RaHPS. A.2. Identify at least 1,000 more academically talented students from RaHPS. B. Targeted Services. B.1. Participating families will be better able to advocate for their child.
B.2. Participants will show high engagement in programs. B.3. Participants will have successful experiences in engagement opportunities. B.4. Participants will demonstrate sustained academic engagement behaviors. B.5. Participants will apply to more selective college than comparable peers.
- Computer Science Engagement for gifted students in rural areas and high-poverty schools. A. Targeted Services. A.1. Enroll 1,155 students in engagement opportunities. A.2. 95% of students complete Camp Discover and 70% to complete Virtual Discovery. A.3. 95% of those who complete to demonstrate success in their performance.
- Promote Effective Instruction of gifted students in rural areas and high-poverty schools. A. Targeted Outreach Training. A.1. Provide 60 outreach recruitment sessions to at least 3,000 educators in RaHPS. B. Create new knowledge about effective instruction. B.1. Uncover effective strategies for the sequencing of interventions. B.2. Discover effective communication methods for changing parent/educator behavior. 3.4. Number of Participants to be Served This project seeks to provide: Targeted Outreach Recruitment to 3,000 parents; Targeted Services to 1,155 students with an additional 5,000+ students receiving resources and support; and to Promote Effective Instruction of gifted students to 3,000 educators. 3.5. Number and Location of Proposed Sites This project will provide: 60 Targeted Outreach Recruitment sessions; Targeted Services in KY with planned expansion of footprint in future years to include students from TN & MO;; 60 Targeted Outreach Training sessions for educators from 60 RaHPS across the U.S.
4.A Project Design 4.A.1. Goals, Objectives, and Outcomes. There are persistent and large achievement and excellence gaps between those who have economic need and those who are more financially stable. Excellence gaps are differences between subgroups of students at high levels of achievement. For example, there is a 22-point gap between the top performing students who are eligible for free/reduced lunch and those who are not on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, known as the Nation’s Report Card). This gap has remained stable for over 20 years (Plucker & Peters, 2016). With such large and persistent excellence gaps, providing effective interventions that change the academic trajectory of high-achieving students with economic need is an urgent societal need. Closing excellence gaps is critical. However, in a world of limited resources, it is also critical for parents, educators, and policymakers to understand the return on investment of academic interventions. Specifically, which interventions effectively and efficiently change the long-term academic trajectory of participants? Based on five years of data from three cohorts of participating students, Project Launch by Duke TIP has strong initial experimental evidence that it is an effective intervention at changing the academic trajectory of high-achieving students with financial need. With this proposal, we seek to expand Project Launch offerings into Project Launch Plus , to achieve three broad objectives. The objectives of Project Launch Plus are to grow capacity for sustained engagement of students from rural areas and high- poverty schools in:
**1. The identification of -and services for- gifted students;
- Computer science engagement; and
- The promotion of effective instruction for gifted students.** A broad overview of all project activities is shown in Table 1. More detailed explanation of the expected number of individuals served by each activity can be found below in Table 2.
Table 1. Overview of Project Launch Plus Activities
1. Identification of Gifted Students A. Targeted Outreach Recruitment 10 sessions 15 sessions 15 sessions 20 sessions Student performance onabove-level tests from the schools/districts served B. Targeted Services Cohort A, Year 1 Cohort A, Year
- Cohort B,Year 1. Cohort B, Year
- Cohort C,Year 1. Cohort C, Year
- Cohort D,Year 1. Performance in programs,subsequent engagement in programming; 2. Computer Science Engagement^ college enrollment A. Targeted Services Camp Discover and VirtualDiscovery Computer Science experiences
Camp Discover and VirtualDiscovery Computer Science experiences
Camp Discover and VirtualDiscovery Computer Science experiences
Camp Discover and VirtualDiscovery Computer Science experiences
Performance in programs,subsequent engagement in programming;
3. Promote Effective Instruction^ college enrollment A. Targeted Outreach Training 10 sessions, Content Review 20 sessions, Content Review 15 sessions, Content Review 15 sessions, Content Review Number of students identified as giftedin their home schools/districts B. Create New Knowledge Data Collection, Initial Analysis Data Collection, Analysis, InitialResults Write- up and Presentation
Data Collection, Analysis, andPresentation Data Collection, Analysis,Presentation, and Publication
Publications and ConferencePresentations; assessment of college enrollment behavior
To meet the outcome goals of the Javits grant, we will track the academic growth of participants as they take the standardized above-level tests and eventually enroll in college afterprogressing through talent search participation. Project Launch Plus participants will qualify for free or reduced lunch. We will use random assignment to Project Launch condition at the school level. We can measure academic growth via standardized tests scores that are more precise measures of their growth and performance because they will not suffer from the ceiling effects commonly found in state assessments (for further description, see 4.A.2). 4.A.2. Project Design and Needs of the Target Population Project Launch Plus seeks to address: the need for gifted identification, appropriate challenge for gifted students, providing gifted students with opportunities to be grouped with similar-ability peers, and addressing the opportunity gap in which some gifted students are unable to afford supplemental programs. Further, Project Launch Plus focuses on providing services to gifted students in rural areas and in high-poverty schools. Gifted Student Needs: Underchallenged. Gifted students often report higher levels of boredom than their typically-achieving peers because of the lack of challenge (Kanevsky & Keighly, 2003; Plucker et al., 2004). However, setting matters. Gallagher, Harradine, and Coleman (1997) found that gifted students had lower levels of boredom in their gifted programs than in their regular classrooms. The lack of appropriate challenge for gifted students has more consequences than potential boredom. Rambo-Hernandez and McCoach (2015) found that initially average- achieving students made substantial gains during the school year but not in the summer. On the other hand, students who were already high-achieving made academic gains in reading at nearly the same rate during the school year as they did during the summer. Being in school was not
associated with more learning for them. Gifted Student Needs: Grouped with Like-Ability Peers. In a meta-analytic review of over 100 effects from more than 50 studies, Lou, Abrami, and Spence (2000) found that high- ability students benefited the most from within-class grouping compared to average- and low- ability students. In other words, being with like-ability peers for instruction made the biggest differences for high-ability students, a result also found in Kulik and Kulik’s 1992 meta-analytic review when content coverage was altered. Moreover, when high-ability students are grouped together, more underrepresented students are identified as high-achieving over time (Card & Giuliano, 2014; Gentry, 2014). Gifted Student Needs: Addressing the Opportunity Gap. Not only are gifted students being underserved in schools, but there also is an opportunity gap. If student needs are not being met in schools, then there is a question of affordability of supplemental programs for students who demonstrate readiness and need for challenge. In fact, among the top 25% of first graders, those from low-income homes were no longer considered high-achieving by fifth grade more often than those from high-income homes (44% vs. 31%; Wyner, Bridgeland, & Diiulio, 2007). Underserved Students: Gifted Students in Rural Areas. The excellence gaps for gifted students in rural areas extends from elementary school through high school (Plucker & Harris, 2015). In fact, these students “represent a culturally unique, underidentified, and underserved population” (Assouline, Ihrig, & Mahatmya, 2017, p. 250). Their educational opportunities are limited due to such issues as geographic isolation, lack of technological support for online access, limited access to advanced STEM coursework, and economic barriers, including consistent underfunding of gifted education programs (Baker & McIntire, 2003; Howley, Rhodes, & Beall, 2009; Kittleson & Morgan, 2012; National Science Board, 2014).
To participate in a talent search, students must have scored in the 90th percentile on a grade-level standardized test within the last two years. Such students are scoring near the top (“the ceiling”) of grade-level tests and may not have their talents measured precisely because these tests may be too easy for them (Lohman & Korb, 2006; Rambo-Hernandez & Warne, 2015). To get a more accurate assessment of their talents, talent searches provide an opportunity for students take a test designed for older students. Because these tests are designed for much older students, they have a higher ceiling than most grade-level tests (Warne, 2014). As such, the above-level testing experience helps differentiate students who have mastered the material several years above their grade-level from those who have “merely” mastered on-level material, identifying differences in student performance and learning needs even within the top 1% of students (Robertson, Smeets, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2011). Further, above-level tests do not have the same limit as grade-level achievement tests related to regression toward the mean. When students are scoring in the 90 th^ percentile and greater on grade-level achievement tests, regression toward the mean does not allow meaningful measurement of growth (Rambo- Hernandez & Warne, 2015). Thus, the higher ceiling and ability to meaningfully measure growth help differentiate long-term outcome assessment of gifted program participation that might otherwise be masked by students’ achieving extremely high on-level test scores. Additionally, above-level test scores from talent searches can also be used by schools as part of their identification and service model (Thomson & Olszewski-Kubilius, 2014). Because the tests have higher ceilings, they can help provide schools with more precise, domain-specific information about the magnitude of service appropriate for that specific student. Targeted Outreach Recruitment The targeted group for the proposed outreach recruitment is parents in rural areas and
high-poverty schools whose children could benefit from going through the gifted identification process. The Western Kentucky University Center for Gifted Studies (WKU CGS) has fostered long-standing relationships with educators at the state, district, and building level, with over hundreds of schools. Recruitment efforts will include holding sessions for parents both in person and virtually, sharing information with superintendents and principals at state conferences as well as via email and social media, and working with personnel at the Kentucky Department of Education to ensure that opportunities related to the Kentucky Talent Search are disseminated. WKU CGS leadership have provided consulting services for numerous districts across TN and regularly make presentations at the Tennessee Association for the Gifted Conference. In MO, WKU CGS has strong ties with the state department of education gifted education consultant and was asked by the College Board to host an AP Institute in St. Louis. These and other professional contacts (established through training educators who work across the geographic region in WKU graduate programs) serve as an solid foundation for recruiting attendees to Targeted Outreach Recruitment sessions as well as partnering schools to recruit students for Project Launch Plus Targeted Services. The WKU CGS Team participates in grassroots community engagement at the building level through fostering relationships with school and community organization, holding events around school improvement, and maintaining contact and support after initial engagement. Events are offered in person as well as virtually, or through equipping local leaders to hold their own events. Project Launch Identification Methods To participate for Project Launch, students must meet all of the following criteria: A) Qualify for participation in the Kentucky Talent Search (see previous section),
conditions are considered a “high-dose” intervention, with students being invited to participate in Camp Discover, Virtual Discovery, , nudges, and above-level testing. The difference between the high dose conditions is the sequencing of interventions. One of our outstanding questions is whether the order of interventions –online first or in-person first CAMP DISCOVER– affects students’ and families’ engagement in the Talent Search and beyond. This is why High Dose A and High Dose B interventions exist. Project Launch Plus will assess how to optimize the distribution of interventions to further develop and refine our understanding of how to serve high-achieving students with financial need most effectively. Randomly assigning students to each condition will allow us to make causal inferences about the effects of providing interventions in various order (i.e., does participating in a face-to-face intervention before an online intervention foster greater long-term engagement than getting the online intervention first?). The “low-dose” intervention consists of students receiving nudges and a free above-level testing experience. The nudges are a low cost, highly scalable intervention that provides timely research-based advice and resources to parents. The above-level testing opportunity is a relatively low cost, highly scalable intervention that provides a more precise measure of a student’s academic talent than can be used by schools and families as part of the process to determine what services would be appropriate for the student. Students in this low dose group also serve as a comparison group to help us assess the effects of the high dose treatments. All remaining students will still receive the nudges.
Table 2. Project Launch Plus Service Model
Promoting Effective Instruction Similar to the Targeted Outreach Recruitment activities discussed above, the targeted population in the proposed outreach training will be from rural areas and high-poverty schools. But in this case, the population will be educators who could benefit from learning more about how to apply best practices in gifted education and services. The project will create an Advisory Panel to select the topics of content covered in the Targeted Outreach Training (e.g., universal screening, local norms, talent development opportunities, etc.) using best- evidence, best-practices, NAGC Program Standards, and relevance to local context as the guiding principles. Once topics are selected, The PI will create engaging series of workshops and related materials (e.g., free webinars, blog posts) to help districts implement these practices. All materials will be made freely available to anyone with an internet connection on the
6th Grade Transitioning to 7th Grade^ Year 1^ 7th Grade Transitioning to 8th Grade Year 2^ Number of Students
High Dose A 1 Camp Discovery program experience 1 Camp Discovery program experience
Year 2: 60 Years 3: 70 Year 4: 75 Year5: 75 1 Virtual Discovery program experience Nudges 1 Virtual Discovery program experienceNudges I-Excel Above-level test 8th Grade Talent Search Registration with ACT
High Dose B 1 Virtual Discovery program experience 1 Virtual Discovery program experience
Year 2: 60 Years 3: 65 Year 4: 75 Year5: 75 1 Camp Discovery program experience Nudges 1 Camp Discovery program experienceNudges Low Dose (^) Nudges 8th Grade Talent Search Registration with ACTNudges Years 2-5: 150 I-Excel Above-level test 8th Grade Talent Search Registration with ACT Students with^ All Other 6th Financial Need (^) Nudges Nudges >1,000 each year and growing High Dose: 555 Low Dose: 600 Other: >5,
Two-Year Intervention Plan
Total Students
community organization contacts, actively participating in meetings and forums around school improvement, and following up with contacts after initial outreach events. Outreach events are offered in person as well as virtually using webinars or video conferences, and through equipping school personnel or community organization leaders to hold their own events. The expanded geographic footprint of students served will begin in Year 2 with 8 out of 20 Targeted Outreach Recruitment sessions to be held in Montgomery, Putnam, Sumner, and Rutherford counties in Tennessee (or target families who live there). In Missouri, sessions will be held in Carbondale as well as St. Louis and surrounding districts (or target families who live there). Session location and growth in subsequent years will be based on returns and on-going relationship building. Students living in these geographic areas and who meet all Project Launch identification criteria (as articulated above in Project Launch Identification Methods) will be eligible for the Targeted Student Services (see Table 2). Recruitment will rely on NCES locale coding of rural (fringe, distant, and remote) to determine rurality and Title 1 status as well as Census Tract of “high-poverty” as metrics to determine high-poverty schools. This will reveal rural areas and high-poverty schools with historical under-engagement that are in need of targeted recruitment. Doing so will assure that project resources will be devoted to the targeted population. Targeted Program Services The one-week CAMP DISCOVER summer residential program employs cross- disciplinary, problem-based learning curricula. Year 1 for a cohort will offer opportunities to explore or discover concepts in topics from science, mathematics, language arts, and social studies as they intersect. Year 2 for a cohort will allowing gifted and talented students to examine a complex, real-world problem – such as a hurricane, oil spill, or disease outbreak – as a
member of a research focused team on a particular academic discipline, while also recognizing and exploring interdependencies with other academic and professional fields. Many of the research teams focus on STEM fields, including medicine and engineering; Computer science will be built into years 1 and 2 for each cohort.. The CAMP DISCOVER experience meets talented students’ academic and social-emotional needs by providing rigor and engagement with advanced content in an authentic setting, as well as a collaborative learning environment of talented peers and dedicated instructors, teaching assistants, and counselors who serve as role models. The three-week Virtual Discovery online program uses problem-based learning to engage students in interdisciplinary investigationsThe Virtual Discovery experience addresses gifted students’ educational needs through rigorous, real-world problem solving and through meaningful connections with other gifted students and an instructor, all while facilitating the development of important 21st-century digital-learning skills. Project Launch Plus also provides an above-level testing experience, which is a valuable tool for identifying areas and extent of academic strength that traditional grade-level assessments do not. Students, families, and educators can use these above-level results to design differentiated learning plans – to include in-school and supplemental experiences – that allow students to refine and deepen their academic talents and interests. The above-level test used will be I-Excel which will be accessed in partnership with the Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa. I-Excel is based on an early level ACT test and serves the same above-level testing function as the PSAT. Achieving these engagement results requires financial resources and differentiated, proactive advising and support:
like that provided by Project Launch, is a critical component both of talent identification and talent development for traditionally underidentified and underserved populations, such as students from low-income families (Olszewski-Kubilius & Clarenbach, 2012). Targeted Services Duke TIP has assessed the impact of Project Launch for five years. Aligned with its objectives (see above, 4.A.1), Project Launch participants consistently show that they are more deeply and more consistently academically engaged than students with financial need not participating in Project Launch. The annual creation of new cohorts allows for the project to incorporate feedback into its practices and procedures. Additionally, because WKU CGS does not rely on a larger bureaucracy, we are able to change procedures when the situation dictates that change will help us more effectively achieve project objectives. As an example, when Project Launch was created, online independent mentorship was part of the suite of services. Evidence suggested it was not effective at sustaining engagement, so it was replaced with Virtual Discovery. If the outcome data suggest that Virtual Discovery is not effective, it will also be removed from services. If dropped, providing more students with CAMP DISCOVER and above-level testing experiences would be the likely replacement. Similarly, the computer science-based CAMP DISCOVER research teams and Virtual Discovery case experiences will rely on student performance and feedback to evolve to deliver appropriately challenging, engaging experiences that foster long-term academic engagement. 4.A.5. Performance Feedback and Continuous Improvement We will rely on several forms of feedback to assure continuous improvement of both participants and the project. Project performance will be based on how well it achieves its objectives, and the project delivery is designed to evolve based on performance feedback. The
following feedback will be gathered each grant year and will be used to adapt project delivery. Targeted Outreach Recruitment Feedback
- Surveys that gather satisfaction, understanding, and action-taking by participants will be used to gauge effectiveness and to evaluate recruitment itself.
- Student enrollment and performance on above-level tests from the schools/districts served will be tracked over time as an indirect assessment. Targeted Services Feedback
- Data from pre- and post-intervention surveys, as well as the application, participation and performance overview of students involved in the CAMP DISCOVER Program and Virtual Discovery.
- Student enrollment in and performance on above-level tests from the schools/districts served will be tracked over time as an indirect assessment of impact of the project. Although not a state assessment, these metrics (including the Science portion of the I- Excel) will allow for causal inference on the effects of the project.
- We will compare open and click rates of nudges for participants and non-participants.
- We will compile qualitative feedback received from parents, students or educators.
- We will follow participants as they age into college age as a form of “ultimate criterion” of academic trajectory. StudentTracker allows WKU CGSto record participant enrollment in college and when they graduate with what degree and major. Targeted Outreach Training Feedback.
- Surveys that gather satisfaction, understanding, and action-taking by participants will be used to gauge effectiveness as well as how the sessions should be improved.
- Number of students identified as gifted in Outreach Training treatment group as
