(2009-10-15) Barrington TAG

A nice profile of the TAG programs in the Barrington Il Public School system.Worse than students not being challenged or interested in school, the teachers and administrators agree, is students assuming that learning always will come easily. Julie says that bright students who haven't been nurtured or challenged by a gifted program at an early age often come undone when they enter high school or college and the academic load suddenly becomes demanding. Georgia Nelson says that when students learn without having to try, one consequence is a belief that trying to learn is a sign of Failure... Currently, 760 students in third to eighth grade are in the extended services program, which includes extended art classes. Keeping track of the number of gifted students at Barrington High School becomes difficult, she says, because of the overlap among honors, honors gifted, and Advanced Placement classes. The only real gifted program is the grades 3-5 program, which has ~50 kids total, out of ~3k kids in the district in those grades.