compacting for ttt

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Meeting the Needs of the Individual

A Guide to Compacting

www.gifted.uconn.edu

NRCG/T

The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented

What is Curriculum Compacting?

• Modifying or streamlining the regular curriculum

• Eliminating the repetition of previously mastered material

• Upgrading the challenge level of the regular curriculum

• Providing time for enrichment and/or acceleration activities while ensuring mastery of basic skills

Approximately 40-50% of traditional classroom material could be eliminated for targeted students.

Reis, S. M., Westberg, K.L., Kulikowich, J., Caillard, F., Hébert, T., Plucker, J., Purcell, J.H., Rogers, J.B., & Smist, J.M. (1993). Why not let high ability students start school in January? The curriculum compacting study (Research Monograph 93106). Storrs, CT: The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, University of Connecticut.

When teachers eliminated as much as 50% of the curriculum, no differences were found between treatment and control groups in most content areas. In fact, students whose curriculum was compacted scored higher than control group students in some areas.

Reis, S. M., Westberg, K.L., Kulikowich, J., Caillard, F., Hébert, T., Plucker, J., Purcell, J.H., Rogers, J.B., & Smist, J.M. (1993). Why not let high ability students start school in January? The curriculum compacting study (Research Monograph 93106). Storrs, CT: The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, University of Connecticut.

Why Compact?

Students already know much of the content before "learning it.”

Compacting guarantees educational accountability.

Reis, S.M., Burns, D. E., & Renzulli, J. S. (1992). Curriculum Compacting: The complete guide to modifying the curriculum for high ability students. Mansfield Center, CT: Creative Learning Press.

For students, Compacting…

•Recognizes large reservoir of knowledge

•Satisfies hunger to learn more about self-selected topics

•Encourages independence

•Eliminates boredom resulting from unnecessary drill and practice

Types of Compacting

Basic Skills Compacting:

•Eliminates specific skills that students have already acquired.•Spelling, mathematics, or grammar.•Pre-testing is easier to accomplish.•Mastery can be documented more easily and objectively.

Types of Compacting

Content Compacting:

Social studies, science, and literatureStudents may already know the objectives or may be able to read the material and master the objectives in a fraction of the time.More flexible – students can absorb the material at their own speed.Evaluation may be less formal – essays, interviews, or open ended tasks.

How to Compact

Step One: Identify the objectives in a given subject area.

Step One

•Which objectives cannot be learned without

formal or sustained instruction?

•Which objectives reflect the priorities of

the school district/state department of education?

How to Compact

Step Two: Find or create appropriate pre-tests.

Step Two

•Which objectives have already been mastered by the student?

•Which objectives have not already been mastered by the student?

•Which problems might be causing students to fall short of reaching any of the objectives?

How to Compact

Step Three: Identify students who should be pre-tested.

Step Three

•Look at the individual strengths of the students in your class.

•Academic records, class performance, and evaluations from former teachers are all effective methods of pinpointing candidates for pre-testing.

How to Compact

Step Four: Pre-test students to determine their mastery level of the chosen subjects.

Step Four

•Point out that some students will already be familiar with the material.

•Ask students individually, if they would like to “test out” of the unit by demonstrating that they already know the objectives being taught.

How to Compact

Step Five: Eliminate instructional time for students who show mastery of the objectives.

Step Five

•Students who have a thorough grasp of the learning objectives should be allowed to take part in enrichment or acceleration activities.

•Some students may be excused from specific class sessions, while others may skip certain chapters or pages in the text or specific learning activities.

How to Compact

Step Six: Streamline instruction of those objectives students have not yet mastered but are capable of mastering more quickly than their classmates.

Step Six

•Bright students frequently need less practice to master new objectives than their peers.

•Students may demonstrate mastery of some, but not ALL the target learning objectives.

4 conditions to create individualized instruction

1. Work must be high quality.

2. Work must be appropriate to the students’ levels.

3. Students must be motivated to work on the tasks.

4. Students must have adequate time to learn.

How to Compact

Step Seven: Offer challenging alternatives for time provided by compacting.

Step Seven

•Assign individual or small group projects using contracts or management plans

•Create interest or learning centers

•Create opportunities for self-directed learning or decision making

•Teach mini-courses on research topics or other high interest areas

How to Compact

Step Eight: Keep records of this process and the instructional options available to compacted students.

Step Eight

•Record student strength areas, as verified by test scores or performance

•Save the pre-tests used to determine mastery and the learning objectives that were eliminated

•Compile enrichment and acceleration activities

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