Revisiting the Schoolwide Enrichment Model—An Approach to Gifted Programming

Abstract

been a tendency in gifted education to refrain from endorsing any one model of instructional delivery. Educators and researchers alike have used a variety of models to serve gifted and talented populations. This eclectic approach allows all positions to be validated, while still remaining uncommitted to any one idea. This use of eclecticism often leads educators to believe in theories that may be contradictory to each other. The discipline can no longer afford to stand apart from the various theories and remain uncommitted (Slife & Williams, 1995). A consistent framework of instructional delivery is needed into which all special interests and programs unique to each school district can be incorporated into a functioning network to better serve our gifted and talented population. Today gifted and talented students are defined, identified, and served through a combination of theories, models, and research. This excessive variation in instruction for gifted and talented students can create tremendous gaps and overlaps from year to year, teacher to teacher, grade to grade, and school to school. Teachers and schools are frequently left on their own to deal with an overabundance of academic leeway in content and use of a few popular theories. A gifted program in one part of a school district may differ substantially from a program in another part of the district. This article provides a consistent framework through which educators may better identify and serve gifted and talented students by revisiting the dynamics of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) in relation to student achievement.