The William and Mary Language Arts Program for High Ability Learners was developed by the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary specifically to meet the needs of high ability students. The program includes a series of curriculum units designed to challenge students to read advanced texts and perform a variety of tasks. The literature and tasks increase in complexity as students move from one grade to the next. Through consistent use of the curriculum’s specific teaching models students build competence in reading, writing and thinking.

In class the students read and discuss short pieces of literature—poems, short stories, speeches, and essays. They keep a response journal to clarify thinking and to help prepare for written and oral assignments. Students respond to the literature and think critically about it by analyzing ideas, vocabulary, and structure.

The units include reading and research activities that require work outside of class, and students may need support in the classroom and at home. Instruction focuses on active learning, problem solving, research, and critical thinking. In addition to receiving direct instruction, students are encouraged to work individually and in small groups. The use of rubrics to evaluate work is a strong component. A pre/post-test assesses progress made in the areas of literature, grammar and writing; students maintain a writing portfolio that documents growth in writing; and a number of projects are assessed through three perspectives—self, peer, and teacher.

In MCPS highly able students participate fully in the William and Mary Curriculum. Instruction includes the sequence of lessons and full integration of the reasoning and research components. All students in MCPS participate in partial implementation of the William and Mary Curriculum through consistent application of the teaching models along with selected readings and lessons from the units.

The program has six specific goals for each student:

• To develop literary analysis and interpretation skills
• To develop persuasive writing skills
• To develop linguistic competency
• To develop listening and oral communication skills
• To develop reasoning skills
• To develop understanding of the concept of change

Order William and Mary Reading materials (32K MS Word)

Background

In 1994, the College of William and Mary’s Center for Gifted Education (www.cfge.wm.edu) piloted a language arts curriculum designed to meet the needs of high ability students. The program was offered to a small group of students in Grade 4-6 in Williamsburg, Virginia. Additional pilot programs were established in two nearby school systems. During this time the program was also introduced to selected elementary schools in Montgomery County.

Based on feedback from the initial piloting of units and literature trials, the Center for Gifted Education revised the curriculum and began national piloting in volunteer sites. The curriculum was again revised, based on student performance and implementation feedback. The Center for Gifted Education subsequently began a six-year study based on national field testing of the revised curriculum. The curriculum effectiveness results of this study are reported in the Winter, 2002, issue of Gifted Child Quarterly and are summarized below.

Major Research Findings on the Effectiveness of the
William and Mary Curriculum

• Students made significant and important performance gains in literary analysis and interpretation.
• Students made significant and important performance gains in persuasive writing.
• Students showed important learning gains across grouping models.
• The curriculum was equally effective with both economically advantaged and economically disadvantaged students.
• The curriculum was equally effective with males and females.
• Students enhanced their learning each time they were exposed to the units and maintained their level of achievement between interventions.

“Curriculum Study of Gifted-Student Learning in the Language Arts” by VanTassel-Baska, Zuo, Avery and Little

William and Mary links:

Implementation Models for Grades 3, 4, and 5
(503k pdf)
Letter to Parents:

English (249k pdf)

Chinese (123k pdf)

French (40k pdf)

Korean (147k pdf)

Spanish (42k pdf)

Vietnamese (223k pdf)

William and Mary Overview (104k pdf)

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