>>students who are gifted have specific learning needs that require:

>> tailored learning strategies

>> education supported by a challenging curriculum

>> teachers trained in gifted education

>> more exposure to students of similar ability

>> opportunities for acceleration

I find this interesting, coming from the "gifted" track in HS and being married to a special education teacher at a public school. The same list applies to both groups, and i don't see why it wouldn't apply just to all students.

How could any of these be more important for some students and not others? They can't be. Its just that public schools don't have the ability to deal with a class of students 25 large and deal with 25 different ways of teaching. Technology and public school funding hasn't caught up here... huge gap. So, we've dreamed up schools where we group kids to deal with the shortcoming. We're not helping students here, we're helping ourselves ignore real solutions.