Formative evaluation of the Chinese high gifted education program

Abstract

The Chinese High School in Singapore set up a Gifted Education project in 1993 to provide gifted students with a challenging, differentiated and enriched curriculum in mathematics, science and computer science. The selected gifted students were placed in regular classes but were taught the differentiated science, mathematics and computer science curriculum in special pull‐out classes, carried out within regular class time. As this was an experimental project, formative evaluation had been carefully planned during the early stages. Classroom sessions were observed to see how students responded to the lessons. Lessons were also recorded and transcribed. Students provided feedback in both interviews and surveys about how they felt about the lessons and the enrichment sessions. Regular meetings were carried out with teachers to work through the problems of the pull‐out program and to formulate appropriate strategies in stretching the students’ abilities. This article reports the results of the formative evaluation of the program.