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Room No. 2 at Murphey Traditional Academy in Greensboro looks like the typical kindergarten classroom.

Lines of numbers, maps and student artwork adorn the walls. Teacher Barbara Szombara, also known as Miss Bee, talks her students through storybooks before sending them to their desks for class work.

Listen to these 5- and 6-year-olds talk, and the "traditional" impression is shattered.

They describe their personal relationships as "harmonious" or "discordant." They speak of "metacognition" and "impulsivity" to control their behavior.

This kindergarten class is one example of a recent push in North Carolina and across the country to nurture critical thinking skills in young students, particularly among social and ethnic groups that have been underrepresented in the gifted student population for decades.

In an age of global competition — and political policy— educators can no longer leave any student behind.

Although the primary focus in the classroom has been to boost poor or merely average academic performance, there's a growing trend to direct more effort at students who are "advanced learners."

That effort comes with plenty of baggage. And like most learning strategies, there is no consensus of how to engage and teach the best and brightest.

Benign neglect

Public schools have for years faced criticism that they have not adequately served their brightest students.

Instead, critics say, schools have focused their efforts on helping students cross minimal learning thresholds. Advanced learners are left to languish or seek their own challenges.

Frequently, the debate over serving talented students has also involved race. Intelligence tests that identified advanced learners historically favored white and higher-income students.

Meanwhile, educators overlooked minority students when making referrals for screening, said Donna Ford, a professor of special education at Vanderbilt University and a member of the National Association for Gifted Children.

"I think it's more clear that in every school district we have to do a better job when it comes to minority and low-income students," Ford said.

In 1996, minorities accounted for 15.8 percent of the gifted population in Guilford County Schools, compared with 43 percent of the overall student body.

The percentage of minorities identified as gifted last year rose to 29 percent, but now minorities make up more than half the district's population.

Statewide, minorities represented 21 percent of the gifted population in 2007 but made up 44 percent of the total population.

Amos Quick, a Guilford County school board member, said the school system needs to sharpen its focus on gifted students, particularly those from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

Recently parents, educators and student advocacy groups have complained that federal and state academic achievement standards pressure schools to overlook gifted students to increase test scores among the lowest performers.

Amina Simmons, a Smith High School senior, was identified as a gifted student more than 10 years ago. In that time, she said she experienced neglect from school administrators.

"I understand advocating for the kids that really need that extra push," said Simmons, who is biracial. "But I don't think you should forget about the kids that are doing all they can to get the most out of their high school career."

Simmons said teachers coax low-performing students with pizza parties and prizes to score high on state tests. Simmons, who took Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses at Smith, said her friends frequently joke that they should "act dumb" to get attention from administrators.

"I'm doing my work, and you're bribing them to do their work?" Simmons said. "I don't like that. We can find a better way."

Looking for new strategies

Some local school officials worry that their gifted students are flatlining on state exams and not being challenged in the classroom, issues that could lead to discipline problems and underperformance.

"There's a growing frustration among parents that our (Advanced Learning) program has become stagnant," Quick said, "and we've got to infuse some energy into that program."

Guilford County Schools is trying to restore confidence. Its Advanced Learning department has created a new database to study academic trends, and it has offered workshops to educate parents and civic groups on how to work with gifted children.

The department also is wrapping up a districtwide review of how these students are taught. A review of five schools earlier this year found that some teachers and administrators failed to follow or document steps in the plan.

"Parents expressed when I got here that they were very unhappy with (Advanced Learning) services," said Jane Fleming , who became executive director of the department last summer. "What we're trying to do is, through the program reviews, make sure the plan is being implemented. We're also looking at how to improve the plan once it's resubmitted (to the state)."

A prominent feature of the district's advanced learning plan is to build high-level thinking skills in young students. Now, advanced learners are not officially designated as such until third grade.

That's where Project Bright Idea comes in.

Under this program, teachers in schools with a large minority population expose students to reading and math skills in kindergarten through second grades that they would typically use in fourth and fifth grades.

Szombara, the teacher at Murphey, said she's seen visiting principals' jaws drop when they hear the words coming out of her students' mouths.

For one assignment, Szombara instructed her class to create mathematical tally charts. Diana Hernandez, 6, decided to poll her classmates about their Democratic choice for president. Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton 11-3.

"They're coming up with more complex relationships and questions to ask because of the richness of the language we are using in the class," said Szombara, a visiting teacher from England.

Guilford officials are still studying the program, but results from a 2001 study showed that all kindergarten Bright Idea classrooms scored in the 99th percentile on the state literacy assessment. Further, achievement among black and Hispanic populations ranked close to the level of white and Asian students.

Ford said this program exemplifies a rejection of the outdated idea that all students walk into the classroom with a solid learning foundation.

"We've made progress as educators and as a nation in terms of moving more toward the nurture aspect and away from the nature," she said.

State educators plan to develop a task force this year to determine how to implement Project Bright Idea statewide, said Elissa Brown , a state consultant with the Department of Public Instruction.

"The research says early nurturing is critical for long term growth, particularly with African American males," Brown said.

"If they're not getting an enriched home life ... school is the only enrichment and intervention they get."

A need for consistency

Even without special programs or studies, local schools are working to serve students' needs, regardless of race.

Nan Lineberry, who is white, said her 7-year-old son, Harden, meets with a teacher three days a week to complete more stimulating assignments. Harden, a first-grader at Summerfield Elementary, reads on a fourth-grade level and has learned to research topics on the Internet and develop Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

"What's the most exciting thing is his teacher takes the extra time and develops a curriculum for him," Lineberry said.

But that kind of special attention doesn't happen in every school, parents say. Some say their gifted children complain about boredom and lack of enrichment in class, particularly at the elementary and middle school level.

Cathy Coons of Greensboro said she was less than impressed with the services one of her sons received in the Very Strong Needs program at Aycock Middle School several years ago.

Coons said the only thing her son got out of the program was "a good group of friends."

"I realize in a public school system the funds can only go so far," Coons said. "My biggest problem is the lack of consistency."

Over the next few months, Guilford County Schools should have a clearer picture of where to focus its energies for the 2008-09 academic year.

The advanced learning department started surveying parents about their concerns in May.

It will eventually present results of the program review to the Board of Education, Fleming said.

Contact Morgan Josey Glover at 373-7078 or morgan.josey@news-record.com