Identifying Advanced Learners in Baltimore

In a Baltimore classroom, a group of fifth graders gathers around a table, using small screwdrivers to open the bottom of a laptop. As the plastic cover pops off and the circuitry is exposed, a gasp runs through the group. Next, they start removing and identifying the major parts of the laptop, like the motherboard, hard drive, and RAM.

The activity, part of the course “A Connected World: Digital Literacy in the 21st Century,” gives students a hands-on way to learn how a computer works. According to Amy Lynne Shelton, PhD, executive director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, it’s also a lesson in watching advanced learning in action.

A Connected World is part of the Baltimore Emerging Scholars program, which Shelton founded with colleagues in 2014 to address the lack of Baltimore students testing into CTY’s programs for advanced learners. 

“We started looking at the numbers and realized the problem wasn’t that the advanced students aren’t there,” Shelton says. “The problem was that the way we were trying to find them was inefficient.”

Standardized tests are the typical method to identify advanced learners, but students who don’t have access to early education or well-resourced schools might not perform as well on tests as other more resourced students. Instead, the Emerging Scholars program finds advanced students by observing how they learn in CTY-style classes that take place in Baltimore City Public Schools over the course of 25 weeks.

“It’s a way for us to find these kids in a more authentic way and serve them and the school district,” Shelton says.

The elementary school courses are interdisciplinary and cover topics not typically taught in the students’ everyday classes. Second graders learn about early architecture; third graders explore engineering concepts; and fifth graders in the Connected World class delve into technology, cybersecurity, and social media.

Shelton says the students who participate in Baltimore Emerging Scholars often begin to perform better on standardized tests. Some of the learners who are shown to be advanced participate in CTY’s summer in-person and year-round online programming, where they perform on par with their peers. 

“Their success suggests we’ve been able to find the right kids in these spaces and serve them well,” Shelton says.

CTY’s Baltimore Emerging Scholars would not be possible without continuing support from generous donors.

“The schools do not have the budget to fund this kind of program regularly,” Shelton says. “So, supporting it philanthropically is the key to its longevity and creating a sustainable model.”

This year, the Baltimore Emerging Scholars program is educating around 200 students at three Baltimore City elementary schools, including Highlandtown Elementary/Middle School, No. 215. Karla Serrano, the school’s English language development educational associate, first encountered CTY while working at another school during an Emerging Scholars summer session in 2019. She was impressed with the program’s curriculum and the different ways it taught new concepts.

“That caught my attention as an educator,” Serrano says. “I believe there should be varied strategies to address students’ different abilities and skills.” 

When Serrano came to Highlandtown in 2022, she worked with teachers, students, families, and CTY to bring the Emerging Scholars program to her new school. Three years later, she says the program has been beneficial to students, especially those learning English as a second language, who make up almost 70% of the student body.

“The program gives our multilingual learners experience talking, reading, and questioning at a high level,” Serrano says. “Last year, seven of the students who participated in Emerging Scholars tested out of the English language development program. That was a huge compliment for our kids.”

Back in the Connected World classroom, fifth graders Dominic and Helen work to identify the parts of their dismantled laptops. Both students say they enjoy the hands-on nature of the day’s lesson and can see how it could help them in the future.

“I want to be a chemistry teacher,” Dominic says. “And this class will help because computers are made of elements like gold, zinc, and copper.”

Helen, who also aspires to be a teacher, is excited to one day bring what she’s learned to her future students.

“I will tell them that sometimes what they’re learning can be hard, but they should never give up,” she says.