Resource consultation and collaboration rely on practices that pull together a school's human resources and expertise to serve students. Because applying these practices to gifted education is a relatively new concept, a knowledge base has grown out of other fields such as school psychology and special education. This chapter presents an overview of a Resource Consultation and Collaboration Program, including definitions, characteristics, purposes, basic tenets, goals and objectives, and benefits.

Collaboration among specialists and general education school personnel allows teachers to meet the needs of gifted students in the general education classroom and improve education for all learners. When used to serve special needs students, this process is called "resource consultation." Similarly, M. Curtis and J. Meyers (1985) define "consultation" as a collaborative problem-solving effort through a sharing of expertise among two or more individuals with the ultimate goals of better serving students for whom they bear some level of responsibility. Applied to gifted education settings, resource consultation and collaboration are the processes whereby two or more school staff members share their expertise to plan and deliver differentiated education to gifted learners for whom they have some level of responsibility.

Resource Consultation and Collaboration Programs are identified by a number of characteristics (Cooke & Friend, 1991; Donovan, 1990) that distinguish it from more traditional types of service delivery in gifted education. First and foremost, collaboration and consultation practices are voluntary, suggesting that only when participants are able to select the processes as viable strategies are they successful. Second, no party involved in the processes should feel superior to the other. Consultation and collaboration, as discussed here, rely on the equally important but different expertise of participating individuals. The third characteristic of resource consultation is the focus on work-related issues in a collegial and professional atmosphere. Fourth, a context of confidential and authentic communication must exist among participants regarding issues at hand, the context and nature of the dialogue, as well as the efforts put forth by participants. Finally, participants provide direct services (services delivered directly to students without engaging in collaboration or consultation) as well as indirect services (provisions planned and implemented among colleagues that eventually affect students).

In general, the intent of resource consultation and collaboration is to allow educators to combine strengths in new ways to accomplish more for students. When applied to gifted education, these processes have several more specific purposes. One aim is to communicate among all school staff the educational programming for gifted learners. Furthermore, educators engage in consultation and collaboration for the purpose of team problem solving regarding the needs of highly-able students. In other words, school staffs engage in consultation with one another to plan, implement, and monitor differentiated educational opportunities for individual gifted learners.

The nature of collaborative efforts to provide appropriate educational experiences is inherently unique to the circumstances and contexts surrounding individual schools, staffs, and students. However, several universal tenets form the foundation for and guide the best practice of resource consultation as applied to the educating gifted learners.

First, all collaboration and consultation efforts should focus on providing appropriate educational opportunities to target students. Many gifted students become bored with lessons that are not appropriately challenging, and, as a result, some of these students may become behavioral problems in class. While collaboration and consultation efforts will address the problem of boredom in the classroom, educators should not see it as merely a way to discourage disruptive behavior. The differentiated activities‹the appropriate educational opportunities that meet the needs and abilities of gifted students‹that arise out of collaboration are the real purpose and focus of resource consultation and collaboration efforts, not ameliorating behavioral issues. In addition, collaboration and consultation should enhance, rather than diminish, existing school efforts regarding student intervention services. In other words, the collaborative process does not eliminate specialized intervention for gifted learners, but rather redefines the roles and responsibilities of school staffs in the provision of services. In fact, as regular classroom teachers get involved in planning and implementing differentiated activities, collaboration can help integrate general education programs and differentiated programs for gifted learners, providing a continuity and cohesiveness that is often lacking in traditional gifted programs.

Collaboration should also involve many school and community members, including administrators, support personnel, students, regular education teachers, specialists, central office personnel, parents, community leaders, and others. By including many individuals in program efforts, schools can take advantage of a variety of talents, strengths, and collective creativity and problem-solving skills. Finally, and perhaps most important, resource consultation and collaboration efforts should be flexible. Not only does the "what" (differentiated content) vary depending on the students, but the "who" and the "where" can change as well. Differentiated activities can take place with the classroom teacher, gifted education specialist, technology teacher, or supervised parent in the general education classroom, gifted education resource setting, or settings of support personnel. This flexibility leads to a spillover effect to the entire school. Because more personnel are involved and because personnel can be more creative in how they use school space, more students than those traditionally identified as gifted can receive services.

The goals of resource consultation and collaboration in gifted education are fairly simple. Specialists and generalists combine efforts and expertise to accomplish more in the education of gifted learners. The participating staff become more knowledgeable and, therefore, more effective in their subsequent interactions with and instruction of gifted learners in their classrooms. Specific goals should be to (a) improve the efficacy of teacher instruction of and staff interaction with gifted students to improve students' education and (b) develop skills so that regular classroom teachers can sometimes work with gifted learners independently of the gifted education specialist (Donovan, 1990).

To obtain the target goals, particular procedural objectives must guide consultation and collaboration efforts. Foremost, general education staff and gifted education specialists engaging in collaboration and consultation share responsibility for designing educational services for gifted learners. Educators must focus on common needs that ignite collaboration and establish a mutual dialogue about providing educational services to gifted learners. Finally, the most important goal of collaboration and consultation is the ensuing delivery of collaboratively planned learning activities to gifted students. In short, shared responsibility focused on common needs leads to a mutual dialogue that promotes collaboratively planned and delivered educational experiences.

Although resource consultation and collaboration is unique from application to application, there are a significant number of benefits to engaging in resource consultation and collaboration. One gifted education specialist in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg system reported of the program: "[It] allows me to focus on the strengths of each child. Several students I have this year work daily with the literacy teacher because they are below grade level in reading and other communication skills. However, these same students excel in mathematics. I can focus on these areas by planning and working with the classroom teacher to accommodate their needs through compacting and differentiating the instruction. This [attention to specific needs] would not happen in a pull-out program." Unlike traditional models for serving gifted children, resource consultation can benefit entire schools and raise the level of service for all students.

Program Benefits

1. Gifted education and general education are related, connected, and integrated.
2. The stigma of a pull-out program is minimized.
3. Differentiated education is child-focused.
4. More sophisticated content can be incorporated into differentiated lessons.
5. Pull-out or out-of-classroom sessions are scheduled when needed most.
6. Teachers and gifted education specialists can make more efficient use of instructional time.
7. The approach is easy to sell to parents.
8. A continuity exists between general education and differentiated activities.
9. Curriculum materials that complement the general education program are used for differentiation.
10. It is suitable for a site-based management approach, since each building develops unique applications.
11. The program promotes reduced teacher-student ratio during key instructional sessions.
12. Serving the needs of the same students is a common denominator among staff.
13. Staff members share accountability for continual student progress.
14. Frequency of differentiated activities increases.
15. Staff share a common educational language.
16. More and different staff become involved in the education of gifted learners.
17. Staff solidarity increases.

Staff Benefits

1. Teachers are less isolated.
2. Staff members increase communication among themselves.
3. Staff members share instructional responsibility.
4. Enthusiasm over collaboration carries over to other programs and staff.
5. Professional development opportunities for all staff members and parents evolve.
6. There is enhanced cooperation among staff and programs.
7. It encourages positive peer interactions among educators.
8. It enhances shared decision making among staff members.
9. School staff other than specialists participate in training in gifted education.
10. The program promotes mutual trust and respect.
11. Collaboration allows teaching to each group of diverse learners at once.
12. Teaching becomes more innovative.
13. Educators form strong teaching teams.
14. Staff members gain an enhanced knowledge of students' strengths and needs.
15. Staff creativity increases.

Student Benefits

1. Students can be held accountable for differentiated activities when they are included in regular classroom assessments.
2. The pace of learning is enhanced.
3. Gifted learners have more time together during differentiated instruction.
4. Non-identified students participate in some activities.
5. Pre-assessments lead to raising the ceiling on the regular education curriculum.
6. Student transition from general to gifted education is smooth.
7. Gifted students model higher-level thinking and creativity for other students in the classroom.
8. Several intervention specialists collaborate in the provision of services.
9. Students have more time for in-depth and sophisticated study.
10. Students' high potential can be addressed in the regular classroom setting as well as in gifted education resource settings.
11. At-risk students and those with specific aptitudes can be served in the regular classroom setting.
12. All students have instructional time together with other students of similar ability.

Anyone participating in the implementation of a Resource Consultation and Collaboration Program must possess a general understanding of the nature of resource consultation as well as the program's purposes, goals, and benefits. In order to gain the support of as many educators as possible as early as possible, those implementing a Resource Consultation and Collaboration Program should offer informational sessions that outline the goals and benefits of the program. Many will be won over by the benefits of the program and its focus on providing challenging educational opportunities to as many students as need it, not just a select few.