This compact 50-page book serves as a primer, a great place to
start, for tips to better include and teach our nation's "top"
students. At a time when much emphasis is being placed on
less proficient students, Rakow reminds us not to neglect
the needs of those whose performance exceeds or can exceed
standards.

The six short chapters offer essential concepts followed by additional
readings and resources, including websites. Rakow begins with
critical information about the traits of gifted learners;
for example, while most of us realize that a student's "paralysis"
about assignments can be a result of perfectionism, many teachers
do not know that some of our brightest kids feel themselves
"imposters," just waiting for someone to discover they're
not as smart as everyone thinks.

Next, Rakow makes the case for pre-assessment (as do other books
that deal with differentiated instruction); planning curriculum
with challenge, choice, depth, and complexity to teach to
the top, and flexible grouping that makes instruction more
efficient. In conclusion, she provides several examples of
instructional strategies (curriculum compacting, tiered assignments,
the menu model, and independent study/acceleration). Her examples
are extremely helpful for showing how to move away from teaching
only to the middle. I especially liked the sample tiered assignment
for Richard Peck's Priscilla and the Wimps, a middle
school favorite.

No one wants to leave our top students behind, and Teaching
to the Top is a great place to begin thinking about this
issue more systematically. In an appendix to the book, you'll
find a joint position statement by the National Middle School
Association and National Association for Gifted Children,
"Meeting the Needs of High Ability and High Potential Learners
in the Middle Grades," which makes the case for a differentiated
approach to teaching and learning for the gifted.