Gifted & Talented

Welcome to the gifted and talented education section of the District 6 website. We hope that you will find the resources you need to support our highly able/gifted students. The Gifted & Talented Education Department provides academic support and enhancement across the district for students identified as gifted and talented as well as for advanced learners. On our website you will find resources for parents, teachers, students as well as our process for gifted identification, and programming options based on a student’s Advanced Learning Plan.

Mission/Vision

The mission of gifted and talented programming is to provide identified students with rigorous, challenging educational opportunities that are responsive to their individual strengths and needs so they will achieve academic growth to commensurate with their abilities.

Contact Information

Jodee Mueller

FACILITATOR GT

District 6 Administration Building

gifted & talented handbook

Is My Child Gifted?

“Gifted children” means those school-age children and youth whose abilities, talents, and potential for accomplishments are so outstanding that they require special provisions to meet their educational needs. Gifted and talented students are capable of high performance, exceptional production, or exceptional learning behavior by virtue of any or a combination of the following:
      • general or specific intellectual ability
      • specific academic aptitude
      • creative or productive thinking
      • leadership and human relations abilities
      • visual arts, performing arts, spatial or musical abilities

Gifted children represent all cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds and may demonstrate both gifts and disabilities.

Identification of Gifted and Talented Students

Purpose: To find gifted students whose abilities, talents and potential for accomplishment are so outstanding that they require special provisions in the form of appropriately challenging programming to meet their educational needs.

Greeley-Evans School District follows established procedures for the identification of gifted/talented students that align with state guidelines (CDE, 2003). Identification is an ongoing process that is facilitated by the GT Specialist in each building. It uses both formal and informal data and requires the collection of a body of evidence over time to substantiate a student’s talent in specific areas. Ultimately, the process guides programming for each identified student.

Identification Process

Step One: Student Search

GT Teachers collect information on students from a variety of sources which may include

Parents
Self/Peers
Educational Staff
Community Members
Student Work
Standardized Testing
Classroom Assessment

Step Two: Collect Body of Evidence

Data will be collected on students that make them unique from others in these areas:

Intellectual Ability
Achievement
Behaviors/Characteristics
Demonstrated Performance

Step Three: Review Body of Evidence

Body of evidence reflects that the student's needs are being met in the classroom. More data is needed to make appropriate decisions. Continue collecting evidence over time.

Step Four: Identification

Student's body of evidence reflects need for GT programming.

Step Five: Programming (Advanced Learning Plan (ALP))

Programming decisions made based on Advanced Learning Plan (ALP) recommendations to match exceptional academic, social, and emotional needs.

Step Six: Periodic Review

Staff will review student periodiacally.

Curricula

District Six uses a variety of curricula to meet the needs of high-performing students. Some of these are as follows:

William and Mary Language Arts Curriculum for High Ability Learners

The goals of the William and Mary Language Arts units are to develop students' skills in literary analysis and interpretation, persuasive writing, linguistic competency, and oral communication, as well as to strengthen students' reasoning skills and understanding of the concept of change. The units engage students in exploring carefully selected, challenging works of literature from various times, cultures, and genres, and they encourage students to reflect on their readings through writing and discussion. The units also provide numerous opportunities for students to explore interdisciplinary connections to the language arts and to conduct research around issues relevant to their own lives. A guide to using the curriculum is also available.

Jacob's Ladder

Jacob's Ladder targets reading comprehension skills for high-ability learners. In the form of three skill ladders connected to individual readings in poetry, myths/fables, and nonfiction, students move from lower order, concrete thinking skills to higher order, critical thinking skills. For example, Ladder A moves students from Sequencing to Cause and Effect to Consequences and Implications.

Building Language and Caeser's English I and II

Reveal the age of the English language with its Roman beginnings
Teach students the most prevalent Latin stems, providing an intellectual key for young students to understand that big words aren't necessarily hard
Discard the specious confines of teaching age-graded vocabulary, on the observation that even little children can give the species names of dinosaurs - a clear proof that they can learn and understand bigger words than they are usually asked to learn
Aim to sow the seeds of intellectuality by introducing students to the drama and romance of ancient Rome, to the names of its thinkers, and to some of the fascinating facts of its history
Show the Latin-English-Spanish connection, indicating clearly how the two great languages of the United States are members of the same family
Develop a sense of anticipation about reading classic literature in the future. In all three volumes, the authors have chosen examples of the use of words and their stems in the best sentences they could find--even if a sentence was from books more likely read in high school rather than in elementary school. Included are children's authors such as Sir Walter Scott, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Kenneth Grahame, and Robert Louis Stevenson, but also the Brontes, Jane Austen, Defoe, Milton, Morrison and Shelley.

Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS)

ALEKS is an online educational tool that provides personalized learning experiences in subjects like math. It uses a unique approach to assess what each student knows and what they still need to learn. This powerful tool that can help students learn more efficiently by customizing their educational experience, making it particularly useful for curriculum compacting. It supports not just mastery of content, but also fosters a love for learning.

Key to Reversing Underachievement

Underachievement is defined as a discrepancy between a child's school performance and some ability index such as an IQ score. It is a learned behavior that can be reversed over time.

Strategies for reversing underachievement:

Underachievement is a complex web of behaviors that can be reversed by educators and parents who focus on the many strengths and talents of these students.
Labeling a child as an "underachiever" disregards any positive outcomes or behaviors. It is better to label the behavior than the child.
- For example: "You have chosen not to turn in your homework" rather than "You are a poor student."
Underachievement is tied to self-concept. Children who learn to see themselves in terms of failure eventually will lose their motivation to learn. For learning to continue, students must believe hard work is required and hard work will result in success.
Establish values of honesty, trust, and truth with the child. Your role is to help underachievers reach their goals, not to punish or reward.
Interventions should focus on the underachieving behaviors. Underachieving students need encouragement with emphases on effort.
Help the child make concrete plans to solve the achievement problem. Ask him/her to develop a long-term goal with corresponding short-term goals. Do not supply solutions of your own as that only creates learned helplessness.
Redefine success and failure. Success is following your plan attaining short-term goals. Failure is represented as a learning experience with the focus of attention on learning, not punishment or guilt.
Analyze specific decisions that led to success or failure. Establish clear linkage of today's excuse with tomorrow's outcome. Help the underachiever to see how he/she defeats what he/she values.
Celebrate successful attainment of short-term goals and build on success.

Helpful Websites

Gifted & Talented Nomination Information

Each year, elementary and secondary teachers identify students with exceptional ability or performance who qualify for gifted/talented programming. These students are usually performing at least two years above grade level in their strength area(s), and perform at the 95% or above on tests of their reasoning power or academic skills. They demonstrate readiness for advanced or accelerated learning opportunities and require additional academic challenges in order to support their continued educational growth and progress. For students who qualify, teachers and staff are encouraged to develop a plan to meet their unique educational needs.

The identification process begins with an opportunity for parents and/or teachers to refer students for gifted/talented services. If you believe that your child/student demonstrates exceptional ability and may qualify for Gifted Education services, please fill out the nomination form found here: NOMINATION FORM. You will be contacted by a specialist if any further information from you is needed.

Once nominations are received, students are observed and evaluated over a period of time. Performance in classroom settings, CMAS data, standardized test scores and rating scales completed by parents and teachers are collected and reviewed. Parents are also asked to contribute information about their child's learning strengths, interests, motivation and creativity. In some cases, students may take group tests of their ability or achievement or be invited to participate in advanced classes as part of the review process. Parents are notified by letter once this process is complete.

Questions may be addressed to your school gifted education resource teacher, or the district Gifted Education Coordinator, at 970-348-6286.