GIFTED & TALENTED PROGRAM

PHILOSOPHY AND DESCRIPTION

The Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Community School District offers a Grades K-12 program geared to meet the needs of all students, including the approximately two to five percent of the student population that excel or have the potential to excel, beyond their age peers in the regular school program. Instruction is carried out through differentiated educational experiences to enhance student learning. Those experiences, aligned to the Maine Learning Results may take the form of activities in lieu of classroom work of activities specifically designed to meet identified needs not met in the current school offerings, activities designed to allow for individual pursuit of critical and creative thinking about a given topic, and/or activities that enrich the classroom perspective.

Professional development in differentiated instruction is key. The Parallel Curriculum Model provides one way to differentiate as do attendance at "differentiated instruction" conferences, district professional offerings such as study groups using ASCD tapes: Differentiating Instruction for Mixed Ability Groups.

Aligned with the system of Maine's Learning Results in mathematics, ELA, science and social studies, units of study are being structured to assure a variety of learning tasks and modes during the unit which are accessible and challenging for all students.

Assurance that every student is challenged at an appropriate level, that every student is learning new material and skills and processes is the goal. To assure that all special program services are integrated is essential enriching the entire curricular offerings; when the school is unable to meet the needs of the identified five percent within the general program, then special services will be provided.

Regardless of the services provided, students will be in programs aligned to the system of the MLR and students must demonstrate that they are meeting the MLR through the local common assessment system.

ABSTRACT

The CSD serves the two to five percent of the student population identified as having exceptional needs. The operational definition of "giftedness" in the district refers to students who are identified as having demonstrated profound interest and skill in a given area. That identification will include specific tools and review processes.

At the early states of implementation, the district identifies the areas of reading and math with the exception that with additional identification the definition will expand to science and social studies by the end of year two of the five-year plan.

The understanding is that the district seeks a model based upon differentiated instruction within the classroom as the primary source of meeting the student's identified needs. When it is recognized that the classroom is unable to provide the differentiation needed, sources outside the classroom either within the school and/or within the community will be provided.

GOALS AND ACTIVITIES

Students will be given individual learning plans that address their identified needs in the areas of English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.

Program differentiation will include such as the following: acceleration within the given classroom, specialized mentorships and advanced courses of study to include AP, honors and advanced courses. Identified needs will be met through individual plans in lieu of classroom curricula already achieved. These individual plans will reflect advanced, conceptually complex and carefully differentiated curricula.

Once the Maine Department of Education establishes the requirements for the arts, a program to accelerate offerings for identified students will be added.

GOALS OF THE FIVE-YEAR PLAN

A. Establish the identification process for students in order to meet their identified needs.

B. Be certain that the identification process is fair and provides for selection from all student populations.

C. Integrate learning experiences/services for all students based upon their identified needs (within the classroom, without the traditional classroom ).

D. Build in professional development focused on differentiated instruction.

E. Assure that all learning experiences are aligned to the needs of the content of the MLR.

F. Build the capacity in all classes to emphasize critical and creative thinking.

G. Develop personal learning plans for each identified student that specifies how individual needs will be met.

H. Assess both student and program progress; dis-aggregate data from local assessment system to monitor the effectiveness of both the traditional program and the special program needs.

IDENTIFICATION AND PROCESS

Progressing to full implementation of the five-year plan begins with identifying the content areas for early focus, the instruments to identify student needs and the process for reviewing and finally identifying the needs of the exceptional student. Identifying the needs of students must allow for the changes inherent in growth of individuals. The district identification process will be set at Grade 4 and again in Grade 8 with Grades K-3 completing an informal process using teacher, parent and other assessment tools. At these times students will be assessed and/or reassessed for their eligibility to receive special services. This allows for recognizing and adapting services for the exceptional reader or math student in kindergarten while also allowing for others who need richer opportunities after "catch up" with schooling. After the initial screening at Kindergarten , the next school-wide assessment session will be taken in Grade 4 to identify whether or not the identified population has changed or shifted. To be identified once does not mean for the duration of schooling since the goal is to assure that students' needs as they change are being met.

District identification year one will begin in the areas of reading and math utilizing the following tools and process:

GRADES AND OBJECTIVE TOOLS

Kindergarten-Grade 1: assessment results

ABC Inventory (reading and math), local common

Grade 4: Northwest Evaluation Association Reading, Language Usage and Math (NWEA); DRA Informal Reading Inventory; local common assessment results in reading and math, MEA results in reading and math

Grade 8: Northwest Evaluation Association Reading, Language Usage, and Math (NWEA); local common assessment results in reading and math; MEA results in reading and math.

Informally, students with strong results on the MEA and local common assessments in history and science will also be considered for enrichment and differentiated instruction. Formal identification for math, reading and writing, science, and social studies will be in place by the end of 2005-2006 (waiver requested).

PROCESS

Objective: ABC Inventory & DRA (Grades 1-4), NWEA, LCAS and MEA (Grades 4-8)

Subjective: teacher and level team check lists; referral by parents, student, or comm unity mentor and/or pupil products and record of past performance

Information derived from any one of the selected screening methods may qualify a child for further consideration. An initial screening at the grade level by the classroom teacher, the building administrator, and the curriculum coordinator will be held in late spring or early fall. These individuals will select the top ten percent of all students for review based upon available data in each of the content areas.

Students initially identified will be reviewed by a team composed of the classroom teacher, the level representative , the guidance counselor and a building administrator. Optional team members include appropriate individuals about the school or community who has direct knowledge of the students especial needs.

With identification completed, a review by the team will result in reviewing the types of differentiated experiences the student will require to meet the identified needs. Later in the year a check on student progress will be handled through review of both formative and summative results to ascertain what modification s, if any, need to take place.

The superintendent of schools will be provided a description of the program provided. Parents will be notified of their child's eligibility along with a description of the differentiation to be in place. Written parental permission will be obtained prior to pursuing the program.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Driven by three forces--personnel goal--setting, school and district needs, and meeting the requirements of the various laws both national and state--the local professional development supports the district improvement plan. Essential to the district evolution in attempting to meet all students' needs is a growing understanding and comfort with differentiated instruction. To that end, differentiated instruction will be on an ongoing part of the district professional development over the next five years. Opportunity to learn and to practice differentiated instruction will be provided by the local system--both through local inservice and conferences and workshops outside the system.

Use of NWEA data along with the data collected from both the MEA and the LCAS results will be utilized in Grades K-12 to inform instruction and help guide the district to better understanding of the requirements and possibilities in differentiated instruction. At least one inservice per year will deal directly with the acquired data and what it suggests the needs of the students are. Close-up review of the data will be held by the building principals and the classroom teacher with support from the curriculum coordinator. This data will be used to focus instruction in order to meet the specialized needs.

Part of the district LCAS provides review of data after each scoring session. Review will focus in part on the students with perceived needs. Students attaining "4"s repeatedly will require careful review to assure that they are receiving appropriate critical thinking challenges through meaningful process and product expectations. This information in addition to MEA results of "4" will become part of the review data. NWEA results , a nationally-normed, adaptive achievement test, provide Gifted and Talented-cut scores for reading, language usage, and math will complete the external data.

STAFFING AND MANAGEMENT

Oversight of the curriculum in the district is done by the curriculum coordinator who holds a Grades K-12 administrative certificate and who has attended the past three Gifted and Talented conferences sponsored by the Maine Department of Education. This individual, along with the administrative team and the local assessment team, plan and schedule the professional development series for the district.

The following responsibilities ultimately lie with the building principal and the curriculum coordinator:

A. Notification of the students identified to the superintendent

B. A description of the modifications for each student

C. Maintenance of records for each student's modifications

The superintendent of schools shall establish a procedure to review the identification of children for the program. Requests for such a review may be made for the following reasons:

A. To reconsider the eligibility of a child to be selected for inclusion in the program

B. To review the student's progress and appropriate placement to meet his/her needs.

PROGRAM EVALUATION

Program evaluation will include evaluation of the following areas:

A. Identification Process--will review the degree of success of each of the following: screening tools, identification team, selection and placement, and enrollment

B. Program Review--will review and assess each program for differentiation, alignment to the Maine Learning Results (MLR), and conceptual complexity appropriate to the individual

C. Student Academic Success/Growth

Adopted: 09-12-05