Who are the Gifted and Talented?
Gifted and talented students are those students between the ages of four and twenty-one whose abilities, talents, and potential for accomplishment are so exceptional or developmentally advanced that they require special provisions to meet their educational programming needs. Gifted students include students with disabilities (i.e. twice exceptional) and students with exceptional abilities or potential from all socio-economic and ethnic, cultural populations. Gifted students are capable of high performance, exceptional production, or exceptional learning behavior by virtue of any or a combination of these areas:
General or Specific Intellectual Ability
Specific Academic Aptitude
Creative or Productive Thinking
Leadership Abilities
Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Musical or Psychomotor Abilities
What does it mean to be Gifted & Talented in Douglas County?
If a student is identified as GT, he/she may go to his/her neighborhood school (Flagstone) or apply for the Discovery Program that is at another school. The Discovery Program is designed for those students who have needs so intense that they cannot be met in a regular classroom. All students in Douglas County are given the CogAT, Cognitive Abilities Test, in second & sixth grade as a universal screener for early intervention. If there is a need for a student to take the CogAT in another grade due to teacher recommendation or parent request, that is possible at grades 1, 3, 4 & 5. Testing at these levels is solely for the purpose of possible GT identification. At this time, the CogAT is given to sixth grade students in the fall and second grade students in the spring.
What is an ALP?
An ALP is an Advanced Learning Plan. All students that are identified as GT have an ALP whether they go to their neighborhood school (Flagstone) or a Discovery School. The decision to create an ALP comes from an identification process that looks at a body of evidence that includes many data points including CogAT, classroom work/assessments, other standardized measures, and input from classroom teacher, parent(s), and student.
What does GT look like at Flagstone?
At Flagstone, we create ALP plans for students that have gone through a GT identification process and qualify for GT programming. The ALP is written by the GT Facilitator in collaboration with classroom teachers, students, and parents. The ALP formalizes the differentiation that the classroom teacher does for the students in their identified area(s) as well as affective needs. At Flagstone, we value and support the depth and complexity of knowledge, not just what grade level a concept may be. All students in our building read and write at their highest independent level. Sometimes additional grouping is needed in the area of mathematics. Our MTSS team collaborates to make the best determination of what that looks like year to year. Some strategies that we use to meet needs at our building are flexible grouping in reading and math, content acceleration, grade level acceleration, independent study, curriculum, compacting, and blending learning.
What will GT look like at Mesa Middle School?
Mesa has many options for different levels of learning. Teachers will recommend based on their knowledge of each student and the choices that are offered. Parent and student input is taken as well.
What is the role of the GT Facilitator?
My role as the GT Facilitator is to coordinate CogAT testing, data collection, identification process, as well as facilitate writing the ALP. If a parent is interested in applying for their student to be admitted to the Discovery Program, I help with that process as well. I also collaborate with teachers in writing the goals, gathering support materials, analyzing data, and adjusting plans as needed.
Discovery Program
The Discovery Program is a self-contained, center based, magnet program for highly gifted learners located regionally at four elementary school sites in Douglas County. The program is intended for those students who require intensity of instruction and acceleration beyond what can reasonably be expected from the regular school gifted programming.
Due to the intensive nature of the Discovery Program, a body of evidence is needed to determine the best match between student and programming. Information considered includes documented cognitive ability, standardized achievement data, classroom performance data, student, parent, and teacher input. Three major criteria for placement are
1) Exceptional intellectual/cognitive ability
2) Documented above grade level performance in multiple content areas, and
3) no below grade level performance in any content area.
Multiple criteria will be considered in the placement process to provide evidence of the best match between student academic need and the rigorous environment of the program.
Please visit the DCSD Gifted Education Webpage linked HERE for more information and application materials.