FAQs

Steele Gifted & Talented Frequently Asked Questions

What is the gifted programming model at Steele?

HGT and GT students receive pull-out instruction during WIN (What I Need) block in room 307.  HGT, GT, and ME (magnet eligible) students receive grade-level and differentiated instruction in their classroom. Students also benefit from the social-emotional instruction that they receive in both their regular classroom and the GT room, as that is often an area of growth for our gifted students. 

How often will my HGT or GT child be pulled out?

1st- 5th grade students identified as Gifted and Talented (GT) and Highly Gifted and Talented (HGT) receive pull-out gifted instruction twice a week for 45 minutes each session, per academic area of identification (2x for math, 2x for reading). Please note: Students have a responsibility to complete consistent grade-level work in their regular classroom and may need to stay back at times per teacher request. 

Steele does not provide pull-out instruction to kindergarten students, as our focus in kindergarten is helping students adjust to the social-emotional and instructional expectations at Steele. HGT, GT, and ME kindergarteners will receive differentiated, rigorous instruction in their general classrooms with their classroom teacher. 

*During some months, pull-out frequency will shift as I proctor our Naglieri General Abilities Test (NGAT), Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT), Iowa Test of Basic Skills (Iowa), and Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) testing alongside the other interventionists. 

What are the GT Teacher's responsibilities at Steele?

I am the only part-time (0.8) GT Teacher at Steele and am the sole teacher in charge of facilitating our school’s cognitive assessments, compiling and submitting new portfolios for GT identification, creating ALPs, communicating with parents, and providing pull-out instruction for our HGT and GT students during WIN (What I Need) time. 

What do you do during gifted pull-out instruction?

During our pull-out instruction, advanced literacy instruction will be rooted in deepening students’ understanding of and interaction with the Common Core Standards. Lessons will parallel classroom units of study, but will be taught at a more advanced level, moving students along the K-6 continuum for each standard. Writing will be a major focus. Students will also participate in book clubs and personalized projects throughout the year. 

Accelerated math instruction will mirror classroom units, while also digging deeper into problem-solving strategies. We will create personalized plans for acceleration through the standards based on diagnostic testing and adaptive educational technology. Individualized support will be given at sticking points in real-time. 

What else can I expect from GT programming?
All students who are formally identified as GT/HGT will receive an Advanced Learner Plan (ALP) that will be shared with their teacher(s), family, and me. ALPs contain academic and social-emotional goals for the identified student that are shared among the student's teachers and family. These goals are monitored throughout the year by the students' teachers and, in the older grades, through student reflection on progress. Magnet Eligible (ME) students do not receive ALPs yet, as they are not fully identified as HGT. They receive differentiated instruction within their regular classroom. We provide opportunities for learning more about the GT Programming and Identification Process through our website, ALP Surveys to make sure our families' input is included, and monthly website updates that include information about projects and activities students are doing. 

What does the HGT / GT identification process look like?

Students are identified as gifted and talented or highly gifted and talented using a body of evidence that includes scores from cognitive assessments, academic assessments, and teacher observations. Qualifying academic data must be in the 95th percentile for a student to be identified as gifted, and a student identified as highly gifted must have a cognitive score in the 95th percentile or above in addition to multiple pieces of qualifying academic and/or observational data. Magnet-eligible students only have qualifying cognitive data in the 95th percentile or above, and have no other qualifying data yet. While the identification process can be overwhelming and confusing, the GT teacher monitors all of the data for every student in the school and keeps track of all qualifying data in order to identify students the minute they have the required body of evidence.