Community Presentations & FAQ

The program will be distinctly different. In grades 6-8, students within all identified gifted areas (literacy, math, critical/creative thinking) will come together to work on projects based on engaging topics that are outside of the scope of the standard curriculum taught in middle school. They will use the skills they have learned through their traditional coursework and apply them to new, unique situations and problems.

When the district looks to pilot the new curriculum with students (roughly March of 2021), if the hybrid model is still in place, students will receive instruction between 12:10 - 1:55, when the afterschool instructional rotations are occurring. The Gifted Education Program Coordinator will be in touch with students and families with their specific days and times to meet.

Due to the fact that the District completely revamped the program and supports in place for our gifted students, in addition to limited data points stemming from school closures in the spring, the Board of Education has waived the selection criteria for this current school year. The Gifted Education Committee will be looking at a limited number of students per grade level in this pilot, based on fewer data points, which can include, but are not limited to previous InView scores, iReady diagnostics, F&P data, etc. These students will work with our Gifted Education Coordinator to pilot specific aptitude tests, as well as engage in new units of study. Through their performance and feedback, the Gifted Education Committee will be able to make meaningful changes to the program, so when fully implemented in the 2021-2022 school year, it will be sure to be a success. For the pilot group of students, we will not be accepting appeals.

Starting in February, our normal timelines for teacher recommendation, parent appeals, and aptitude testing will occur. This process will identify more children to be part of the fully executed Gifted Education Program next September.

At this point, the District will be using the InView test as the measure of a student's cognitive abilities. The InView acts like an IQ test, measuring a student’s ability to use information and apply it in new and different ways, evaluating how a student analyzes and employs higher-order thinking skills (including verbal reasoning, sequences, analogies and quantitative reasoning), and measuring a student’s cognitive abilities that are needed to learn and succeed in school. We will not be using other tests, like Stanford Binet, as part of the multiple measures that qualify students for the program.

Through the pilot, the district may be exploring other aptitude tests, such as the SAGES or CogAT, to determine the best vehicle for identifying gifted students.

Yes. Due to school and business closures in the spring, the District did not receive the individual student reports that are normally sent to families. At this point in time, the District only has the raw test data, but is following up with the company to check on the status of these reports. If the company does not have the reports to share with districts, we will work to provide families a letter with the information we have utilizing a mail merge.

When students transfer into the Fair Haven Public School District, our guidance counselor will review their records from their previous school district and speak with families about the educational programming the student has received in the past. If the child was previously enrolled in a Gifted Education Program, the District will use local assessments, such as iReady and F&P, to get baseline data on the student. We will also confer with their new homeroom teacher/content area teachers to obtain more feedback about the student. If the program appears to be a good fit for the student, they will be enrolled on a trial basis and will be required to take the District-approved aptitude test in the spring. These instances will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, as we want to ensure the appropriate placement has been chosen for the student.

In order to identify students for gifted education services, the Fair Haven School District will use a multiple-criteria approach. This means that students will be identified for these services by looking at many sources of information, casting a wide net to begin the process.

Utilizing this approach, with a matrix of identifiers and multiple criteria, all children are considered for the Gifted Education Program, including those that are considered to be "twice exceptional." These students possess the qualities of gifted children, but may also have a specific learning disability. Due to the nature of the data that is being collected, twice exceptional students may show aptitude in one or more areas of the matrix, which include, but are not limited to: Characteristics of learning, creativity, motivation, leadership, artistic, musical, dramatic, communication, mathematics, technology, etc. There are many areas where a student can demonstrate giftedness and as a district, we want to be sure to capture all of the students that would benefit from this program.

The core beliefs of our Gifted Education Program include:

• Gifted students are unique and are as different from one another as they are from the population as a whole and learn best when they are supported in the social-emotional domain to best develop and promote self-direction

• Gifted students exist in all cultural groups, within all economic levels, among populations with other special needs, and in all areas of human endeavor

• Gifted students need support and encouragement from individuals who recognize, validate, and nurture their giftedness

Through these beliefs, we are confident that we can support any child that is identified for this program.