About Challenge

Greenville County Gifted and Talented Website

General Information

In November of each year, the State Department of Education provided testing for students in grade two to determine their eligibility for Gifted and Talented Programs. The Iowa Test of Basic Skills, an achievement test, and The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT), and aptitude test, are administered. As soon as results are available in mid-January, parents are notified of their child’s performance on these tests.

Beginning in grade three, students who meet the state criteria may be placed in the academically gifted and talented program. This program is called "Challenge" in Greenville County.

At the elementary level, Challenge is a pull-out program. In third grade, students attend Challenge for at least 125 minutes each week. Students in grades four and five attend Challenge for at least 200 minutes per week.

Each school receives a Challenge teacher based upon the number of qualified students in that school. Students are taught in classes with a teacher-pupil ratio of 1 to 20 or less.

At the middle school level, the Challenge program serves students through Language Arts instruction. Challenge Language Arts is a daily scheduled class with a teacher-pupil ration of 1 to 25 or less.

Core content area Honors courses serve identified gifted and talented high school students. These classes meet daily with a teacher-pupil ration of 1 to 25 or less.