The Colorado Department of Education's definition of Gifted and Talented children is: "Gifted and talented children" refers to those persons between the ages of five 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. Children under five who are gifted may also be provided with early childhood special educational services. Gifted students include gifted students with disabilities (i.e. twice exceptional) and students with exceptional abilities or potential from all socioeconomic 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 of giftedness: -
General or specific intellectual ability
Specific academic aptitude
Creative or productive thinking
Leadership abilities
Visual arts, performing arts, musical or psychomotor abilities
New Vision Charter School assesses all students in Grades 2-7 using the CoGAT assessment as a screen for identifying students with exceptional abilities. GT staff also uses other testing data to identify students who need further testing for identification in grades K8 th . Students who are identified as Academically Gifted (per state and district guidelines) may receive additional support services through various means including, but not limited to: the push-in model, teacher support and mentoring, differentiation and a pull out model. Identified gifted students will be pretested per unit to determine their current knowledge and may be offered alternate work if they show mastery. The GT teacher will work closely with the classroom teacher in consultation regarding specialized learning projects tied to the current curriculum, and for the adaptation of instruction to meet the specific needs of the GT students within the regular classroom environment. Acceleration, (including subject and/or grade acceleration) of curriculum balanced with depth of knowledge in the content areas is the main priority for GT students at New Vision Charter School. All students who are formally identified as Gifted and Talented are required by state law to have an Advanced Learning Plan (ALP) that is created by the GT Teacher, classroom teacher/s, student (if appropriate) and his/her parents. Advanced Learning Plans detail the type of challenges that will be required for each individual gifted student in order to reach his/her full potential for that school year. The Advance Learning Plan is updated yearly in the fall.