Radford City Schools Gifted Education
Division Statement of Philosophy for the Education of Gifted Students
Radford City Public Schools believes in “excellence in education for every student, every day.” Due to their diversity in learning, outstanding abilities, and potential for accomplishment, gifted learners must be provided with a differentiated curriculum that adds rigor and challenge to the existing district curriculum. Radford City Schools strives to identify and serve all gifted learners, including those in typically underserved populations. Through the provision of gifted services, these gifted students will have the opportunity to explore their area(s) of interest, develop expertise beyond their peers, and achieve to their full potential—both in school and beyond.
Division Operational Definition of Giftedness
Gifted students are students who demonstrate outstanding ability or potential beyond that of their peers of the same age, experience, or environment. These students show advanced skills in reasoning, problem-solving, creativity, curiosity, academic achievement, mastery of concepts, expression, and/or critical thinking. In order to succeed to their fullest capacity, students who demonstrate this ability or potential will be provided with services to foster their academic and social-emotional growth.
Radford City Schools looks to identify students with high levels of potential or accomplishment beginning in kindergarten. In order to recognize and identify gifted students from a variety of backgrounds, the identification procedure utilizes a variety of tools and data. Through the use of multiple criteria, students will be identified as gifted in the specific academic areas of Language Arts and/or math. To qualify a student as gifted in the aforementioned subject areas, professionally qualified personnel will use an identification rubric that examines the following evidence:
- local screening procedures
- various records of previous accomplishments
- a nationally norm-referenced aptitude test/specific subject aptitude test
- a nationally norm-referenced teacher evaluation
- subject area grades (grades 3-12) OR
- running records for Language Arts/locally developed math assessments (grades K-2)
No one instrument, score, or criterion will guarantee or deny a student access to gifted services.