Beliefs

Characteristics: 

• Gifted children have unique needs. 

• Gifted children have distinct thinking and learning styles; they think differently (more deeply and more abstractly) and see the world differently than their peers. 

Student Needs: 

• Gifted students should be considered in the same way that all learners with special needs are considered.

• The unique social and emotional needs of gifted children should be addressed, as should the social and emotional needs of all children, by our school district in collaboration with families and the community. 

Identification: 

• There should be consistent and continuous standards for identification of students across the district and from year to year. 

• The process for identifying gifted students should be transparent and public.  

Services: 

• Gifted students require appropriately challenging curriculum and instruction. 

• Gifted students should be challenged and supported through multi-faceted programs that are student centered. 

• Gifted students need to be with their academic peers in groups of appropriate size, for an appropriate length of time, and with appropriate challenges to meet their education and social/emotional needs. 

• Delivery of services for gifted students should be flexible in curriculum and strategies; it should be open-minded, holistic, and differentiated with needs of the individual student in mind.