Gifted and Talented Program Overview
Mission Statement
The Weehawken School District recognizes that all students thrive when provided with engaging and rigorous learning opportunities based on skill level, interest, encouragement, and direction. Our mission is to cultivate the unique potential of gifted and talented students by providing a challenging and supportive educational environment. We are deeply committed to fostering the intellectual growth of our students, stimulating their creativity, and ensuring their emotional well-being through innovative and academically rigorous curriculum, personalized learning experiences, and opportunities for advancement.
The District strives to enhance the education of all students by offering a continuum of services to meet student’s individual needs, including those of underserved populations. We aim to empower our students to become critical thinkers, compassionate leaders, and lifelong learners who will contribute positively to the Weehawken community and the world.
New Jersey Administrative Code 6A:8-3.1 defines students who are gifted and talented as those students who possess or demonstrate high levels of ability in one or more content areas when compared to their chronological peers in the local district and who require modification of their educational program if they are to achieve in accordance with their capabilities.
Following the New Jersey Association for Gifted Children guidelines for identification, the Weehawken School District uses multiple criteria when considering students for individualized enrichment support and the Gifted and Talented pull-out program. All students are screened for eligibility in accordance with New Jersey’s Strengthening Gifted and Talented Education Act.
Key Points of the Identification Process
All public schools must have a board-approved gifted and talented program.
Students are to be compared with their peers in the local school district.
District boards of education shall make provisions for an ongoing K-12 identification process for gifted and talented students that includes multiple measures, including but not limited to, achievement test scores, grades, student performance or products, intelligence testing, parent, student and/or teacher recommendation, and other appropriate measures.
The regulations do not establish state-level criteria for giftedness (such as an IQ score or grade point average). Specific tests are not required to be used to identify gifted and talented students.
Local school districts should ensure that the identification methodology used is developmentally appropriate, non-discriminatory, and related to the programs and services offered.
N.J.A.C. 6A: 8-3.1(a)5 ii requires local district boards of education to provide appropriate K-12 educational services for gifted and talented students. Therefore, the identification process and appropriate educational challenges must begin in kindergarten.
District boards of education shall take into consideration the PreK-Grade 12 Gifted Program Standards of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) in developing programs for gifted and talented students.
