Our Philosophy 

The gifted and talented are those children and youth capable of highly creative-productive performance, who require a variety of provisions and enrichment to meet their educational needs in order to fully develop their talents and gifts. They are found in all races, geographic locations, environments, and socio-economic groups.

We believe in differentiated education for the academically and creatively talented. Our curriculum includes a high level of cognitive and affective concepts and processes beyond those normally provided. Instructional strategies implemented accommodate the unique learning styles of the gifted and talented students in the designated areas.

The West New York Board of Education continues to meet the needs of all our learners and provides opportunities as outlined in the Strengthening Gifted and Talented Education Act.

 Our Education Plan 

 At the K-6 elementary level, forty minute blocks are assigned to each grade level to provide an appropriate pull-out service, three to four times a week. During an assigned period, those identified students will go to the assigned teacher on his or her level. The Gifted and Talented teachers will obtain permission from the administrators and parents to allow students to  leave the school building when it is deemed necessary to partake in field trip experiences. 

At the middle school level, students are provided gifted instruction in their schedules for one cycle per school year. Additionally, students participate in the Knight Club and STEAM Academy. The Gifted and Talented teachers will obtain permission from the administrators and parents to allow students to  leave the school building when it is deemed necessary to partake in field trip experiences. 

At the high school level, students are offered advanced placement courses, honors classes, STEAM Academy, and college credit courses throughout the school year. 

 our program model 

The West New York Gifted and Talented Program is structured within the framework of the Joseph Renzulli Enrichment Triad Model. It recognizes the importance of motivating higher levels of interest and learning and stresses the multifaceted approach to gifted education.

In Renzulli’s three tier model, three basic areas of concern are emphasized:

TIER 1: Exposure to a varied selection of topics/areas which might foster a motivating level of curiosity and interest.  Hopefully, this will be conducive to further study at a higher level of knowledge.

TIER 2: Consistency of activities, utilizing varied methods, materials and techniques to develop both thinking and emotional processes, such as, critical/creative problem solving, sensitivity training and brainstorming strategies.

TIER 3: Narrowing the focus to small groups or individual research by allowing the students to actively pursue self-directed topics for independent research, thus allowing the student to set his own learning goals and communicate his area of expertise through appropriate channels. These culminating efforts reflect the activities of TIER 1 and 2 and hopefully, promote a chain reaction of curiosity and interest in a new field to investigate stimulating self-motivated learning.

In addition to working within Renzulli’s Triad frame, the West New York Gifted and Talented Program also adapted the premises of Renzulli Scales for Rating Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students. The Renzulli Scale rates the intensity of various behavioral abilities of superior students through learning characteristics; motivational characteristics; creativity characteristics; leadership characteristics; artistic characteristics; dramatic characteristics and planning characteristics.