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Exceptional Student Services » Gifted and Talented

Gifted and Talented

Gifted Program
 
  • Gifted education is the appropriate academic course offerings during the regular school day and is commensurate with the academic abilities and potential of a gifted student
  • At Crane, a gifted student is a child who is of lawful school age, who due to superior intellect or advanced learning ability, or both, does not progress or develop with regular classroom instruction and who needs differentiated instruction to achieve at levels commensurate with intellect and ability
  • This child scores at 95% percentile on the CogAT ability test in at least one area, verbal, quanititive or non-verbal or scores at the 95% on the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test
 
Crane maintains an inclusive gifted education program where the focus is more than just acceleration in a subject area and the major focus is on the acquisition of complex, abstract ideas that are applicable to a wide variety of disciplines and situations
 
We believe that activities need to be designed to help a student “own the content”. Learning activities focus on a higher level of Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy and students are encouraged to use inductive reasoning to discover patterns, ideas and underlying principles. Students are encouraged to explain their reasoning for answers and produce products that go beyond paraphrasing or copying of existing materials.
 
Each of the ten Crane schools has a Gifted Education Site Coordinator. Feel free to contact our schools to find out more about our Gifted Education Program.
 

Scope and Sequence

Crane School District
Gifted Education Scope and Sequence
(Adopted by Crane School District Governing Board, June 2009)
 
PROGRAM DESIGN
 
Delivery of Services
 
  • Differentiated instruction plans will be written and used through use of GDEP (Gifted Differentiation Education Plan) where need is indicated. GDEP plan will be researched and piloted for the 2009-2010 school with continuing implementation in subsequent years.
  • Differentiated instruction within the regular classroom
  • Activities that focus on a higher level of Blooms
  • Many sites have “Walk To Read” program which addresses the benchmark and above student.  These students are using focus skills but applying to areas other than the core reading program (i.e. novels, other written literature, etc.)
  • Establish practice work on 2 levels, both entry and advanced.
  • Offer and use “Most Difficult First” strategy
  • Use learning contracts
  • Implement the Schoolwide Cluster Grouping Model
  • Use of extension menus
  • Differentiated instruction within the regular classroom.
  • Differentiation plans will be written for all grades during collaborative planning and will be included in the district lesson maps and calendars.
  • Differentiated pull out groups and programs
  • Gowan Achievement Project is for 4th-8th graders who are placed in the project based on AIMS scores and teacher recommendation.  In general, we have the top 30 kids based on the sum of the AIMS scores.  The goal is to provide an enriched curriculum that is different from the regular classroom.  Heavy emphasis in math, science, and technology.  Students do not automatically continue in this program year to year. Continued placement is based on AIMS, teacher recommendation and student progress.
  • Classes differentiated by ability
  • Purposefully group with like minded peers
 
Integration of Program Standards and Arizona State Standards
 
  • Curriculum timelines are used in reading.
  • Math core curriculum will provide alignment to new Arizona Math Standards
  • District currently undergoing mapping of standards and articulation of differentiation of instruction at all grade levels
 
CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION
 
Differentiation of Instruction
 
  • Differentiated instruction through writing and use of GDEP (Gifted Differentiation Education Plan)
  • PD class offered in Differentiated Instruction, Compacting, Extension Menus, Learning Contracts, Most Difficult First and Pre-Test Strategies.
  • WestEd T4S protocol is used for daily walk through and sweeps to determine level of appropriately used pedagogy
  • Acceleration through use of Extension Menus, Learning Contracts, Most Difficult First, Pre-Test and Compacting Strategies.
  • Grade level collaboration on differentiated strategies for all performance objectives part of weekly planning
  • Middle school teachers have been trained in differentiation of instruction
  • Teams are divided into professional learning communities
  • Accelerated learning is available to students through language arts and mathematics
  • High School Algebra offered to eligible students
  • Language arts uses Holt Reading Series, novels, New York Times and presentations to differentiate the
 
Curricular Materials
 
  • Harcourt Trophies Reading
  • Houghton Mifflin Math
  • Houghton Mifflin Math Expressions
  • Write Up A Storm Writing
  • Core Knowledge Scope and Sequence – Hirsch
  • Renzulli Learning – computer
  • A+ (ALS - Anywhere Learning System)
  • Wordly Wise, Rewards, Novels, Storyworks, and Arizona Studies Weekly
  •  Holt Reading Series
  • Scott Foresman Math
 
IDENTIFICATION
 
Referral Process
 
  • Parent Recommendation
  • AIMS Scores
  • Teacher Recommendation
  • Parent permission is secured for all testing.
  • Information is disseminated to parents on results of gifted testing
  • Teachers will receive in-service training on the identification of gifted students
  • Teachers will complete “Teacher’s Class Screening Form for Nominating Students for Gifted Testing” by Winebrenner and Brulles
  • Referral information will be posted on district web site and included in newsletters during the 1st and 3rd quarters of the year.
  • District will investigate, create and use local norm tables. (s/y 2010-2011)
  • Automatic triggers for gifted screening shall include: exceeding on AIMS, IQ at or above 125 on SPED screening, rapid acquisition of English language, multiple district benchmark assessments where student scores in the 90th percentile
  • Gifted as part of the IEP process for twice exceptional students
  • Screening is offered a minimum of three times per year
  • Students may be nominated by self, parents, teachers, school and district faculty and staff, or community members.
  • Students who score at or above the 94th percentile or score in the exceeding range on any section of a standardized achievement test or AIMS DPA will qualify for further testing
  • Nominated students will be assessed with one or more tests from the Arizona Board of Education Approved Test List
  • Students are tested in verbal, quantitative and non-verbal areas
  • Other measures may include achievement in schoolwork.  The judgments of teachers, psychologists, administrators and supervisors familiar with the demonstrated abilities of the students.
  • Students who score at the 94th, 93rd, or 92nd percentile will be afforded differentiation techniques and strategies in their classrooms.
  • Students may  be grouped according to the Schoolwide Cluster Grouping Model
 
Testing Instruments
 
  • CogAT and NNAT are used for K-8 testing
  • AIMS DPA results
  • Gifted Characteristics Checklist for Underrepresented Populations
  • Characteristics & behaviors of culturally, linguistically and socioeconomically diverse gifted learners
  • District Benchmark Assessments
  • AZELLA
 
Parent/Teacher Information
 
  • Student handbook that goes home to every parent at the beginning of the year
  • Letters to parents when student has been referred
  • Building level in-service on regular in-service days
  • Letter to parents with testing results 
 
Appeals Process
 
  • Parents may request meeting with teacher, principal and/or gifted director
  • Parents have the right to appeal decisions to place students in a gifted program.
  • Parent options for 2nd assessment are to wait twelve months and have child retested on the Cognitive Abilities Test or Naglieri test at school, or to take student to a licensed psychologist at any time for evaluation with one of the tests approved by the State of Arizona for identification of giftedness. If the scores are at or above the 95t percentile, parents can bring them into the school office. (Parents pay the testing fee.)
 
APPEALS PROCESS
 
Parents or guardians may appeal the decision of the Gifted Eligibility/Placement when there is additional pertinent information. All appeal requests shall be submitted in writing to the director of the Office of Gifted Education within twenty-one business days of receiving the letter communicating the decision of the Gifted Eligibility/Placement. The parents or guardians will be notified by letter of the director’s receipt of the appeal.
 
The district appeals committee will include the following personnel: District Gifted Coordinator, Site Gifted Coordinator, Homeroom Teacher, Counselor, and District Psychologist.
 
At the initial meeting of the appeals committee, all data that has been collected, including additional, pertinent information provided by the parents and submitted in the appeal are reviewed. The committee will decide if additional assessment data are needed or, the committee may determine that based on the data that has been submitted, no additional data are needed. The committee's decision may include one of the following:
 
  • Uphold the original decision of the eligibility/placement
    committee
  • Reverse the decision of the eligibility/placement committee
  • Gather additional or updated data
 
The parents or guardians will be informed of the appeals committee’s decision by letter. If the parents/guardians do not agree with this decision, they may submit an additional appeal to the director of the Office of Gifted Education
 
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
 
Meeting Affective Needs of the Gifted Child
 
  • Teaching character traits
  • Cooperative learning and peer tutoring
  • Community service projects through the Gowan Achievement Project which provides real life application for affective learning. Service-learning activities generally benefit students who are self-motivated, exhibit initiative, and actively engaged in the process of their learning.
  • Provide a parent support group for gifted parents
  • Clustering of students at some grade levels and sites
  • Use the strategies of Schoolwide Cluster Grouping to build unified learning communities
  • Flexible grouping and learning centers
  • Incorporate strategies of Tiered Lesson Planning p 121 Brulles
  • Incorporate strategies from Motivation Theories and Valuing Theories
  • Middle school students have access to the Jr. National Honor Society
 
At Risk Gifted Students
 
  • School counseling provided
  • Student data such as absentee reports, behavior referrals, student achievement on benchmark assessments and teacher observations about student behavior will be monitored to insure that the academic and affective needs of gifted students are being met and when needed, gifted students will be afforded the same intervention grouping as their peers.
  • Students will have the opportunity to pre-test and compact curriculum so that curriculum may be accelerated.
  • School counselors will be made available