Gifted Education Plan
Sheridan
School District
Developed by December 2008
To be adopted by January 2009
To be implemented by April 2009
District Profile
Philosophy Statement
The goal of the Sheridan School District’s Gifted Education plan is to meet the needs of the
students who are gifted or talented in the areas of language or mathematics. In accordance
with this philosophy, district teachers will offer appropriate instructional programs to meet the
needs of students capable of high performance, developing the special abilities of each
student.
Identification Process:
1. Teacher or Parent Referral.
2. Parents are informed and permission to screen is requested.
3. Referred students are screened using any combination of, but not limited to, the
following tests: the MAP, The Cognitive Abilities Test™ (CogAT®), the Stanford
Binet, Woodcock Johnson, WISC, Ravens Colored Matrices), K-Bits, and parent
and/or teacher attributes and behavior characteristic rankings.
4. The Gifted and Talented Committee examines the results of the screening.
5. Parents are informed of results and placement.
The focus of our program for the 2008-2009 school year will be language and mathematics.
Five to ten percent of our students will be identified for services. Students with at least a 95
percentile on the NWEA MAP test may be nominated to the program. Any new student
enrollee, showing prior identification in the talented and gifted program will be included in
our program. Once a student is accepted into our program they will remain in the program
without further testing unless they are withdrawn with parent permission or unless a behavior
issue prevents them from taking advantage of the services of the program. Such a decision
would be made by the administration in conjunction with the Gifted and Talented Committee
and parent of the child.
1. Parent Referral - The school will accept nominations of students for the program. A parent
submits a nomination using the Parent Request for Extended Curriculum Program
Consideration Form, (located on the webpage). This form is submitted to the classroom
teacher or principal.
2. Teacher Referral – The school will accept nominations from a teacher or screening team
member by completing an Extended Curriculum Program Nomination Form. The form
includes information regarding demographics, achievement test history, student’s
intellectual/academic characteristics, and classroom performance. The teacher or
administrator will submit the nomination with a completed Frasier’s Traits, Attributes and
Behaviors (TABS) Observation Form. Parental permission for further testing and screening is
obtained using the Parent Observation and Permission for Consideration Form.
3. The Extended Curriculum Program Screening Team will review the submitted documents
and make a preliminary assessment. If the committee wants to move forward on the
nomination, testing permission is obtained from the parents. The team reviews the submitted
documents and, using the rubric, determines entrance into the program. The team is
composed of at least one administrator, and two members of the certified teaching staff
including.
4. Parents are informed of results and placement. The team will provide parents of each
nominated child with a written confirmation of acceptance or non-acceptance to the program.
An Individualized Instruction Plan will be created with input from the parents.
Documentation of the student’s participation in the program will be included in the student’s
permanent record.
Curriculum and Instruction
Instructional Management – School Wide
All School - Grades Kindergarten through 12th grade will be served in 2009-2010
school year. The plan for delivering services will be formulated by the Gifted
and Talented Committee.
Individualization - To include but not limited to “walking to Reading and Math”,
curriculum compacting, and learning contracts.
Grouping - To include but not limited to heterogeneous and homogeneous grouping.
Acceleration - To include but not limited to “walking to Reading and Math”.
Pull out – Students will be taken in groupings to various enrichment sites to complete
projects. These groupings may happen once a week for anywhere from one
hour to all day. These groups may be elementary, MS or HS in nature.
Multi-Tier Classroom – This system will be used when a Talented and Gifted
Specialist teaches in a K-12 classroom, using the Multi-Tier approach with
differentiated instruction.
On-Line Classes – To include offerings through U of M Western.
Dual Credit – To include offerings through U of M Western.
SpringBoard – Math and Language Arts curriculum designed for multi-level
classrooms offering Advanced Placement opportunities for our 6-12 students.
Middle School in High School Classes – When socially-emotionally, and
academically appropriate for students.
School Competitions – Destination Imagination, GOB, Science Olympiad, Academic
Olympics, Math Counts.
School Leadership – Opportunities for student workshops we may host and where
students may teach sessions.
Students as Teachers – Opportunities for advanced students to teach within their own
or other classrooms.
Differentiated Instruction – Classroom instruction that is targeted at each individual
student while completing the same topic or content. Modification may be
made in content, process, and products.
Contract Learning – The student picks a project they are passionate about and
completes an independent study.
Projects Pull Out Class – Students are placed in a classroom setting where all
students are working on individualized projects.
Field Trips and Guest Speakers – Taking our identified students on a field trip to
explore and learn.
Monetary Assistance to Master’s Classes/Summer Seminars – The program will
provide, when available, monetary assistance with tuition for summer
extension programs.
Mentoring – Assignment of a community advocate and expert to assist with an
individualized project or area.
School Garden – Learn about sustainable agriculture.
Solar Panels – Learn about sustainable energy.
Instructional Management
- Individual Learning Needs:
Once a child is accepted into the program, the individuals who will be responsible for meeting
the child’s extended curriculum needs will convene to consider instructional management,
instructional delivery, and curriculum adaptation options that may be necessary for the child.
Parents may be invited to participate in the process. Some additional student learning profile
inventories may be utilized including, but not limited to, the Purdue Academic Rating Scale,
Teacher Inventory of Learning Strengths (TILS), Attributes about School and Learning
(ALS), How do You Like to Learn, Rogers Interest Inventory, and the Parent Inventory for
Finding Potential (PIP). All five major domains of giftedness and talent will be considered for
program offerings.
The program endorses the use of the following Instructional Management practices: grade
telescoping, curriculum compacting, talent search participation, individual benchmark setting,
ability/achievement grouping, similar ability grouping, partial pull out, properly supervised
independent study, and single subject acceleration.
The program endorses the use of the following Instructional Delivery practices; flexible
deadlines, flexible tasks, learning contracts, accelerated pacing, conceptual discussions,
personal goal setting, competitions, discovery learning, higher order thinking, individual
projects, creative thinking, and problem based learning.
The program endorses the use of the following Curriculum Adaptation practices; content
modifications including abstraction, complexity, variety, organization, study of people,
method of inquiry, breath of inquiry; process modifications including problem solving, open
ended thinking, proof and reasoning, discovery, organization training, communication
training, social issues, ethical dilemmas, conflict resolution, service learning and social action;
product modifications including real world problem solving, presentations, demonstrations,
individual benchmark setting, and transformations.
Support Services
Our program will include the guidance of the Extended Curriculum Committee which meets
regularly throughout the year. The Extended Curriculum Screening Team will meet for the
purpose of screening parent referrals for participation as well as all nominations. The team
will also contribute greatly to the planning of the program offerings for each participant.
Additional support is being provided by the Great Divide Special Education Consortium in
the form of psychological services and assistance with test administration and professional
development.
Parent Involvement
Parents can play a vital role in the education of their gifted and talented child. Their first
responsibility is to become informed of our program structure. When a child is nominated and
being screened, parents will have the ability to give important insight into their student’s
individual learning needs through inventories and interviews. The team will make every effort
to set up an initial meeting with parents and members of the team to gather pertinent
information before beginning the child’s extended studies. Parents will be directly informed
and consulted if their child is placed in a project class or on an individual learning contract at
regularly scheduled parent/teacher conferences and/or through additional formal or informal
meetings, notes, calls, and emails. Report cards will include a progress report on their
extended studies.
Professional Development
Our program is focusing professional development efforts in the area of program planning,
student identification, testing implementation, instructional management, instructional
delivery, curriculum adaptations, differentiated instruction, and in general teaching gifted
children in the regular classroom. We are using two primary texts as study group materials;
Re-Forming Gifted Education, How Parents and Teachers Can Match the Program to the
Child by Karen Rogers & Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom by Susan
Winebrenner.
We will endeavor to send our talented and gifted teachers to the Montana AGATE workshop
(Montana Association of Gifted and Talented Education, Inc.). We will focus our 2009-2010
professional development on training in differentiated instruction using the OPI specialist.
Program Evaluation
Our program will be evaluated in an on-going manner coordinated by the Extended
Curriculum Committee but seeking the input of all stakeholders including teachers, parents,
and students. There will be a summative and formative component of our assessment.
For summative evaluation we have developed a five-question survey to be given to parents,
students, and teachers in the program on an annual basis in the month of May. This will allow
the committee time to evaluate the results of the survey before beginning of the next
educational year.
For formative evaluation we will keep portfolios of student work and teacher best practices
for each student in the program. This will allow us to get a feel for the type of offerings we
are providing and their effectiveness. It will also provide an opportunity to share best
practices and develop a bank of useful strategies and activities for students in the program.
Committee Members
Kim Harding – Superintendent
Jory Thompson – Principal
Laurie Bartoletti – Counselor
Heather Kenworthy – Elementary Teacher
Sara Decker – Elementary Teacher
Rod Stout – English & Social Studies Teacher
Sally Schendel – English & Art Teacher
Rusty Bowers – Math Teacher
Taylor Stipe – Science Teacher
Parent Request for Extended Curriculum Program Consideration
Sheridan School District
Student: ___________________________
Grade: _______
Age: ______
Teacher: ___________________________
Please Print Your Name and Today’s Date: _____________________________
Student Characteristic Profiles:
The scale below will help you estimate the student’s intellectual/academic characteristics:
Circle the frequency of each:
1- never
2 - seldom
Interests
Motivation
Inquiry
Insight
Humor
Communication
Memory
Reasoning
Problem
Solving
Imagination
3 – occasionally 4 - frequently 5 - almost always
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6 – always
Descriptions:
Interests: intense (sometimes unusual) interests in a topic or activity: self-starter pursues an
activity unceasingly, beyond his/her peer group.
Motivation: evidence of desire to learn; persistent in pursuing/completing self-selected tasks;
may be culturally influenced; evident in school or non-school activities; enthusiastic learner.
Inquiry: asks unusual questions for age; plays around with ideas; extensive exploratory
behaviors directed toward eliciting information about materials, devices, or situations.
Insight: exceptional ability to draw inferences; quickly grasps new concepts and makes
connections; is keenly observant; heightened capacity for seeing unusual and diverse
relationships, integration of ideas.
Humor: conveys and picks up on humor well; keen sense of humor that may be gentle.
Communication: highly expressive; unusual ability to communicate; uses particularly apt
examples, illustrations or elaborations.
Memory: large storehouse of information about school or non-school topics; 1-2 repetitions
for mastery; pays attention to details; manipulates information.
Reasoning: logical approach to figuring out solutions; ability to make generalizations, uses
metaphors and analogies; critical thinker.
Problem Solving: unusual ability to devise or adopt a systematic strategy for solving
problems and to change the strategy if it’s not working; creates new designs; an inventor.
Imagination: shows exceptional ability in using everyday materials; produces many ideas;
has wild, seemingly silly ideas; flexible and fluent produce of ideas; highly curious.
Please check all that best describes your child.
Intellectually Gifted
____ Intensely active mind; curiosity, concentration; capacity for sustained intellectual effort.
____ Mental quickness and flexibility.
____ Rapid insights into cause and effect.
____ Tries to discover the how and why of things.
____ Heightened need to seek understanding and truth, to gain knowledge, to
analyze/synthesize.
____ Penchant for probing questions, problem solving; preoccupation with logic and
theoretical thinking.
____ Very sensitive, sometimes in extreme.
____ Extremely strong emotional connections to persons, living things, and places.
____ Compassion; responsiveness to others, empathy and sensitivity in relationships.
Specific Academic Ability/Talent
Math:
____ Plays with numbers
____ Uses mathematical symbols to communicate thinking
____ Derives solutions and conveys thinking through the use of mathematical equations and
words
____ May develop unique mathematical techniques
____ Grasps concepts, makes quick valid generalizations
____ Problem solves with data
____ Likes logic and problem-solving games; can anticipate ahead
____ Likes collecting data
____ Advanced computation skills
Reading :
____ Reads advanced materials beyond age expectancy
____ Demonstrates comprehension through discussion of materials read
____ Makes inferences
____ Analyzes content read
____ Silent reading for extended periods of time
____ Takes independent actions to solve reading problems
____ Extends vocabulary with new words encountered in print
____ Scans and skims reading
____ Advanced vocabulary
____ Reads carefully
Additional Information:
Teacher Extended Curriculum Program Nomination
Sheridan School District
Student: ___________________________
Grade: _______
Age: ______
Classroom Teacher: ___________________________
Circle area(s) of referral: Intellectual
/
Specific Academic (math/reading)
Please Print Your Name and Today’s Date: _____________________________
Form Completed By: ____ teacher ____ principal ____ screening team
Was this student nominated before? If yes, when? Explain results:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Test History
Please record any test scores you believe may be helpful:
Test Name
Date
Score
Student Characteristic Profiles:
The scale below will help you estimate the student’s intellectual/academic characteristics:
Circle the frequency of each:
1- never
2 - seldom
Interests
Motivation
Inquiry
Insight
Humor
Communication
Memory
Reasoning
ProblemSolving
Imagination
3 – occasionally 4 - frequently 5 - almost always
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6 – always
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Descriptions:
Interests: intense (sometimes unusual) interests in a topic or activity: self-starter pursues an
activity unceasingly, beyond his/her peer group.
Motivation: evidence of desire to learn; persistent in pursuing/completing self-selected tasks;
may be culturally influenced; evident in school or non-school activities; enthusiastic learner.
Inquiry: asks unusual questions for age; plays around with ideas; extensive exploratory
behaviors directed toward eliciting information about materials, devices, or situations.
Insight: exceptional ability to draw inferences; quickly grasps new concepts and makes
connections; is keenly observant; heightened capacity for seeing unusual and diverse
relationships, integration of ideas.
Humor: conveys and picks up on humor well; keen sense of humor that may be gentle.
Communication: highly expressive; unusual ability to communicate; uses particularly apt
examples, illustrations or elaborations.
Memory: large storehouse of information about school or non-school topics; 1-2 repetitions
for mastery; pays attention to details; manipulates information.
Reasoning: logical approach to figuring out solutions; ability to make generalizations, uses
metaphors and analogies; critical thinker.
Problem Solving: unusual ability to devise or adopt a systematic strategy for solving
problems and to change the strategy if it’s not working; creates new designs; an inventor.
Imagination: shows exceptional ability in using everyday materials; produces many ideas;
has wild, seemingly silly ideas; flexible and fluent produce of ideas; highly curious.
TABS; Frasier’s Traits, Attributes, and Behaviors
Extended Curriculum Observation and Permission for Consideration
Sheridan School District
Student: ___________________________
Grade: _______
Age: ______
Parent Name: ___________________________
Parent Address: __________________________
Date: _____________________________
Principal Signature: ___________________________
Dear Parent,
Please be informed that your son/daughter has been nominated by a teacher,
administrator, or the screening team to be considered for Sheridan School’s Extended
Curriculum Program. This program is provided for children who qualify under our District’s
standards as Gifted and Talented or who have been identified at another school district as
Gifted and Talented. By signing this form below you are giving us permission to observe and
assess (intelligence test) your child in order to make a final determination if he/she will
qualify for and with your permission will begin our Extended Curriculum Program.
Through a standardized identification process the Sheridan School’s Extended
Curriculum Screening Team will admit children in grades K-12 into the school’s Gifted &
Talented program. Gifted and talented children are unique and may respond to different
catalysts to enhance the developments of their gifts or talents. Our program seeks to identify
the unique gifts and talents of our children, quantify and describe their abilities, provide
learning opportunities that act as a catalyst to improve their educational and curriculum
offerings, and maximize their abilities to reach their high potential.
We congratulate you on the accomplishments your child has already made and look
forward to better supporting their unique abilities and talents in the future. We strongly urge
you to discuss this opportunity with your child and to sign/return the form as soon as possible.
We will provide you with written notification as to whether or not your child is accepted. If
your child is accepted, we will ask for your consent for further testing and invite you to a
meeting to plan your child’s educational program with us.
Parent Signature: ___________________________
Date: _____________________________
Extended Curriculum Confirmation of Acceptance Letter
Sheridan School District
Extended Curriculum Confirmation of Acceptance Letter
Student: ___________________________
Grade: _______
Age: ______
Parent Name: ___________________________
Parent Address: __________________________
Date: _____________________________
Principal Signature: ___________________________
Dear Parent,
We are pleased to inform you that your son/daughter has been accepted into the
Sheridan School’s Extended Curriculum Program. This program is provided for children who
qualify under our District’s standards as Gifted and Talented or who have been identified at
another school district as Gifted and Talented. By signing this form below you are giving us
permission to begin providing Extended Curriculum programming to your son or daughter.
This programming will not begin until next school year. That will allow teachers plenty of
time to identify what areas of extension with most benefit your child’s unique gifts and
talents.
We will inform you of every opportunity to participate in your child’s program. This
includes meetings both formal and informal, parent teacher conferences, report card updates,
and a Parent Learning Log Journal. Your participation can greatly strengthen the outcome of
our program for your child.
We congratulate you on the accomplishments your child has made and look forward to
better supporting their unique abilities and talents in the future. Participation in this program
continues each year your child is enrolled. Please return this form to the office or your child’s
teacher as soon as possible and stand by for more information about how you can help with
the program for your child. If you have any questions, please contact your child’s teacher at
your convenience.
I __________________________ grant my child _________________ permission to
participate in the Sheridan School District Extended Curriculum Program.
Parent Signature: _________________________Date: _____________________________
Extended Curriculum Reflection Form
Instructor: ____________________Date: _________________
Activity/Subject:_____________________________________
Grade Level: _______
Student Participants:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Talented and Gifted Program
2008-2009
Ability Grouping:
Any student who meets the criteria for Talented and Gifted Program for Math or Language
Arts will be eligible to move up to the grade level best fitting their ability level during this
class offering. All Math and Language classes will be taught during the same scheduled time
period allowing this movement of students (K-8).
Pull Out Experience:
Students will be grouped by age to participate in age-level activities. These may range from 1
to 6 hours in duration and may include groupings similar to K-3, K-6, K-6, 7-8, or 9-12.
Experiences may include time with the Conservation District, stream management, Fine Arts,
or Math & Science challenges. Funding for these experiences will be taken from the Talented
and Gifted grant through OPI.
Dual/On-line/ and Advanced Placement: Opportunities will be afforded for those students
meeting criteria at the high school level. Opportunities also include AP English and AP
Calculus.
Project Class:
An individual project class may be made available for a class period each day. In this setting,
the students will complete work based on a independent contract designed by them and their
G/T Specialist. The final project will be placed in their portfolio.
Possible Program Offerings for the 2009-2010 school year:
Program Director –
G/T Specialists:
Sally Schendel – Art, English and Media Specialists
Heidi Bush – Music – One Period each day
Taylor Stipe – Science & Math – One Period each day
Rod Stout – English and Social Studies – One period each day
AP English – English Department – One period each day
AP Calculus – Math Department – One period each day
Vocational Education
Talented and Gifted
Coordinator Job Description
The TAG Coordinator will be responsible for the following:
Setting up meetings with the Identification Team for student selection
Coordinate and give interest inventory to student & parent
Setting up quarterly activities for TAG students
Completing and filing OPI reports
Monitoring the Walk to Math/Reading program
Monitoring the project class
Communicating with parents
Communicating with staff
Communicating with the news media
Facilitate summer opportunities
Evaluate the program in conjunction with the committee
Facilitating and coaching in staff development
Scheduling TAG students in conjunction with the school counselor
Monitoring On-Line student options in conjunction with the school counselor
Providing leadership opportunities for TAG students (student council, trip planning, etc. )
Update student files
Individual Education Plan Management
Monthly report for public relations
Quarterly report on TAG Activities
Grant writing
Talented & Gifted Opportunities
Walk to Math K-9
Walk to Reading K-6
Spring Board Math 6-12
Spring Board LA 6-12
Projects Pull Out Class K-12
Portfolio
Projects
Independent Study
Contract Learning
Class Field Trips and Speakers
TAG student complete higher level, comprehensive project
Peer Teaching
Community Mentors
Attend competitions like destination imagination,
Vo-Ag – Independent projects, Build a house, Refurbish a car
Leadership Opportunities
Music – One period each day
Vo-Ag – One period each day
Art – One period each day