The way in which my own life touches those of so many others,
those I know and thousands of those I don’t, has strengthened my
belief that each human has his or her unique place in the ocean of
existence.
-Jane Goodall, The Gifted Kids’ Survival Guide
Is My Child Gifted?
The principal mark of genius is not
perfection but originality, the opening of new
frontiers.
-Arthur Koestler, The Gifted Kids’
Survival Guide
Gifted and talented children are by virtue of outstanding abilities
those identified by professionally qualified persons as being capable
of high performance. These children require differentiated
educational programs and/or services beyond those normally
provided by the regular school program in order to realize their
contribution to self and society.
-U.S. Office of Education Report to Congress
Gifted children typically share many common characteristics, which
may include the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Grasps and retains knowledge
Conveys ideas effectively
Shows skills in abstract thinking
Uses a wide variety of resources
Has creative and inventive power
Exhibits power to work independently
Assumes and discharges responsibility
1
8. Adjusts easily to new situations
9. Has physical competence
10. Appreciates social values
11. Establishes favorable relationships
12. Demonstrates persistent intellectual curiosity
13. Has a keen sense of humor
14. Sets high standards for self
“Giftedness consists of an interaction among three
basic clusters of human traits—these clusters being
above average general abilities, high levels of task
commitment, and high levels of creativity.”
-Dr. Joseph Renzulli
Mission
“The gifted students are, in fact, the most neglected resource
in our country and they’re the most educationally disadvantaged
students that we have.”
-Roger Taylor
The program for gifted and talented students offered by the Belton
School District is one component in the school district’s mission to
“challenge and encourage all students to develop knowledge, skills,
and attitudes that will prepare them to become lifelong learners and
productive members of society.”
-Belton School District Strategic Plan
“Gifted education fuels the flame for
knowledge.”
-Rachel Williamson, BHS graduate
2
Bill of Rights for Gifted Children












The right to be interested.
The right to be challenged.
The right to explore interests in depth.
The right to create products or performances for real world
consumption.
The right to be excused from drill on materials already
mastered.
The right to contact with intellectual peers.
The right to be involved in decision-making about his/her
educational program.
The right to express divergent point of view.
The right to be unique and different in a society that values
conformity and equality.
The right to have time for thinking and dreaming.
The right to have support and stimulation from significant
adults.
The right to fail.
Gifted kids tend to hide their intelligence, as well
as their talents, for a very simple reason:
conformity.
-Claudia 16, Gifted Kids’ Survival Guide
Program Overview
Program emphasis will be on providing exceptional students with
learning experiences that are not generally available in the regular
classroom. Every effort will be made to see these experiences enrich
and enhance the gifted student’s school life.
Individual needs will be met by allowing students latitude to pursue
their own areas of interest within the framework of the curriculum.
3
Students will have some input into curriculum itself, and will have a
great deal of opportunity to decide how the subject matter is pursued.
Attention will be given to individual learning styles, and students
will have the opportunity to adapt study to their own styles.
Goals








Help each student develop problem-solving and critical
thinking skills.
Help each student gain a realistic and healthy self-concept.
Help each student to develop intrinsic motivation to
challenge him/herself.
Provide opportunities for the student to utilize the higher
levels of cognitive and creative thought processes.
Create an atmosphere for gifted students to share and
exchange ideas with each other.
Challenge students to see interrelationships in all bodies of
knowledge.
Help students appreciate and deal with similarities and
differences between themselves and others.
Provide students with advanced technological opportunities
Many people have unfair expectations of us. They
even say, “If you’re so gifted you should know this, or
you should have gotten an A.”
-Girl, 11 The Gifted Kid’s Survival Guide
Selection Procedure
Screening begins with the Slossen (3rd grade) or MAP Test results
(Terra Nova) along with documented evidence as displayed through
teacher screening surveys and work product. In groups, students in
4th – 6th grades will be screened using the Otis-Lennon School
Ability Test (OLSAT).
4
Belton School District STAR Testing
Slossen
126 or above
(For screening purpose only in 3rd
grade)
Teacher
Recommendation
(Documented Evidence)
Achievement Test
95th percentile or above on 2
composite tests (Terra Nova)
OLSAT
95th percentile or above on
composite score
(to qualify for further testing only)
(used for 4th – 6th grade only)
Intelligence Tests
95th percentile or above to be
considered for placement into
STAR program
Students must meet qualifying criteria for STAR placement
5
Students who meet the testing criteria will be individually tested
using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III), the
Weschsler Intelligence Scale for Adults (WAIS), or comparable IQ
test. Those students who score at the 95th percentile or higher meet
the Belton School District in conjunction with Missouri DESE
guidelines for placement in the gifted program.
To be considered for gifted services in the Belton School District,
students must meet three of the four following criteria:
1. 95th percentile or above on two or more appropriate areas
of the achievement test.
2. 95th percentile or above on IQ test* (must be met as one
of the three).
3. Evidence of high ability as seen through teacher
screening surveys.
4. Evidence of high ability as seen
through work product and/or creativity tests.
Students may be recommended for probationary status by the
placement team. Additional screening tools that the placement team
may choose to incorporate in the screening process may include The
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, the Screening Assessment for
Gifted Elementary Students, The Torrance Test for Creativity or
other special population’s tests.
The state allows a maximum of 5% but recommends 2-3% of the
total school population to be serviced in the state-sponsored gifted
program. If the gifted program is at capacity, students who qualify
will be placed on a waiting list until an opening occurs. They will be
placed on the waiting list in the order they were accepted until an
opening occurs, at which time they will be placed in the program.
Students on the waiting list will be identified to teachers and
provided with enrichment.
6
Outside Testing
The only test scores that will be acceptable for consideration into the
gifted program will be conducted by Belton School District
approved test administrators.
Transfer Students
A transfer student will be considered with his/her entire class on the
reevaluation schedule unless he/she has previously participated in
another state-approved gifted program. When this occurs, scores
from achievement tests and individual intelligence tests from the last
two years in student’s file will be evaluated under our gifted
program guidelines. If scores meet Belton School District’s criteria,
the transfer student will be immediately placed in the program. If
scores are more than two years, are unavailable or do not meet
district criteria, the transfer student may be scheduled for testing and
evaluation based on the district’s selection procedure. (All IQ tests
require a minimum of one year elapsed time before retesting will be
considered.)
Suspension from Program
Students who are not meeting grade expectations in the gifted and/or
regular education classes may be placed on probation for a minimum
of one quarter following a team evaluation. Appropriate support and
expectations for return to the program will be determined by the
team at that time. Reinstatement will occur if all conditions have
been met.
If a student is suspended from the program or chooses to drop,
he/she must be re-evaluated and meet current admission guidelines
to be reinstated.
Withdrawal From Program
If f a parent/guardian chooses to withdraw their child from the
STAR program, he or she must complete a withdrawal form and
meet with the STAR teacher.
7
Re-Evaluation Process
Students can be considered for retesting by the gifted program after
3 years have elapsed after the initial evaluation took place.
General Information
The gifted program serves students needs in a variety of ways:
Grades 3 & 4: Students are transported to Mill Creek Upper
Elementary one time a week to receive enrichment services.
Grades 5 & 6: Students attend gifted class for accelerated math
instruction and enrichment every day for a total of 300 minutes per
week at Mill Creek Upper Elementary.
Grades 7 & 8: Students receive enrichment instruction daily in a
pullout program.
Grade 9: Students enroll Honors English that is team taught with a
regular education instructor and a instructor that is gifted certified at
the Freshman Center.
Grades 10 – 12 : Students enroll in Honors English and AP classes
at the high school.
I find that the best students are the ones who
put pressure on themselves to be the best.
-Girl 15, The Gifted Kids’
Survival Guide
8
Homework Policy
For Grades K-6
The students will be excused from standard classroom assignments
and activities in the regular class during the time that he/she
participates in the gifted program. The student, however, is
responsible for the concepts and principles that were presented.
When students miss regular classes due to field trips on nonscheduled gifted class days, they are responsible for the work they
missed.
When you aim for perfection, you discover it’s a
moving target.
-George Fisher, The Gifted Kids’ Survival
Guide
Program Coordinators:
Dr. Tricia Trutzel-Betts—Elementary
Mill Creek Upper Elementary
3rd – 6th Grade
348-1576
Mary Cummings—Middle School/Freshman Center
Yeokum M.S.
7th – 12th Grade
348-1042/348-1750
Supervisor: Dr. Steve Morgan, Deputy Superintendent
Secretary: Janetha Steen
489-7000
9
Organizations & Journals
Gifted Association of Missouri
PO Box 1495
Jefferson City, MO 65102
http://www.mogam.org
State of Missouri Gifted Department
DESE
http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/gifted
Gifted Child Today
PO Box 637
Holmes, PA 19043-9937
The Journal of Secondary Gifted Educ.
PO Box 8813
Waco, TX 76714-8813
RESOURCES—available for checkout
Gifted Kids Survival Guides
By James Delisle
Smart Girls, Gifted Women
By Barbara Kerr
Guiding the Gifted Child
By James Webb
Resources continued
On Being Gifted
By the Amer. Assoc. for Gifted Children
Reaching the Gifted Underachiever
By Patricia Supples
10
Playing Smart
By Susan Perry
Up From Underachievement
By Diana Heacox
Gifted Children Speak Out
By James Delisle
The Survival Guide for Parents of the Gifted
By Sally Walker
Appendix:
We must make it OK to be whatever you are,
including being gifted.
-Roger Taylor
Who Are the Gifted?
Creative and imaginative people are not always recognized by their
contemporaries. In fact, often they are not recognized in school by
their teachers either. History is full of illustrations. Consider some
of these.

Einstein was four years old before he could speak and seven
before he could read.

Isaac Newton did poorly in grade school.

Beethoven’s music teacher once said of him, “As a composer
he is hopeless.”
11

When Thomas Edison was a boy, his teachers told him he
was too stupid to learn anything.

A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had “no
good ideas” and he “doodled too much.”

Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college.

Verner Von Braun flunked ninth grade algebra.

Abraham Lincoln entered the Black Hawk war as a captain
and came out as a private.

Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade.

Babe Ruth struck out 2,000 times on his way to becoming
one of baseball’s all-time greatest homerun hitters.

Madeleine L’Engle’s story was rejected by every major
publisher. It went on to become a Newbery medal winner.
From -The Gifted Kid’s Survival Guide: A Teen Handbook
Suggestions for Providing for Superior Students





A high standard of scholarship should be required of all those
who are capable of it.
Class requirements may be reduced for those who have
demonstrated proficiency in the material being covered.
Students may be given different class assignments. Superior
students may be given assignments of greater length and
depth than others. All students need not use the same
textbook.
Students may enroll in advanced classes.
Honors classes may be offered.
12

















Students may be encouraged to do alternative/advanced work
within regular classes.
When schools are near colleges or universities, students may
take courses at them.
Students may participate in independent studies programs.
Students may take university correspondence courses.
Students may attempt to complete four years of high school
in three years or less.
Students may act as assistants in classes or as laboratory
assistants in classes.
Students may participate in essay contests, art and science
talent searches, music clinics, forensics contests, and
community action groups.
Students should be informed about occupational and training
opportunities in the field of study.
All students should be required to proofread their written
work.
Students may be referred to mentors in occupations in which
they indicate interest.
Community members may be used as resource persons in
study groups and classroom activities.
Students should have access to volunteer activities from
which they can profit.
Students should have access to special facilities (dark rooms,
radio studios, greenhouses, observatories, book and
periodicals for special interest groups, state of the art
technology).
Students should be encouraged to attend special institutes,
clinics, and summer programs.
Attention should be called to Missouri Scholars Academy
and Missouri Fine Arts Academy.
Conferences with both parents should be held throughout the
student’s school career.
Provision should be made for adequate library books,
references, and periodicals to permit individual research.
13

Successful college students should be encouraged to return to
the school to share experiences.
-University of Wisconsin, Marathon County Center
Gifted Students Should Be Taught:
How to think, not what to think
How to communicate
How to inquire and solve problems
How to develop positive self-concepts
How to work independently
How to manage large bodies of knowledge and facts
How to master specific study and research skills
How to work with others in a group; learning to understand and
relate to one’s peers
-Phyllis Maul
Revised 10/19/12
14