Intellectually Gifted Handbook

Barry Amacker, Ed.D. Superintendent

WINGS“Winning Instruction for Gifted

Students”

Table of Contents

Message from Superintendent 4

Mission Statement and Philosophy 5

Program Goals, Definition, and Purpose 6

Student Identification Process 7

Referral and Phase I 8

Phase II, Eligibility Determination, Parent Notification and Homework Policy 9

Work Make-Up Policy 10

Annual Reassessment and Reinstatement Procedure 11

Instructional Management Program 12

Continuum of Services 13

Gifted Classroom 14

Aspects of Gifted Children 15

St. Martin Gifted Center 16-19Resources 20

2

Message from the Superintendent

Dear Parent,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Jackson County School District’s Gifted Program. We are pleased to have you and your child as participants in this outstanding program. Our district motto is “Raising the Standard” and truly this program provides our students an

3

opportunity to do just that. My observation leads me to believe that students in the gifted program are challenged beyond the core curriculum to higher levels of thinking and application of knowledge. It is truly an exciting educational experience.

Please feel free to contact your child’s school anytime you have questions or need assistance. In addition, the district office staff stands ready to assist you in any way possible. Have a great year!!

Sincerely,

Barry Amacker, Ed.D.SuperintendentJackson County School District

Gifted Programming County Administration228-826-1757

Lisa McCartney, Ph.D……………….Gifted Program Contact PersonLynda Van Winkle, M.Ed, NCC, NCSC.…........................Psychometrist

Jackson County School District Board of EducationKenneth A. Fountain, Chairman

Randall B. Turner, Vice ChairmanTroy Frisbie, Member

David A. Sims, MemberGlenn A. Dickerson, Member

Jack Pickett, Attorney

MISSIONThe mission of the Jackson County School District is to allow students that have been deemed intellectually gifted to reach their fullest potential based on their exceptional abilities. Students will be provided a differentiated program designed to address their individual needs. We will provide learning experiences through self-motivated discovery learning, and empower students with the knowledge and skills to create their own futures; therefore becoming contributors to a diverse and changing world.

4

PHILOSOPHYThe Jackson County School District is committed to an education program that recognizes individual student differences, abilities, interests, and needs. Our goal is to enrich the education of all students through events and activities designed to expose them to a variety of challenging and higher order critical and creative thinking experiences.

A multi-dimensional curriculum will take into consideration the interests and social/emotional needs of each student in order to encourage the development of the total individual and his/her relationship to the group. Methods, materials, and media used by the teacher will be varied and challenging in order to add dimension to thinking and to accommodate different learning styles. Providing students with enhanced differentiated instruction will enable us to nurture the diverse talents and abilities of the intellectually gifted student.

PROGRAM GOALSTo create a learning environment that facilitates and encourages thinking, creativity, metacognition, healthy relationships, appropriate expectations, understanding of self, the development of communication skills, and self-directed learning for students in grades two through sixth who have been identified as intellectually gifted. To offer the intellectually gifted a qualitatively different educational experience that is not available in the general education classroom.

To develop a differentiated program designed to address the needs

5

of the intellectually gifted student.

To provide intellectually gifted students with an opportunity to maximize their personal potential.

DEFINITION“Intellectually Gifted Children” shall mean those children and youth who are found to have an exceptionally high degree of intelligence as documented through the identification process.

PURPOSETo ensure that gifted children who demonstrate unusually high potential as described in the above definitions are identified and offered an appropriate education based upon their exceptional abilities. Because of their unusual capabilities, they require uniquely qualitatively different educational experiences not available in the regular classroom. These uniquely different programs are required to enable gifted students to realize their abilities and potential contributions to self and society.

STUDENT IDENTIFICATION PROCESSES The student identification processes are separated into six steps for the Intellectually Gifted category: The six steps are: referral, (LSC) review, parental permission for testing, assessment, assessment report, and the eligibility ruling by the LSC.

The Jackson County School District identification procedures shall consider the following:

The identification process shall consist of a combination of subjective and objective measures to determine eligibility for the gifted programs. No single evaluation method or instrument adequately identifies students who are gifted. Thus, a multi-factored identification process

6

must be followed to insure a fair evaluation of each individual student. The identification process shall provide an equitable opportunity for the inclusion of students who are culturally diverse, underachieving, disabled under IDEA guidelines, physically handicapped, ADD/ADHD, as well as students who exhibit classroom behavior such as extreme shyness, short attention spans, disruptiveness, continual questioning, and anxiety. Throughout the identification process, close attention and careful consideration shall be paid to all information available and collected on each individual student and how that information dictates the kinds of instruments and measures that should be used to correctly assess that student.

All instruments administered and measures must have been validated for the specific purpose for which they are being used. The assessment criteria and minimal acceptable criteria to be used shall be documented in writing in the district’s Gifted Education Program Proposal submitted to the Office of Gifted Education Programs at the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) and approved by the State Board of Education (SBE).

REFERRAL CRITERIAA student shall satisfy two of the following criteria at this level before moving forward in the identification process: group measure of intelligence that has been administered within the past twelve (12) months, with the local minimal acceptable criteria of 90 th percentile or higher; a published characteristics of giftedness measure, with the local minimal acceptable criteria In the superior range or at the 90 th percentile; existing measure of individual intelligence that has been administered within the past twelve (12) months, if warranted.

PHASE I ASSESSMENT CRITERIAA full scale score at or above the 90th percentile on a normed group measure of Intelligence is required at Phase I. In addition to a score at or above the 90th percentile on a normed group measure of intelligence, the student is also required to satisfy the minimal

7

acceptable criteria on any two of the following measures:

A score at or above the superior range on a normed characteristicsof giftedness checklist. A score in the superior range on a normed measure of creativity. A score in the superior range on a normed measure of leadership.

A student who has satisfied the minimal acceptable criteria shall move forward to the individual test of intelligence.

If minimum criteria is not met:A letter will be sent home to parents along with formal documentation of decision. Parents may schedule a conference should they wish to review the test results.

PHASE II ASSESSMENT CRITERIAOnce it has been determined that a student has satisfied minimal criteria on three measures from Phase I of assessment, the student shall move forward to the second phase of assessment, the individual test of intelligence. All individual tests of intelligence shall be administered by a licensed examiner. In no case will the examiner be related to the student being tested. The examiner shall review all available data on the student, whether or not it satisfies minimal identification criteria, and uses that information to select the most appropriate test of intelligence. No more than one individual test of intelligence shall be administered to the student without an appropriate waiting period between administrations. The student must score at or above the 90th percentile composite/full scale or the 90th percentile in order to satisfy eligibility criteria.

8

ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION Once the Assessment Report is finished, the LSC shall meet to review all data and determine if eligibility criteria has or has not been satisfied. The LSC shall rule that the student is or is not eligible for the intellectually gifted program.

PARENTAL NOTIFICATION District personnel shall notify in writing the parents of each student tested for the intellectually gifted program about the assessment results by means of an assessment report.

HOMEWORK/CLASSWORKAs outlined in the Regulation for the Gifted Education Programs in Mississippi 2006, gifted students in grades 2-6 may not be required to make-up class work missed when they are scheduled to be in the gifted classroom. Gifted students shall be held accountable for demonstrating mastery of concepts and information on regularly scheduled tests. Intellectually gifted students may or may not consistently perform on classroom activities including graded daily work and tests at the 90%ile or above. The best predictor of intellectually ability is their ability to reason and use information in unusual ways, not their classroom performance.

TIME AND MAKE-UP PROCEDURES FOR STUDENTS IN GIFTED/TALENTED PROGRAM

It shall be the policy of this school district to comply with the guidelines of the Mississippi Department of Education for the Gifted/Talented program. Therefore, the following procedures will be utilized: The student will be taken from the regular classroom a minimum of five hours a week. Scheduling difficulties dictate that different procedures may be followed. These procedures include but are not limited to the following: one hour daily to be during a designated period or a floating hour, block periods of time divided between morning and afternoon or floating block periods. The size of each class in grades 2-6 will be in the range of 4-9 students. Once a class reaches 10, or more students, the integrity of the program could be negatively impacted. If a daily grade is taken during that hour, a G is placed in the grade book. The student’s grades are then averaged by the total number of grades actually taken. No penalty is given for having a “G” rather than a grade.

9

When the regular classroom teacher introduces new materials while the student is in the Gifted class, the teacher will provide the student with the information in the form of a handout or by posting the page numbers covered in a designated place in the classroom. The Gifted student must accept the challenge of reviewing and learning the information given to him or her. The student must be responsible for checking the designated area for posted information or hand-out information. The student must learn this information independently as he or she will be responsible for mastery when the content is tested. Actual paper work handed in during the student’s Gifted period will not be required of the gifted student. Gifted class is a required part of the student’s academic day. Students may not be held in the regular class until work is completed. Students may not be held from the Gifted class as a punishment for behavior, incomplete assignments, etc.

Withholding permission for a student to attend the gifted classes should not be considered as a disciplinary measure. Failure to complete WINGS class assignments can be used as grounds for dismissal from the program.

ANNUAL REASSESSMENTA committee shall meet at least annually to reassess each gifted student’s continuation in the program. The committee must include at least the student’s teacher of the gifted and a designated administrative representative.

Since participation in the gifted program in an entitlement under law, the student should remain in the program as long as they are being successful in the program. Grades and/or success in the regular classroom should not be considered as a reason for removal from the gifted program.

In the event a student has difficulty keeping up with the regular classroom work, a conference will be held with the parent(s), classroom teacher(s), teacher of the gifted, and the student to discuss the problem and to determine an appropriate course of action. The conference and plan of action will be documented and follow-up conferences will be held as needed.

10

If the committee recommends that a student be removed from the gifted program, the student’s parents must be notified and given an opportunity to discuss the decision before the student is removed. Should the parents not agree to the removal of the student, the local district shall grant the parents a hearing. The hearing process is detailed in Jackson County School District Board Policy IDDD.

REINSTATEMENT PROCEDURESStudents will be considered for reinstatement in the gifted program at the request of the parents and with the recommendation of the classroom teachers. Consideration and arrangements for reinstatement in the program will be made through the LSC, with parent(s) in attendance, and documented in the minutes. Parent’s signatures on the minutes will provide documentation of parental permission to reinstatement of the student in the program.

INSTRUCTIONAL MANAGEMENT PLAN

Students in the WINGS program work under specific Instructional Management Plan (IMP) objectives and time frames. The IMP is compellation of six process skills and 42 objectives. These process skills are organized by scope and sequence and introduced, developed, and extended over a period of time. The goal of instruction is to guide students to develop higher order critical thinking skill that transcend curricula.

In accordance with the Mississippi Department of Education recommendations, the Intellectually Gifted Program is evaluated annually by a variety of stakeholders (parents, students, administrators, and teachers) through a survey process. The information gathered is used to improve and strengthen the program and to assist in providing quality programming for Intellectually Gifted Students. The Instructional management Plan is reviewed and updated annually based upon the results of the gifted program evaluation. A copy of the Jackson County School District IMP can be located on the district website.

11

Please visit your child’s school library for more information regarding the gifted child and gifted programming. Each library contains a “Gifted Resource” notebook, maintained by your child’s gifted teacher, which contains valuable resource information.

Continuum of Services

Grades 7-12

In order to provide a continuum of services for high ability students in the secondary schools, a variety of advanced level and honors classes are offered. Most of these courses are available to all students who meet the criteria, including those who have been identified as gifted. Students may also enroll in Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College to earn elective or dual-enrollment credit while still in high school.

Seventh graders, who qualify based on grades and teacher recommendations, are offered the opportunity to take pre-algebra. Eighth graders, who qualify based on grades and teacher recommendations, are offered the opportunity to take Algebra I at all Jackson County School District middle schools. One of the Jackson County School District Middle Schools offers accelerated English to eighth graders.

High School Students are offered the opportunity to enroll in accelerated classes, advanced placement classes, and honors classes based on grades and teacher recommendations. The accelerated classes offered are: English 1, English 2, English 3, U.S. History, and

12

World History. The advanced placement classes offered are: Government 1 and 2, Calculus, English 4, US History 1 and 2, World History 1& 2, Biology, and Chemistry. Honors classes offered include: US History, Government, World History, and Geometry.

What You Should See in Your Child’s Gifted Classroom

Focus on specific and unique identified needs of the gifted studentsFocus on the identified learning styles of the studentFocus on CREATING new ideas and productsFocus on analysis, synthesis, and evaluationFocus on discovery, open-endedness, and reasoningFocus on specific interests of the gifted childFocus in identification of real problems, real investigation, and real audiencesFocus on self-understandingFocus on self-directed learningFocus on self-initiated, lifelong learningFocus on creativityFocus on process skillsFocus on MetacognitionFocus on development of individual strengths and individual interestsFocus on small group and individual investigations

What You Should Not See in the Gifted ClassroomMore of the same kind of work from the regular education programFocus in the use of activity books and/or the “worksheet” of the dayFocus on recall of facts, information, and knowledgeFocus on pre-packed units and/or mini-units that have no relevance

13

to the needs of the gifted students being servedFocus on hobbies and interests of the teacher of the giftedFocus on competitions and educational gamesFocus on cookbook approaches to classroom activitiesFocus on “things” simply because they are not covered in the regular education programTraditional classroom settingFocus on a single learning style

Adapted from “What You Should Not See and What You Should See in the Gifted Classroom”, by Conrad Castle, PhD. Past coordinator of MDE Gifted Education

Characteristics of Gifted Children: Positive Aspects and Difficulties

There are many commonly cited characteristics of giftedness. One cannot expect every child to have all of these, but it is helpful for adults to be aware of them. In certain conditions, we may see a characteristic as being positive. In another light, it may appear to present a difficulty.

Characteristics Positive Aspects DifficultiesPerfectionism Works hard to do a good job.

Pays attention to detail.May have unrealistic expectations, “perceived failure”, super-sensitivity to criticism, work is unfinished because it never seems good enough

Independence, nonconformity

Thinks for self, does not need approval of group to act.

May have a seemingly rebellious or disruptive nature, tend to challenge & question indiscreetly, resent the constraining structure of the classroom.

Perseverance Strong power of concentration. Stays with an activity until it is completed.

May be resistance to interruption or to a schedule, inflexible.

Originality Comes up with new and creative ideas.

Behavior may be “off task”. Desire to investigate and invent for oneself. Not motivated by traditional textbook approach to learning, rote learning, excessive group instructions, and teacher control.

Ability to Analyze Strong perception of relationships between ideas and events. Seeks to interpret and understand what

May tens to dominate discussions or activities or to resist curriculum & skill work that is repetitive. May

14

is learned and experienced. become quite skillful in manipulating and controlling others.

Verbal precociousness

Able to effectively articulate thoughts.

May have difficulty restraining desire to talk and develop listening skills and habits.

Curiosity Strong desire to learn & explore May ask so many questions that it becomes annoying to others.

Sense of humor Strong wit & unique way of looking at life.

May be the class clown.Prufrock.com 2/5/2005

St. Martin Center For Gifted Excellence

Jackson County School District Elementary and Middle School Handbooks

Students will abide by the policies and procedures as outlined in the Jackson County School District Elementary and Middle School Handbooks. In addition, the following procedures will be followed when students are in attendance at the St. Martin Center for Gifted Excellence.

Check-in and Check-outsAll student check-in and check outs must be made at the student’s home school. After securing the proper notification from the home school, the parent must present the verification to the Gifted Center Office.

Medical ProceduresFever

When school officials are aware that a child’s temperature is 100 degrees, an attempt will be made to contact the parent/guardian. If the temperature reaches 101 degrees, a school official will request that the parent/guardian pick up the child after checking out at the home school. This procedure is followed to insure the safety of the child and the well being of the other students

Medications

15

NO STUDENT will be allowed to bring medicine to school.

In the event a medication is brought to the school by a student, the medicine will be immediately confiscated and the student may be referred to the building administrator for disciplinary action.

 THE PARENT/GUARDIAN SHALL:

1. Provide the school with a health plan for their child who has a special medical problem. (i.e. allergic reactions, asthma, etc.)

2. Present a medical consent form signed by the parent to the principal or his/her designee.

3. Bring medication in the original prescription bottle properly labeled by a registered pharmacist as prescribed by law. The medication should be given to the school official at the Gifted Center responsible for administering the medication to the child. Pills will be counted in the presence of the parent. The number of pills received shall be documented. Prescription liquids should be documented as to amounts of cc’s and ml’s. Medications will not be given after the expiration date.

4. The school will administer only the over-the-counter medicine provided to the school by the parent/guardian or for which the parent/guardian gives consent for the school to administer. Medical personnel licensed by the State of MS employed by the school district must have a written physician’s order to administer medication to the student.

5. Forgotten doses of medication which were to be given at home may not be administered at school.

6. If a physician orders a dosage other than indicated on the label, the physician’s orders would be required. An updated prescription bottle will be required at the time the new

16

prescription is filled.

7. Documentation from the doctor must be provided if the child is to be given sample medications.

A “Medical Release/Consent Form” may be requested to allow communication between the medical provider and the school nurse or designee.Legal Ref: MS Code 37-7-301(i); 41-23-37

Guidelines Mississippi State Board of Health.

The Jackson County School District reserves the right to refuse to administer any medications to students when circumstances warrant this action. Such circumstances might include reaction, response, incomplete instructions for the administration of the medication, non-compliance by parents/guardian with school system policy for the administering of medications or other extenuating circumstances. 

Medical EmergenciesIn the event of an emergency during which a child may need to be transported to the hospital, the school will attempt to contact the parent/guardian. If the parent/guardian cannot be contacted, the school will have the child transported to the hospital and will continue to try and contact the parent/guardian. Any expense incurred will be the responsibility of the parent/guardian

Phone UseStudents will not be permitted to call home, except in an emergency and under supervision of the administrator or Gifted Center secretary.

Student Emergency InformationA student’s personal information should be kept up to date at all times. The parent’s correct home and work telephone numbers, parent’s place of employment, home address, etc., is extremely important in helping the student in an emergency situation. Please inform the

17

school office in writing whenever there is a change. 

Emergency ProceduresIn the event of an emergency, all students and staff at the Gifted Center will be transported by bus to St. Martin Middle School.

Lunch InformationStudents in grades 2, 3, and 6 will be eat lunch at St. Martin Middle School while attending the Gifted Center. Students in grades 4 and grade 5 will eat lunch at St. Martin Upper Elementary while attending the Gifted Center. Students will eat prior to the regular lunch rotation at each site.

Notes: 

18

Resources

http://www.gifted.uconn.eduNational Research Center on the Gifted and Talented

http://www.gifteddevelopment.com Gifted Development Center, Dr. Linda Silverman

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org Information for parents, students, teachers,

and administrators

http://www.nagc.org National Association for Gifted Children

http://www.magc.org Mississippi Association for Gifted Children

http://www.prufrock.com Books for teachers, parents, and students

http://www.giftedbooks.com Books for parents, teachers, and students

http://www.gifted.org The Gifted Child Society

http://www.criticalthinking.comBooks for teachers and students

http://www.usm.edu/~giftedFrances Karnes Center for Gifted Studies

University of Southern Mississippi

19