Gifted Services at NAPLS

Gifted learners demonstrate a diverse range of academic and social/ emotional requirements that may be supported through a variety of service options.  Our Gifted Services Model consists of a combination of the following components, ranging from serving all students to fewer students based on academic need: differentiated instruction, consultation with a Gifted Intervention Specialist, guidance, advanced course work, classroom cluster grouping, small group services in math and/or reading, and acceleration.  

I. All Students Identified as Gifted
	Grades
Differentiated Curriculum	K-12
Cluster Grouping	1-12
Flexible Grouping	K-12
Support from Gifted Intervention Specialist	K-12
Counseling Support	K-12

 

Classroom Cluster Grouping

Cluster grouping is a strategy of grouping identified gifted students together in a classroom or course. Through cluster grouping, advanced learners can receive differentiated instruction and curriculum as appropriate, from the regular classroom teacher. Gifted students can better understand and accept their learning differences if there are other students with similar needs in the class. Cluster grouping is a core component of effective, research-based gifted services.

Differentiated Instruction and Gifted Intervention Specialist Support

New Albany Schools strives to provide differentiated instruction in the regular classroom. High performing and students, identified as gifted, will work on meaningful lessons with their regular classroom teachers. Differentiated work is provided to students based on the student’s interests, needs and abilities. Teachers use formative and informative assessment data to determine the knowledge base of the students and provide alternative activities that broaden or deepen the lesson, or promote higher level thinking skills. The Gifted Intervention Specialists will consult with the classroom teachers as well as assist in collaboration with students, parents and teachers to ensure that student work is appropriately challenging.

II.  Some Students Identified as Gifted
	Grades
Content Acceleration	K-12
Curriculum Compacting	K-12
Small Group Instruction (Gifted Specialist)	1-6
Co-teaching Cluster Group (Gifted Specialist)	7-8
Discussion Support Groups/Study Center	7-8
Honors Courses	7-12
AP (Advanced Placement) Courses	9-12
College Credit Plus Program	9-12

Small Group Math and/or Reading Services

Services in math and/or reading are provided from a gifted specialist and/or classroom teacher with ongoing professional development in the area of gifted education. These services provide opportunities for critical and creative thinking, problem solving, and independent learning through rigorous compacted lessons. Small group services are provided in the regular classroom and/or gifted classroom setting.

Goals include growth of personal and academic self-discipline, pursuit of unique investigations, development of problem-solving techniques, development of realistic and healthy concepts of self and others, willingness to assume leadership and responsibility, and development of communication skills. Students are placed in a learning environment in which they are encouraged to go beyond the known and obvious, where process is emphasized over factual learning, and scholarly exploration is expected and facilitated.

Advanced Course Work

At the middle school and high school levels, there are multiple opportunities for gifted learners to pursue advanced curriculum through a variety of course options. Middle school students may choose from a wide range of unified arts, world languages, and math options to match their interests and abilities. High school students are able to participate in a large number of Honors, AP, and dual enrollment options. These courses meet the academic needs of gifted learners in a mixed ability classroom setting.

III.  Few Students Identified as Gifted with High Academic Need
	Grades
Early Entrance to Kindergarten or First	K-1
Whole Grade Acceleration	K-8
Single Subject Acceleration	1-8

Acceleration

The most intensive level of gifted service offered is acceleration. Students may be placed in above grade level content through an evaluation process and team decision. Acceleration opportunities exist at all levels and include early entrance, subject acceleration, whole grade acceleration, or early graduation. This research-based service allows high ability students to engage in academic challenges appropriate to individual needs and overall development.

All children learn best when they are challenged at a level for which they are ready. The challenge for schools is to find the optimal match between the child and the appropriate learning environment. For intellectually advanced students, one option to meeting this match is early enrollment into kindergarten or first grade. There is research to support the fact that, if carefully selected for early enrollment, students do very well both academically and socially. Early enrollment enables children to establish solid relationships with peers and avoids the “holes” in curriculum that grade-skipping or other forms of acceleration may cause. The greatest benefits of this form of acceleration are that it provides greater intellectual stimulation than a program that satisfies other children their age, and it promises a better match with their readiness for challenge and growth.

Candidates for early enrollment should be students who perform or show the potential to perform at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared to others of their age or experience and whose unique needs cannot be met in the classroom with applied academic differentiation strategies. Further, students who have attended preschool are likely to be better candidates for early enrollment since these children have already experienced a structured routine, learned to share adult attention with other children, and have developed group social skills.

According to the guidelines set forth from the State of Ohio, the standard minimum age for enrollment is five for kindergarten or six for first grade.  In New Albany, a student must reach that age on or before August 1st of the year of enrollment. If a child does not meet the standard minimum age by August 1st, a parent can request that the child be evaluated for early entrance. Click here to view the entrance requirement policy of New Albany-Plain Local Schools.

Students must be carefully screened and selected to help ensure a successful acceleration. Therefore, the process for determining if a child should be successful in acceleration must be thorough and complete. To help ensure success, we will:

1. Use a team decision-making process involving parent(s) or guardian(s). The Early Enrollment Team will include at least one teacher from the kindergarten and/or first grade level, the school psychologist, the gifted specialist, and the building principal.
    
2. Use a variety of instruments to evaluate and collect information about the child.
    
3. On condition of acceptance, admit the early enrollment candidate into the appropriate grade for a trial basis of six weeks. At the end of this trial period, the child’s performance will be evaluated and discussed by the Early Enrollment Team. Students who have been thoroughly screened and carefully selected should adapt to early enrollment easily; however, sometimes situations warrant reconsideration.
    
4. Applications will be available starting early April and are due in early May. The students whose applications have been received by this deadline will be assessed during the month of May. Any applications received after the due date will be reviewed and those children will be assessed during the first month of school. If an application is received after the start of the school year, the child will be evaluated in a prompt manner.

Procedure for Early Enrollment into Kindergarten or First Grade

1. Parents initiate the acceleration process by contacting the Early Learning Center office at (614) 413-8700 and requesting to speak with the school counselor. In response to this request, the parents are given an Early Enrollment application packet. This packet contains (1) a letter with Early Enrollment information and guidelines, (2) the Early Enrollment Application, and (3) permission forms for testing and for obtaining information from the child’s preschool. The parent is requested to complete the Early Enrollment Application and the permission form and bring them or mail them to the school.
    
2. Once the school receives the completed packet, an appointment is made for the child to be assessed by a district staff member.
    
3. All data collected from the assessments will be entered on the IOWA Acceleration Scale. The Early Enrollment team will review all information and data collected. A determination will be made if the child would benefit from Early Enrollment.
    
4. The parents will be notified in writing of the district's determination.

To a large degree, the needs of gifted children are the same as those of other children. The same developmental stages occur, though often at a younger age. Some needs and problems, however, appear more often among gifted children.

It is helpful to conceptualize needs of gifted children in terms of those that arise because of the interaction with the environmental setting (e.g., family, school, or cultural milieu) and those that arise internally because of the very characteristics of the gifted child. Several intellectual and personality attributes characterize gifted children and should be noted at the outset. These characteristics may be strengths, but potential problems also may be associated with them.

Possible Problems that may be Associated with the Characteristic Strengths of Gifted Children

Attributes of Strength	Attributes of Challenge
Acquires/retains information quickly Inquisitive; searches for significance Intrinsic motivation Enjoys problem solving; able to conceptualize, abstract, synthesize Seeks cause-effect relations Emphasizes truth, equity, and fair play Seeks to organize things and people Large facile vocabulary; advanced broad information High expectations of self and others Creative/inventive; likes new way of doing things Intense concentration; long attention span and persistence in areas of interest Sensitivity, empathy; desire to be accepted by others High energy, alertness, eagerness Independent; prefers individualized work; reliant on self Diverse interests and abilities; versatility Strong sense of humor	Impatient with others; dislikes basic routine Asks embarrassing questions; excessive interests Strong-willed; resists direction Resists routine practice; questions teaching procedures Dislikes unclear/illogical areas (e.g. traditions of feelings) Worries about humanitarian concerns Constructs complicated rules; often seen as bossy May use words to manipulate; bored with school and age-peers Intolerant perfectionist; may become depressed May be seen as disruptive and out of step Neglects duties or people during periods of focus; resists interruption; stubbornness Sensitivity to criticism or peer rejection Frustration with inactivity; may be seen as hyperactive May reject parent or peer input; nonconformity May appear disorganized or scattered; frustrated over lack of time Peers may misunderstand humor; may become "class clown" for attention
	– Adapted from Clark (1992) and Seagoe (1974)

These characteristics are seldom inherently problematic by themselves. More often, combinations of these characteristics lead to behavior patterns such as:

• Uneven Development: Motor skills, especially fine-motor, often lag behind cognitive conceptual abilities, particularly in preschool gifted children (Webb & Kleine, 1993). These children may see in their "mind's eye" what they want to do, construct, or draw; however, motor skills do not allow them to achieve the goal. Intense frustration and emotional outbursts may result.
• Peer Relations: As preschoolers and in primary grades, gifted children (particularly highly gifted) attempt to organize people and things. Their search for consistency emphasizes "rules," which they attempt to apply to others. They invent complex games and try to organize their playmates, often prompting resentment in their peers.
• Excessive Self-Criticism: The ability to see possibilities and alternatives may imply that youngsters see idealistic images of what they might be, and simultaneously berate themselves because they see how they are falling short of an ideal (Adderholt-Elliott, 1989; Powell & Haden, 1984; Whitmore, 1980).
• Perfectionism: The ability to see how one might ideally perform, combined with emotional intensity, leads many gifted children to unrealistically high expectations of themselves. In high ability children, perhaps 15-20% may be hindered significantly by perfectionism at some point in their academic careers, and even later in life.
• Avoidance of Risk-Taking: In the same way the gifted youngsters see the possibilities, they also see potential problems in undertaking those activities. Avoidance of potential problems can mean avoidance of risk-taking, and may result in underachievement (Whitmore, 1980).
• Multi Potentiality: Gifted children often have several advanced capabilities and may be involved in diverse activities to an almost frantic degree. Though seldom a problem for the child, this may create problems for the family, as well as quandaries when decisions must be made about career selection (Kerr, 1985; 1991).
• Gifted Children with Disabilities: Physical disabilities can prompt social and emotional difficulties. Intellect may be high, but motor difficulties such as cerebral palsy may prevent expression of potential. Visual or hearing impairment or a learning disability may cause frustration. Gifted children with disabilities tend to evaluate themselves more on what they are unable to do than on their substantial abilities (Whitmore & Maker, 1985).

Problems from Outside Sources

Lack of understanding or support for gifted children, and sometimes actual ambivalence or hostility, creates significant problems (Webb & Kleine, 1993). Some common problem patterns are:

• School Culture and Norms: Gifted children, by definition, are "unusual" when compared with same-age children--at least in cognitive abilities--and require different educational experiences (Kleine & Webb, 1992). Schools, however, generally group children by age. The child often has a dilemma--conform to the expectations for the average child or be seen as nonconformist.
• Expectations by Others: Gifted children--particularly the more creative--do not conform. Nonconformists violate or challenge traditions, rituals, roles, or expectations. Such behaviors often prompt discomfort in others. The gifted child, sensitive to others' discomfort, may then try to hide abilities.
• Peer Relations: Who is a peer for a gifted child? Gifted children need several peer groups because their interests are so varied. Their advanced levels of ability may steer them toward older children. They may choose peers by reading books (Halsted, 1994). Such children are often thought of as "loners." The conflict between fitting in and being an individual may be quite stressful.
• Depression: Depression is usually being angry at oneself or at a situation over which one has little or no control. In some families, continual evaluation and criticism of performance--one's own and others--is a tradition. Any natural tendency to self-evaluate likely will be inflated. Depression and academic underachievement may be increased.

Not all gifted students have emotional problems, and when they do, these problems generally resemble those to which other children are prone. However, researchers have discovered, and New Albany Plain Local Schools realize, that gifted children sometimes have special emotional needs that come with simply being bright. In response to these unique social-emotional needs, below are some of the services provided:

Circle of Friends

Circle of Friends is a “lunch bunch” support group for gifted children in which the students meet monthly for discussion about topics that are unique to gifted children. The selection process includes a superior cognitive identification in conjunction with established need. Circle of Friends is provided to gifted students in 4th grade through middle school.

Girls Group

Girls Group is a middle school peer discussion group for adolescent girls which promotes self-confidence, positive relationships, the avoidance of gender bias and negative peer pressure, while providing skills to help them make appropriate choices.

Individual Counseling

Individual Counseling services are available for gifted children. The therapeutic nature of school counseling is intended to help students become more aware of themselves and others, learn coping skills, establish goals and plans of action, and ultimately assist children in becoming more effective and efficient learners.