DCSD Advanced Academics & Gifted Ed

Equity of Access

Opportunity ~ Agency ~ Empowerment

Vision

We seek out, surface, and nurture the potential in each student from all races, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, gender identities, and sexual orientations.

Mission

We partner with staff, students, families, and our community to design/refine/implement equitable and culturally responsive systems of identification and programming for high potential/advanced/gifted students from all demographic groups in all schools.

Email: hagroff@dcsdk12.org
Website: dcsdk12.org/gifted-education
Location: 620 Wilcox St, Castle Rock, CO 80104
Phone: 303-387-0191

We are thrilled to be back and engaging with students, staff, and you, in person! The first month of the school year has provided us many opportunities to connect and collaborate in all schools across the district. As we transition back to a new normal, we remain committed to supporting ACCESS, AGENCY, and EMPOWERMENT to and for learning opportunities that surface and nurture the potential in each of our students.

We appreciate your continued communication and collaboration as we partner to support your children.

With gratitude,

Natasha Langjahr Straayer

By Lisa Van Gemert from GiftedGuru.com

I’ve never met a parent of any kind of kid who felt that they knew all of the answers. This isn’t a new issue. In the 17th Century John Wilmot said, “Before I got married I had six theories about raising children; now, I have six children and no theories.” When your child is different from what is typical, all the normal parental angst and confusion is intensified. Not that raising typical kids is a cake walk. I’m definitely not saying that. When I meet parents all over the world, I find that they all have similar worries about raising their gifted children.

Continue reading article HERE.

Every neighborhood school has a Gifted and Talented Facilitator who will be collaborating with you, your child and your child's teacher to finalize ALP goals before September 30. In the spring, GT Facilitators gathered information from your child's previous teacher to provide insight into areas in which challenge and growth might be translated into goals for this school year. This month, your school's GT Facilitator will be reaching out to gather additional information and help create academic and social emotional goals for the year. A copy of the collaborative ALP will be provided to you.

Our first quarterly DCGEAC meeting is scheduled virtually Wednesday, September 22, 4:30-6:30 P.M. Meetings are open to the public so if you are interested, you are welcome! Send an email to Heather Groff at hagroff@dcsdk12.org to receive the link.

Mission: To gather, communicate, and disseminate information to stakeholders, as well as advocate, influence, support, and ensure accountability for quality programming for gifted learners in Douglas County School District.

Purpose:

• Provide information, support, and resources to empower students, families, and educators toward successful lifelong learning/development through a variety of outreach methods, opportunities, and activities.

• Serve in an advisory capacity to DCSD regarding new policies, trends, programming, and concerns.

• Provide a collaborative voice to advocate for gifted students, policies, programming, and issues and act as a liaison between families/community and DCSD.

We have parents with gifted children that represent each of our feeders in elementary and secondary schools, charter schools in each region and homeschool. We are also seeking secondary students from each region to add their voices. Please see the openings below and let us know if you are interested by filling out the self nomination form HERE. Please email Heather Groff at hagroff@dcsdk12.org with any questions. We look forward to partnering with you!

Castle View Feeder: Elementary

Chaparral Feeder: Elementary, Secondary, Discovery

Douglas County Feeder: Elementary

Highlands Ranch Feeder: Elementary

Legend Feeder: currently filled

Mountain Vista Feeder: Elementary

Ponderosa Feeder: Elementary

Rock Canyon Feeder: currently filled

ThunderRidge Feeder: Elementary

Charter: currently filled

Secondary Students (grades 6-12):

Castle Rock (DCHS, CVHS)

Highlands Ranch (HRHS, MVHS, RCHS, TRHS)

Parker (CHS, LHS, PHS)

Charter

The Douglas County School District Elementary Discovery Program is designed to meet the needs of gifted elementary school students who require intensity of instruction and acceleration beyond what can reasonably be expected from regular school gifted programming.

If you think your child may need this level of gifted programming, please find out more on our website linked HERE.

The Discovery application process for the 2022-2023 school year opens September 23, 2021.

Douglas County Association for Gifted and Talented (DCAGT) is an affiliate of the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented (CAGT), which is an affiliate of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC).

DCAGT's mission is to:

1) foster an understanding of all gifted children, and any subcategories of giftedness (including twice exceptional (2e) children), and their exceptional needs and

2) advocate for gifted children’s needs through partnerships with educators, parents, administrators, legislators, organizations and the general public, and

3) support the educational and social/emotional well-being of gifted children and their families and caregivers.

We do not sell anything, and we do not provide legal advice, educational services, or mental health counseling.

Find our current newsletter here. Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Douglas County Association for Gifted and Talented (DCAGT) is our district's GT parent advocacy group. We want to reach and connect the gifted community with opportunities to share experiences and exchange information. We hope that you will join us in our community events.

We will be holding our first DCAGT Facebook Live on Monday, September 20th from 6 to 7 P.M. We will be talking about Advocating for Your Gifted or 2E Child. Please join us on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel to join the conversation. You can even send questions to info@dcagt.org prior to the event and you can indicate to you if they prefer to remain anonymous.

SAVE the DATE! Virtual GT 101

Monday, October 4, 5:00 to 7:30 P.M.

Whether you have a newly identified gifted student or are a veteran GT parent, there will be something for everyone at this event! We will have an overview provided by Natasha Straayer, Director of Advanced Academics and Gifted Education, as well as break out sessions centered around topics important to parents of gifted children.

More information coming soon!

We are back! We have a brand new season with more amazing gifted experts from Colorado, the nation and around the world. And if you missed any conversations, or want to view them again, we have archived Season 1 for your convenience. We hope you can tune in each week on Tuesdays to our Facebook Live page for our Conversations with CAGT live at 5:00!

September 7th – Leon Garber – Existential Thinking and Giftedness

September 14th – Brendan Mahan – Rejection Sensitivity

September 21st – Emily Mofield and Megan Parker Peters – Building Tenacity and Resilience through Social-Emotional Learning

Archived webinars from Season 2:

• Jennifer Cassell, Paula McGuire, Colleen Urlik – Legislative Affairs – 8/3/2021
• Michelle Frazier Trotman Scott – Relevance Realized – 8/10/2021
• Mark Hess – Is Your Gifted Child Thriving? – 8/17/2021
• Student Panel – Student Voices: Hopes and Dreams for Gifted Education – 8/24/2021
• Shelagh Gallagher – NAGC Update – 8/31/2021

You can also watch the recording of archived webinars from Season 1 HERE.

This year’s National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Convention is right here in Colorado!

The convention takes place on November 11-14 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora. In addition to four days of expert speakers and dozens of breakout sessions and special sessions, there will also be pre-convention workshops (separate registration required). Click here for information and to register.

Schools can often use help to provide after school enrichment opportunities before or after school. Does your school offer clubs or activities that are important to your child or follow your own passion and expertise? Enrichment isn't limited to gifted students but they may be the catalyst for a new club or activity that can bring like-minded children together and offer opportunities for all. The options are endless but here are a few to get you thinking: chess club/team, hands on science, math teams, book clubs/competition, Lego club, DI, and many more! Talk with your GT Facilitator, your parent organizations and your friends to see how you can help bring meaningful enrichment you not only your child's life but also to the lives of others! Here are a few of our favorites!