Gifted Services in Middle School

The GT service model for 6th-8th grade students is an advanced academics model. Students have the opportunity to enroll in honors level courses in all four core content areas. These courses are designed to provide academic rigor, deep and more complex content, and a more accelerated pace than on-level courses. Honors level courses will help your student develop necessary skills for future placement in Honors, Advanced Placement (AP), and/or Dual Credit coursework. In addition, identified GT students are able to enroll in both science and social studies Honors + courses. It's worth mentioning, that beginning in the middle school years, students and parents will hear the words honors, honors plus, advanced academics, dual credit, AP and the like more so than the word "GATE", as utilized in their elementary years. These various options are the GT services for our secondary students.

Unless your student has been consistently struggling in one of these content areas for an extended period of time, the GT Department recommends that your GATE student enrolls in these honors courses in addition to the Honors + Science and Social Studies courses.

Details regarding Honors + coursework and grade level variations are below:

Honors + courses are designed to be self-contained GT course options available to identified GATE students at middle school. Honors + courses are available for Science and Social Studies. Honors + courses provide opportunities for identified GATE students to spend part of their school day with other identified GATE students. The Honors Curriculum that is already in place is compacted, allowing the GATE students the opportunity to move through the course at an accelerated place that is aligned to their abilities. A Texas Performance Standards Project (TPSP) will be embedded as a part of the course curriculum as well as other curriculum modifications to meet the needs of gifted learners. In addition, students will examine a variety of "Habitudes", which are habits + attitudes that allow gifted individuals to invent, create, collaborate, and solve problems. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in a "lived experience" that aligns with the curriculum in each content area.

Lived Experiences—commonly known as field trips—are an important part of our instructional program and are thoughtfully designed to align with grade-level content and learning standards. These experiences allow students to extend their classroom learning through real-world connections that deepen understanding and engagement. While we strive to offer at least one Lived Experience per grade for each Honors + course, there are times when opportunities are influenced by factors such as class size, funding considerations, venue availability, and the school year calendar. Even when scheduling is not possible, our commitment to meaningful, hands-on learning remains a priority, and we continue to explore enriching alternatives whenever needed. Below are examples of previous experiences:

6th Grade:

Courage - the ability to enter the unknown by confronting challenges, taking risks, and overcoming fears.

Perseverance - the ability to sustain interest, effort, and commitment in any circumstance that life presents.

7th Grade:

Adaptability - the ability to cope with change, to recognize its positive and negative aspects, and to manage one’s actions to address the nature and scope of change.

Self-Awareness - the ability to use a system of checks and balances to understand ourselves and

to make conscious choices and deliberate decisions about the direction and quality of our lives.

8th Grade:

Curiosity - a mindset that enables individuals to explore their internal and external worlds by asking questions, seeking answers, and engaging in a wide range of personal and interpersonal activities.

Imagination - the mind’s ability to constantly create images containing thoughts and memories ignited from our senses.

In order for your child to maintain their GT (Gifted & Talented) designation in Birdville ISD during the secondary school years, the student must be enrolled in AT LEAST one advanced course (Honors, Honors +, Advanced Placement (AP), and/or Dual Credit each year.

While each campus may have its own procedures for scheduling, course selection, and related processes, the general practice is that current middle school students identified as Gifted and Talented (GT) by Birdville ISD are automatically enrolled in both Honors + Science and Honors + Social Studies for the following school year, unless an Honors-only course is selected. In the event of an unavoidable scheduling conflict between an Honors + course and an elective your student wishes to take, parents may choose to opt their student out of the Honors + course by contacting the counselor at their child’s middle school campus.