Gifted & Talented Education

Advanced Learning Programs and Services (ALPS) focuses on providing services for students who have qualified for gifted services and supporting classroom teachers who have high achieving and high ability learners.

ALPS is a part of the department of Advanced Learning Services Department. These are both a part of the Teaching and Learning Department.

The Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted/Talented Students is used to provide guidance to districts on implementing gifted services in Texas. It states that gifted services provide "self-directed learning, thinking, research, and communication" and that the students identified for these services are "advanced in relation to students of similar age, experience, and environment." Students must qualify for services based on quantitative data such as test scores as well as qualitative data such as referral information.

The most current research shows that existing identification practices, even nonverbal measures designed to identify around linguistic and cultural barriers, do a poor job of finding gifted students in underrepresented populations. The best suggestions from the field are to use universal screening processes with nationally-normed tests such as CogAT to ensure psychometric soundness but to identify students for services with campus or district-level norms to better identify a gifted population as a whole.

Because a school district is tasked with educating students, gifted services are provided to students who have instructional needs beyond the scope of the general education classroom. Sometimes that means being clustered with other gifted identified students. Sometimes it means having more complexity or rigor added to the core curriculum through enrichment and extension. Other time, it means students show a need to receive additional services in a different setting with an Advanced Learning Teacher. Finally, some students need acceleration of up to two years in all the core areas of instruction and they may need Responsive Acceleration Pathways to ensure they are challenged appropriately.

In elementary school, where students spend most of their time in the general education classroom and GT-specific subject matter courses do not exist, the best recommendation from the research is a cluster grouping model to lessen the burden on teachers and to maximize the instructional time for all kids. For some students, combining clustering with pullout services is needed to ensure they receive the needed level of instructional support.

Elementary

• GT2 students identified for gifted services are clustered together as part of the Total School Cluster Grouping Model. These students are pulled by the Advanced Learning Teacher 30-45 minutes per week for strengths-focused, TEKS-based services.
• GT3 students are also clustered. They participate in two hours of interdisciplinary services each week.
• RAP Students progress through curriculum at a faster and more personalized pace than their current grade peers completing up to 8th grade content by the end of 6th grade.

Secondary

The sheer number of options in secondary courses is quite a change coming out of elementary school. A child identified for GT services in elementary school will remain identified through their time in RISD and will be qualified for at least one GT course through their senior year. All students, including GT identified students, can challenge themselves by enrolling in an advanced or AP course.

Our middle school and junior high GT and advanced students benefit from curriculum taught at a faster pace and with deeper, more complex thinking than may be required in on-level classes. GT and advanced classes adhere to grade-level TEKS and the RISD curriculum. Middle school/junior high gifted and advanced courses empower students through increased opportunities for vocabulary development, student discourse, open-ended tasks, and projects designed to spark creative and critical thinking. GT and advanced students connect learning across contents and consider the purpose, place, and possibility of their new knowledge in the world at large.

In high school, we meet the instructional needs of our GT secondary students by clustering them in course sections designated for GT students. This mirrors the Total School Cluster Grouping model used in our elementary, middle, and junior high schools. Teachers of these courses may use teaching strategies and grouping that is beneficial to all students, including GT students. In high school, they are clustered in a college credit-bearing course if possible (AP, OnRamps, dual credit). In this way, GT kids are neither unfairly benefited in terms of GPA or class ranking nor are they unfairly hindered by needing instruction that is adaptive to the ways in which they learn differently from their non-GT peers.

There are times students will want multiple classes that are only offered during certain class periods. Our campus counselors always do their best to accommodate students when building schedules, but it is possible students may need to make choices.

Kelsey Karcher

Director

Advanced Learning Programs and Services

Email: kelsey.karcher@risd.org