Screening:

 -- Score of 125 or better on Cognitive Abilities Test
 -- Achievement test score of 95 percentile
 -- 90% or better on grade level skills

Evaluation and Selection:

-- 125 IQ score on the WISC (Weschsler Intelligence Scale for Children)
-- 95% on the Woodcock/Johnson Individual Achievement Test
-- 120 Quotient score on Gifted Evaluation Scale
-- Two documented nominations

(3 out of 4 will serve for identification)  In the event that more students qualify than there are spaces available, students will be accepted in rank order and a waiting list will be maintained.

Student Maintenance in Program:

The student must maintain a grade average of 80% (B-) in the regular classroom grade report in all subject areas, or he/she will be placed on probation for the following quarter.  The student must raise the grade to 80% or above on the next quarterly grade report or will be ineligible to participate the following quarter.

Behavior Clause:

Exemplary behavior is expected of all students participating in the EXCEL program.  Two substantiated office referrals will result in the student being placed on probation for the remainder of the current quarter and any additional referrals will result in exempting that student from the program.

Any substantiated severe office referrals will result in the student's immediate removal from the EXCEL program.

Guidelines for Teachers:

• Students will not be responsible for completing written assignments presented during their absence from the regular classroom.  The student will be informed of any materials presented for tests during their absence, and complete information regarding this material will be given to the student.  Communication between student, parents and classroom teacher is of the utmost importance!
• Students may expect some instructions and/or explanations for these materials.
• Any test administered during the student's absence will be made up.

Gifted Students Need:

• activities which enable them to operate at complex levels of thought and feeling
• opportunities for divergent production
• challenging group and individual work which demonstrates process/product outcomes
• discussions with intellectual peers
• special courses in areas of strength and interst which accelerate the pace and depth of the content
• greater exposure to new areas of learning within and outside the school structure
• opportunities to apply abilities to real problems
• skills in critical thinking, creative thinking, research, problem solving, coping with exceptionality, decision making, and leadership

Philosophy of Curriculum for EXCEL Students:

Our curriculum philosophy of gifted education has four equally important dimensions:

• a content-based curriculum which allows students to explore in academic areas of their interest
• a process.product/research dimension which encourages in-depth, independent learning
• an abstract concept dimension which allows for the exploration of issues, themes, and other varied curriculums in a higher order thinking environment
• a social/emotional dimension which allows for the exploration of self and relationships with others

Curriculum will consist of:

1. "Unit of Study"
2. Independent Research Project
3. Thinking Skills Curriculum (taught specifically and in content)
4. Affective Needs Curriculum (undestanding self and others)

Unit of Study:

The major unit of study has typically been the centerpiece of gifted program curriculum.  It is almost entirely the creation of the teacher for the gifted.  Unlike thinking and affective curriculum, where the teacher has a scope and sequence of skills, the unit of study has its birth with the teacher.  The teacher or student has a passion about a particular topic and it becomes a unit of study.  Thinking and affective skills will be reinforced and used in the unit, but the "big ideas" of a particular theme or topic are the musings about which students think, create, and gain insight.

Independent Research:

Independent research will allow for student's interestes and self direction.  Each student will choose a topic having to do with the unit of study at that time.  They will then have time to create questions they would like to have answered through the course of their research.  Time will be given at each class period for the students to gather information and sift through it for answers to their questions.  The culmination of their research will result in a presentation to the class.

Thinking Skill Curriculumm:

"Thinking skills curriculum in every aspect of the curriculum will sharpen children's capacity to make connections and draw distinctions, to define and to clarify, to assess factual information objectively and critically, to deal reflectively with the relationship between facts and values, and to differentiate their beliefs and what is true from their understanding of what is logically possible.  These specific skills help children listen better, study better, learn  better, and express themselves better.  They, therefore carry over into all academic areas,  A thinking skills program must help children think both more logically and more meaningfully." (Lipman, Sharp, Oscanyan)

The critical, creative, organizational and analytical thinking skills will be taught specifically and in content areas.

Affective Curriculum:

The term "affective" appears to encompass everything that cannot be considered purely cognitive or intellectual in nature.  Affective development refers to all of the personal, social, and emotional aspects of learning.

The goal of affective curriculum will be to help the student:

• understand what it means to be gifted
• develop strategies to strengthen personal capabilities
• develop awareness of and gain insights into interactions between self and others
• develop life skills

Field Trips:

To fulfill the need that gifted students have of "greater exposure to new areas of learning within and outside the school structure," it would benefit the students to participate in experiences which would enhance their learning.

Field trips would be scheduled to give parents as much advanced notice as possible.  A field trip permission slip would have to be filled out and signed in order for your child to participate.

Since we will have smaller class sizes than the regular classroom, it may be possible to have parents with large personal vehicles transport our students.  If you have any objections to this form of transportation, your child may stay in his/her regular classroom in the event of a field trip.