BOE elementary gifted program increasing to five days per week

The Houston County Board

of Education announced that beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, gifted

education for elementary children will increase from one day to five days a

week. This is a curriculum change from the Resource Pull-out Model to an Advanced

Content Model.

Houston County is adopting the Advanced Content Model for gifted instruction

for students in first through fifth grades. The system already uses this model

for gifted and talented students in grades 6 through 12.

With the Advanced Content Model, all

gifted and talented students will:

· receive

gifted education five days a week,

· remain

at their home school,

· participate

in “specials” (physical education, art and music) every day of the week,

· participate

in culminating activities or special events.

An additional benefit is that more

children will be able to participate in gifted and talented education. Using

this model in elementary school will also create a smoother transition from

fifth to sixth grade.

Houston County is preparing for this

change by providing teacher training and preparing curriculum resources. To be

highly qualified by state standards, teachers of gifted and talented students

are required to earn an additional three classes through a gifted endorsement

course which equates to 170 classroom hours. Approximately 110 Houston County

teachers are currently earning their gifted endorsement.

Director of gifted Jan Jacobsen commented, “We are excited to offer a more

rigorous and engaging curriculum to our gifted and talented children. Next

year, students will spend more time with highly-qualified teachers who will

enrich, enhance and extend the curriculum. Our teachers are currently learning

gifted education best practices in order to meet the needs of our high-end

students.”

Executive director of school operations Cindy Flesher stated, “Our system’s

mission is to produce high-achieving students. We can better achieve this

mission by providing challenging, rigorous instruction through daily gifted

services in content area courses. We look forward to seeing many positive

results from this change in gifted and talented education.”

The Advanced Content Model will replace a resource pull-out model called FOCUS

(Fostering Originality, Creativity, Unique Ideas, and Self-direction). FOCUS

classes meet one day per week for a full day of gifted instruction centered on

interdisciplinary enrichment activities. The primary drawback of this model is

that students receive gifted instruction only one day per week. They also miss

“specials” – physical education, art and music – on the day they attend gifted

education classes. In addition, some students are bused to other schools to

participate in FOCUS, so they sometimes miss special events or culminating activities

at their “home” school.

For more information, visit the Gifted and Talented Education (GTE) page at:

www.hcbe.net/teaching-and-learning/gifted–talented.aspx. Frequently asked

questions and a video about elementary GTE are posted to this webpage along

with other resources. Jacobsen may be reached at 478-988-6200, ext. 10393, or Jan.Jacobsen@hcbe.net.

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