Thank you for your interest in Gifted Education in the Blue Valley School District. We hope that this booklet will assist you with any questions you may have concerning gifted education. You will find that our school district has comprehensive programming that nurtures the whole gifted student…both cognitively and within the social-emotional realm.  The Blue Valley Board of Education fully supports gifted education. Funding is provided for a full-time gifted educator in each elementary and middle school, two at each high school, and a district coordinating teacher who provides technical assistance and coordinates all aspects of the program.  As a part of Special Education in Kansas, our gifted education program follows state laws and regulations.

If you have questions about the Gifted Education Program, please contact the gifted teacher at your
child’s school or the District Coordinating Teacher.

Sheri Nowak Stewart, Ed.D.
District Coordinating Teacher, Gifted Education
(913) 239-4333

Kansas State definition of Giftedness
KAR 91-40-1 (cc): Gifted means performing or demonstrating the potential for performing at significantly higher levels of accomplishment in one or more academic fields due to intellectual ability, when compared to others of similar age, experience or environment.

Guiding principles for special education in Blue Valley

• Special educators, general educators, administrators, parents and students are accountable for student learning.
• Open and direct lines of communication are established among all stakeholders.
• Special education service decisions are based on concrete evidence supported by data.
• Research-based strategies are used in instructional settings throughout the curriculum.
• Universally designed materials are used to provide access to the curriculum.
• Instruction, curriculum and assessment are linked to general education standards.
• Meaningful inclusion provides learning experiences appropriate to the student’s instructional level.
• Special education staff,  general educators,  administrators, parents and students collaborate to provide for successful student transitions.

Blue Valley students served through special education

• Transition smoothly from each level as self-determined, self-confident and responsible individuals.
• Take control of their academic and personal lives through recognition and appreciation of their own strengths, abilities and passions.
• Use self-advocacy skills.
• Reach their full potential socially, academically, personally and functionally as determined by their own expectations and dreams.
• Have the opportunity for employment and quality of life.
• Are problem solvers, independent learners and productive citizens to the fullest extent of their ability.
• Live interdependently and independently in the community.
• Contribute positively to their community and incorporate core virtues/skills into the world around them.
• Make healthy life choices.

Gifted Educational Programming Services for Gifted StudentsThe Blue Valley School District’s gifted education program serves students through the Autonomous Learner Model (ALM) and the Individualized Education Program (IEP). The ALM provides group activities whereas the IEP directs individualized activities for each child.

The ALM is divided into five major dimensions: orientation, individual development, enrichment, seminars and in-depth studies.  Each dimension is designed to provide learners with the appropriate experiences necessary to facilitate their growth as self-directed, life-long learners.  Each dimension provides information, experiences, attitudes, skills and concepts necessary for becoming autonomous learners. It is designed to meet the diversified, cognitive, social and emotional needs of gifted students.  Its major goal is to facilitate the total growth of the individual by a sequenced plan through each ALM dimension.

Students develop and incorporate their own knowledge and skills, learn independently and apply this knowledge to the entire scope of their learning experience and their lives.

If gifted education services are warranted based on characteristics and need, an Individualized Education Program (IEP) is developed by an IEP team. This parent-inclusive team guides the classroom teacher, the gifted education teacher and any other needed service providers to meet the unique needs of the gifted student.  These services may involve the cognitive (learning) needs and affective (social and emotional) needs of the student. A variety of interventions may be reviewed and those deemed most beneficial to the particular student are provided based upon the decision of the Collaborative Problem Solving Team. An IEP meeting is held annually to review the needs and services provided to the student.  The IEP serves as a guide for personalized services to each student.

Program Goals and Objectives
Our goal is to provide varied types of opportunities appropriate to meet the range of the student’s cognitive and affective needs within the school.

We will strive to:  

• provide opportunities for students to pursue individual interests and develop talents;
• provide for the cognitive needs of gifted students through challenging instruction that differs in content, process and pace from the traditional patterns of classroom instruction;
• provide for the social-emotional needs of gifted students through peer discussions and activities designed to develop self-awareness, a healthy self-concept and understanding of strengths, weaknesses and potentials.

Our goal is to serve as a resource for teachers
in meeting the needs of students.

We will strive to:

• provide staff development and support in the differentiation of curriculum and instruction necessary to support and challenge learners at their ability level;
• provide training for staff regarding the characteristics and educational needs of gifted learners;
• collaborate with regular education teachers in order to meet the cognitive as well as the social and emotional needs of gifted learners in the classroom;
• communicate with parents of gifted students to provide program and child-specific information.
  

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a comprehensive evaluation
process include?
Comprehensive Evaluation includes gathering data from multiple sources to determine if characteristics of giftedness are observed and if there is a need that can’t be met in the regular classroom. Data are gathered in the following categories:

General classroom interventions
Review of records
Interviews
Observations
Testing

What is an IEP all about?  Is it a legal document?
What does it do for my child? Do parents get
to have input into an IEP? What if I disagree with
the contents of the IEP?
An IEP is an Individualized Education Program written specifically for a student’s unique needs. The IEP describes the student’s present level of functioning and includes goals that guide the unique cognitive and affective needs of a gifted student. Parents play an integral part in designing the goals and must sign a form to agree with services to be provided. Gifted education is a part of special education in Kansas and as such it must comply with most of the laws set forth in IDEA 2004 (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). Each parent is provided with a copy of the “Parents Rights in Special Education,” also known as the procedural safeguards, which describes the legal aspects of the IEP process.

What is the process to identify a student as gifted?
Observations, interventions, interviews, testing and samples of work are gathered by the general education teacher and the gifted teacher. These multiple information sources serve as a base of knowledge about the student. Any or all of these data collection methods may be used. Generally, the Collaborative Problem Solving Team is looking for: characteristics of giftedness and need for advanced curriculum.

"Giftedness” and “academic talent”?
Intellectual giftedness describes someone who is capable of high performance in many areas due to a set of behavioral characteristics. Some of those characteristics include:  abstract reasoning; insight and ability to connect disparate data; precocious ability to remember and learn in a multitude of areas; superior reasoning; avid and quick learner of new material; a highly developed sense of humor; concern with world problems or fairness; and an intensity and depth of feeling.  Often a level of intellectual giftedness is discovered through an IQ test as well as by multiple data sources including observation. 

On the other hand, academic talent is a specific aptitude in one or several academic areas or areas of performance due to an innate understanding and/or highly developed practice.  For instance, a student may be academically talented in math or writing.

My child has just been identified as gifted.
now what do I do?
A gifted student is first a child and second “gifted.” It is recommended that parents learn as much as possible about giftedness, the school’s gifted program and how parents can be proactively involved in their child’s education as well as in advocacy efforts; for example, Blue Valley Parents Advocates for Gifted Education (BVPAGE).

What if my family moved here from another state and my child was identified as gifted in a previous state?
If you moved from a state (or other Kansas community), which has mandated IEPs for gifted students that follow IDEA federal guidelines, the IEP will be accepted here.  If the student does not have a qualified IEP, the comprehensive evaluation and IEP process are usually undertaken.

Identification and the Collaborative Problem Solving Process
Students identified as intellectually gifted must demonstrate characteristics of giftedness and a need that cannot be met in the general education classroom.

Once the student is referred as possibly needing gifted education services, we begin our child find process by providing differentiated curricular experiences within the general education classroom.  If this intervention provides sufficient service, the process is concluded.  If not, more data are gathered.

The gifted education teacher and/or school psychologist collects a variety of data.  Data are gathered from five sources:  general classroom interventions, review of records, interviews, observations and testing. This data may include group test scores, student products and evaluations, teacher recommendations, parent input, interest and learning styles inventories, checklists of gifted behaviors and any relevant state or local assessment results as well as the results of earlier interventions. 

The Collaborative Problem Solving Team meets to discuss the referral and examine gathered data.  The team typically includes the classroom teacher(s), gifted education teacher, psychologist, administrator and counselor.   A decision is made regarding the next appropriate action (see 4 and 5 below).

If the team decides that an initial evaluation is not needed, the information is noted in the student’s cumulative folder.

If an initial evaluation is recommended, the gifted education teacher or school psychologist informs the parent and sends the permission form with the Procedural Safeguards document.  Once the parent has signed and returned the form granting permission for assessment, the evaluation is conducted. 

Initial evaluation is based on holistic data collection including cognitive and academic ability, behavioral characteristic and task commitment, through the use of one or more of these assessments:

• Intelligence test;
• General education interventions;
• Specific academic ability tests;
• Checklists;
• Interviews;
• Samples of classroom work or other appropriate data to substantiate qualification and need; and
• Observations within the gifted classroom

The Collaborative Problem Solving Team, including the parents, then reviews this information.  This broad-based approach ensures that no single measure alone will determine placement in the gifted program.  Information is looked at holistically, based on benchmarks and not cutoff scores.    

Students for whom initial evaluation is recommended usually demonstrate high cognitive ability in the general education classroom, score in the very superior range locally on the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test, create products indicating advanced achievement and creativity, and demonstrate many traits related to intellectually gifted behaviors.

When tests and other assessment data have been administered and gathered, the Collaborative Problem Solving Team reviews the data to determine whether the student displays characteristics of gifted behavior and demonstrates need for special services beyond the regular curriculum.

A conference date to review assessment results and team recommendation is scheduled with the parents. The parents will be provided with a 10-day advance written notice of the conference. 

If the student is determined to be eligible for special education services, the team (including the parents) will develop an Individual Education Program (IEP) and parents will receive a copy of the IEP.  The student’s educational placement is based upon the services in the IEP. The student is monitored and reviewed on a basis consistent with the reporting period of all students at that school building.  The IEP will be reviewed annually with the Collaborative Problem Solving Team before the anniversary date
of the previous IEP.

As required by state guidelines, a re-evaluation will be completed every three years prior to the anniversary of the student’s initial comprehensive evaluation unless it is agreed upon by the team that a re-evaluation is not necessary for continued placement. Data from this re-evaluation usually provides information for IEP development over the next few years. If results of a re-evaluation indicate that the student no longer is in need of gifted education services, the team, including the parents, will discuss the results of the evaluation.   At this time the team may identify alternative instructional experiences for the students.

Additional Information

Glossary of Common Educational Terms

Academically gifted – An individual who has a specific talent in an academic area, but not necessarily all areas.  An example is a student who excels in mathematics, but may not do well in language.
Acceleration – Moving at a faster pace through academic content in one subject area or by skipping a whole grade.
Affective – The social and emotional aspects of an individual.
Advanced Placement Program – College Board courses and exams for high school students that afford the opportunity to earn college credit.
Assessment – Standardized or informal methods to determine mastery or prior knowledge of skill or content.
Autonomous Learner Model (ALM)– Curriculum for gifted students that provides skills and behaviors to become self-directed, autonomous learners. 
Child Find – Actively searching for students who may need special education services.
Cognitive Skills – Refers to the processes of acquiring knowledge through, for example, thinking, reasoning and analogies.
Collaboration – The process of a team of people working together to make decisions about a student’s needs – may include student, parent, teacher, counselor, psychologist and/or administrator.
Creativity – A characteristic which relates to a person’s ability to produce original, novel and unique ideas or products.
Curriculum Compacting  - An instructional strategy in which a student’s grasp of a subject area is frequently reassessed by the instructor. Following demonstration of mastery of the subject, the student is allowed to progress to the next level or is given more in-depth work in the same subject area.
Differentiation – The modification of curriculum and instruction based on a student’s academic need and intellectual ability.
General Education  – Classes that provide grade level curriculum.
Gifted Education   – Experiences or activities that are above or beyond the grade level curriculum.
Incidental Benefit – Opportunity for a non-identified student to receive enrichment activities with a group of gifted students taught by the gifted education teacher during ‘child find.’
Intellectually Gifted  –  An individual who has high abilities in a variety of areas. This person usually possesses an excellent memory and easily processes large amounts of new information.
IEP (Individualized Education Program) –  Developed for each student identified for special education and outlines special programming needs and individual goals for an academic year.
Intelligence Test – A measure of a student’s general mental capability that, among other things, includes reasoning, planning, problem solving, and comprehending ideas through learning and experience.
Mentor – An individual willing to share his/her knowledge with a student.  Mentors are men and women who nurture talent and provide access to a profession.
Multiple Sources – The use of more than one source of information when identifying students for participation in programs for the gifted.
Resource Room – A designated room reserved for special education (gifted) program activities.
Twice Exceptional   – A student identified with gifted behaviors as well as a physical and/or a learning disability.

Resources—Web sites
Blue Valley Parent Advocates for Gifted Education
www.bvpage.org

Davidson Institute for Talent Development
www.davidson-institute.org

Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page
www.hoagiesgifted.org

Kansas Association for Gifted, Talented and Creative
www.kgtc.org

National Association for Gifted Children
www.nagc.org

Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted
www.sengifted.org

The Gifted Child Society
www.gifted.org    

Books and Journals
Genius Denied by Jan and Bob Davidson
Gifted Child Today Journal published by Prufrock Press
Guiding the Gifted Child by James Webb and Elizabeth Meckstroth
Helping Gifted Children Soar by Carol Strip
Parenting for High Potential Journal from National Association
of Gifted Children          
Survival Guide for Parents of Gifted Kids by Sally Yahnke Walker
They Say My Kid’s Gifted: Now What? by F. Richard Olenchak
You Know Your Child is Gifted When by Judy Galbraith