PSD Strategic Plan for
K-12 Gifted Education

Action Plan #7

Program:

Follow Pennsylvania’s Chapter 16 regulations and guidelines for identified gifted students by offering curricular support above and beyond the regular education curriculum.

Needs:

There is a need to use best practice research in order to develop differentiated instructional strategies for teaching gifted students in the regular classroom or with the gifted support staff.  There is a need to provide staff development opportunities to help the professional staff work with gifted support teachers as co-teachers, work with underachieving gifted students and identified dual exceptional students.  There is a need to monitor parent feedback for program improvement.  Identified gifted support students and their parents need to deal with social and emotional issues resulting from identification and participation in the program.  Effective screening and identification plans need to be monitored so that referrals for screening reflect discrimination between bright and gifted students.  There is a need to plan for the middle school restructuring in 2006 by evaluating the gifted support program structure, curriculum, and staffing in the middle school setting for Grades 6-8.  There is a need to address K-1 screening and identification with best practice research to provide services for differentiated instruction.  There is a need to provide staff development opportunities for technology in order to design integrated technology activities.

Purpose:

Since the philosophy for gifted education has established a connection between regular education curriculum and the gifted support program’s specially designed instruction, the purpose for this strategic plan is to make sure that differentiated instruction strategies are meaningful and purposeful for students and staff. Building or district-wide staff development workshops will keep the professional staff focused on the needs of the gifted population for regular classroom and gifted support academic challenges. Emphasis will be given to meeting the social and emotional needs for identified students who may have a dual exceptionality or demonstrate characteristics for an underachieving gifted student.

Resources:

The K-12 Gifted Budget includes money allocated for consultation services and funding for training both on and off site at local, state and national conferences. Yearly staff development days will be used to provide workshop sessions for professional staff and administrators. Flexible in-service time and approved curriculum writing proposals will be used to provide opportunities to differentiate instruction. Title II grant funding will be considered in order to provide workshops that emphasize instructional strategies to diminish underachievement for gifted students.

Evaluation:

Ongoing assessment will be addressed at monthly Gifted Advisory Council Meetings with select members representing parents, teachers and administrators. Parent responses on mid-year and end-of-year evaluations for the elementary program will provide current feedback Annual GIEP conferences allow discussion to focus on individual student strengths and needs. Student and parent surveys help to define issues that need to be addressed for the K-12 Gifted program.