Program Models and Curricular Options
Program Models
The first few programs described here are very general, based on models already established in some school districts. Modifications for elementary, middle, and high school programs will be included with each scenario.
Model #1 – Part time or gifted resource
This is most likely to occur in the elementary school because the students are usually in one homeroom with one teacher for most of their academic subjects. There is a special classroom somewhere in the school (many times no bigger than a closet!) with an endorsed teacher of the gifted. A schedule is made where students (only those identified as gifted) leave their regular class to receive their gifted services based on specific time allotted for services in the EP. The students may meet for several hours everyday, one day a week for the entire day, or other creative combinations. The program may be only enrichment where the teacher is building higher order thinking skills and working with the creativity of the students. They are learning to research, be diverse problem solvers, work together, present their products, etc. The program may also be content based where the teacher is responsible for teaching one or two subjects for the year and provides grades for those subjects. Students in this type of resource program have the benefit of two teachers! In this type of program there may be multi-grade levels depending on the number of children.
Model #2 – Full time gifted only
This is a standard full time program where every student has been identified as gifted. The teacher is gifted endorsed or certified and is responsible for teaching all the core subjects as well as being the sole source of student grades. In this model the teacher has to build his/her own program, pulling in additional resources to supplement the standard curriculum. Since the students will be taking their grade level standardized tests, the teacher has to make sure they have a strong foundation at their grade level but are able to build on that and develop their higher order thinking skills. Often times you will see project based learning where the content is integrated and an authentic product is the form of demonstrating mastery. The students will be asked to take the same types of tests as those in the regular classroom for accountability purposes and for concrete evidence of performance. You may find one or two grade levels in this program because of the numbers needed for proper funding. In the middle school and high school this program would exist in specific core subject areas (math, language arts, science, etc.). The students would not necessarily be in all gifted classes.