PHILOSOPHY FOR GIFTED SERVICES
Authorities, parents, and educators have long recognized that gifted students require specialized educational experiences that promote the development and expression of their potential. If gifted individuals—as children, youths, and adults—are to experience fulfilling lives and if society is to derive optimal benefits from gifted individuals’ uncommon potentials, an educational program must be structured to develop more fully their exceptional and varied abilities, interests, and talents.
The Fulton County gifted program is a response to the need to address the unique learning characteristics, interests, personal needs, and capabilities of gifted children. The program emphasizes the gifted students’ need for interaction with intellectual peers. Emphasis on the individual highlights the fact that there are differences among gifted students and a need for specialized educational
experiences to meet these differences.
Basic to the philosophy of this program is the idea that no one teacher, resource, or instructional method can meet the needs of gifted students. Education for the gifted is viewed as a cooperative endeavor characterized, facilitated, and realized by the efforts of numerous individuals in the schools and community.
These goals are accomplished in Fulton County Schools by enriching and expanding upon the core curriculum for identified gifted students in the regular classroom, adjusting the rate and depth of their learning, providing opportunities to interact with other gifted
students in such recognized programs as Odyssey of the Mind, and using a variety of appropriate teaching methods which address multiple intelligences. Further differentiation beyond that in the regular classroom is accomplished through challenging instructional activities, seminars, directed studies, internships, and other challenging experiences available to gifted students. These educational experiences for gifted students provide the additional variety and flexibility necessary to adjust and extend the Fulton County curriculum to meet these individuals’ needs.
TAG at the Middle School Level
Middle School Middle school students receive gifted services in one to four advanced core content classes (language arts, science, social studies, and math). The student may also participate in individual projects in the area(s) of content placement. With supervision by a teacher of the gifted, the student conducts in-depth research as an extension of a topic in the Fulton County curriculum. Gifted services in the middle school extend the middle school Common Core and Georgia Performance
Standard curriculum, considering the academic, social, and emotional growth of the student.
- TAG classes are part of the student's daily schedule.
- Middle school class size is limited to 23-26 students.
- Grades are earned in content area(s).
Probation for gifted services
Students failing to meet the Continuation Criteria are automatically placed on probation. Failing to meet the coninuation criteria at the middle school level consists of "unsatisfactory performance in a content area of service as documented with a grade less than an 80." Probation may last for as little as one grading period but no more than one school year. Parents must be notified in writing when a student is placed on probation. A written plan explaining how a student can be removed from probationary status must be included in notification to the parent and student.
Students who do not show improvement in the TAG class in which the grade is less than an 80 after an additional 9 week period on probation are dismissed from that class. Parents are notified in writing prior to dismissal. If dismissed, a student may re-enter the TAG class after one semester upon meeting the specification of Continuation Criteria
Authorities, parents, and educators have long recognized that gifted students require specialized educational experiences that promote the development and expression of their potential. If gifted individuals—as children, youths, and adults—are to experience fulfilling lives and if society is to derive optimal benefits from gifted individuals’ uncommon potentials, an educational program must be structured to develop more fully their exceptional and varied abilities, interests, and talents.
The Fulton County gifted program is a response to the need to address the unique learning characteristics, interests, personal needs, and capabilities of gifted children. The program emphasizes the gifted students’ need for interaction with intellectual peers. Emphasis on the individual highlights the fact that there are differences among gifted students and a need for specialized educational
experiences to meet these differences.
Basic to the philosophy of this program is the idea that no one teacher, resource, or instructional method can meet the needs of gifted students. Education for the gifted is viewed as a cooperative endeavor characterized, facilitated, and realized by the efforts of numerous individuals in the schools and community.
These goals are accomplished in Fulton County Schools by enriching and expanding upon the core curriculum for identified gifted students in the regular classroom, adjusting the rate and depth of their learning, providing opportunities to interact with other gifted
students in such recognized programs as Odyssey of the Mind, and using a variety of appropriate teaching methods which address multiple intelligences. Further differentiation beyond that in the regular classroom is accomplished through challenging instructional activities, seminars, directed studies, internships, and other challenging experiences available to gifted students. These educational experiences for gifted students provide the additional variety and flexibility necessary to adjust and extend the Fulton County curriculum to meet these individuals’ needs.
TAG at the Middle School Level
Middle School Middle school students receive gifted services in one to four advanced core content classes (language arts, science, social studies, and math). The student may also participate in individual projects in the area(s) of content placement. With supervision by a teacher of the gifted, the student conducts in-depth research as an extension of a topic in the Fulton County curriculum. Gifted services in the middle school extend the middle school Common Core and Georgia Performance
Standard curriculum, considering the academic, social, and emotional growth of the student.
- TAG classes are part of the student's daily schedule.
- Middle school class size is limited to 23-26 students.
- Grades are earned in content area(s).
Probation for gifted services
Students failing to meet the Continuation Criteria are automatically placed on probation. Failing to meet the coninuation criteria at the middle school level consists of "unsatisfactory performance in a content area of service as documented with a grade less than an 80." Probation may last for as little as one grading period but no more than one school year. Parents must be notified in writing when a student is placed on probation. A written plan explaining how a student can be removed from probationary status must be included in notification to the parent and student.
Students who do not show improvement in the TAG class in which the grade is less than an 80 after an additional 9 week period on probation are dismissed from that class. Parents are notified in writing prior to dismissal. If dismissed, a student may re-enter the TAG class after one semester upon meeting the specification of Continuation Criteria