- Montgomery Public Schools
- Gifted Education
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Gifted Education
The Montgomery Public School System is committed to an education program that recognizes individual differences for students in grades K-12. Embodied in this commitment is a responsibility to intellectually and creatively gifted students to assist them in maximizing their potential.
Intellectually gifted children and youth are those who perform at high levels in academic or creative fields when compared with others of their age, experience, or environment. These children and youth require services not ordinarily provided by the regular school program. Children and youth possessing these abilities can be found in all populations, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor. Gifted students may be found within any race, ethnicity, gender, economic class, or nationality. In addition, some students with disabilities may be gifted. Montgomery Public School System shall prohibit discrimination against any student on the above basis with respect to his/her participation in the gifted program.
Service Delivery-LEAs must utilize a variety of service delivery options that may include but are not limited to resource room pull-out, consultation, mentorships, advanced classes, and independent study. Gifted students' need for complexity and accelerated pacing must be accommodated in the general education program. Accommodations may include strategies such as flexible skills grouping, cluster grouping with differentiation, curriculum compacting, subject and grade acceleration, dual enrollment, and advanced classes. Services for students of the same grade level on different campuses must be comparable in quality and duration. The following are examples of appropriate services for various age groups as defined by the Montgomery Public Schools LEA Plan for Gifted.
Grades K-2: Consultative services from the gifted specialist provided in the regular classroom setting (e.g., extra materials, learning centers)
Grades 3-5: Traditional pullout services for 3 hours a week (QUEST) with a gifted specialist
Middle Schools/Junior High Schools: Advanced classes and electives
High Schools: advanced classes and electives
Magnet Schools: Rigorous curriculum, enrichment, and/or acceleration through the magnet program
QUEST (Questioning, Understanding, Enriching, Seeking, and Thinking) is the gifted program for elementary students in grades 3 through 5 in the traditional elementary school. The QUEST Program strives to provide opportunities and enriched experiences beyond traditional classroom academics. In the QUEST Program, students are provided opportunities for learning the skills underlying the thinking process, for experiencing an understanding of the world's people and their relationships to each other, for exploring personal futures, and for the independent quest of knowledge in areas of interest. The differentiated curriculum is designed to mesh with and extend the regular school curriculum. QUEST emphasizes student-initiated learning and offers academic challenges through enriched content, long-term projects, and interaction with intellectual peers. The QUEST curriculum includes humanities/literature, science/math, visual arts, thinking skills, technology, and research.
Curriculum - The Montgomery Public Schools Gifted Program has studied the research on learning and the brain and has chosen a curriculum and instruction path that teaches standards-based facts and skills in relationship to the concepts and principles/generalizations of the disciplines.
The gifted specialists have identified specific concepts, as recommended by the State Department of Education, for their units, and written deep conceptual understandings (enduring, transferable, conceptual ideas) in addition to identifying the factual knowledge and skills necessary for developing conceptual understanding. They have developed guiding or open-ended questions that frame the activities and lessons that lead students toward essential understandings along with instructional activities which focus on thinking and producing rather than memorizing facts.
Administration Contacts-
Katrina Jackson, Department of Special Education Director
Phone: (334) 269-3808
Jacqueline C. Davis, Gifted Coordinator
Phone: (334) 269-3808
Standard Gifted Referrals-A student may be referred for the gifted program by teachers, counselors, administrators, parents or guardians, or other individuals with knowledge of the student's abilities.
To initiate a referral, the person making the referral should complete the Request for Gifted Referral form and give it to the Gifted Specialist assigned to that school.
The gifted specialist will send home a Notification and Consent for Gifted Screening, and the Rights in Gifted Education form.
Upon receipt of signed consent for gifted screening, the gifted specialist will initiate the gifted referral process.
During the gifted screening, information is gathered in the following three areas:
- Aptitude. Assessed through a group test of non-verbal intelligence and administered by a gifted specialist.
- Characteristics. A behavior rating scale designed to assess gifted behaviors is completed by a team of at least 3 individuals.
- Performance. At least three indicators of performance at a gifted level such as achievement test scores, products, work samples, and/or portfolios.
A GRST (Gifted Referral Screening Team) which is comprised of three individuals (gifted specialists, principal, classroom teacher, counselor, etc.) meet to determine if a student is in need of additional testing; if the student does not pass gifted screening; or if the student qualifies for gifted services with the information gathered.
Tests and evaluative materials selected are sensitive to cultural, economic, and linguistic differences and administered by qualified personnel under the supervision of Montgomery Public Schools. Tests not administered under the administration of an LEA cannot be used for gifted eligibility.
Once all testing is complete, a GEDT (Gifted Eligibility Determination Team) meets to determine final eligibility.
The referral to placement process can take up to 90 days for a standard/traditional referral.
2nd Grade Child Find-During the first semester of 2nd grade, each student is observed as a potential gifted referral. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that students from all populations and socio-economic groups, as well as students with disabilities and students who are limited-English proficient, are given the opportunity to be considered for gifted services.
During this process, the classroom teacher and the gifted specialists look at aptitude, characteristics, and performance indicators (student work samples, STAR Diagnostic Reading & Math scores), characteristics (the TABs Classroom Observation Checklist), and the NNAT-3 (a nonverbal aptitude screener). By looking at all these indicators, teachers should be able to make accurate decisions regarding student selection for gifted referrals.
This is not the only time a child can be referred. It is just ensuring that every child has been considered at some point in his/her school career.
Second-grade child find referrals follow the same process and eligibility criteria as standard referrals. However, second-grade child find referrals do not have to follow the 90-day timeline concerning referral to placement.
2021-22 Code of Conduct Information
