Portland
Public Schools uses a consultative model to address the needs of Gifted
and Talented students. These services comply with "Chapter 104," the legal
basis for Gifted and Talented identification and instruction.
For our
school, this means that one or more consultants from our Central Office works
with all teachers, as needed, to be sure that high performing, gifted students
are offered a challenging, rigorous curriculum matching their abilities in the
subject areas of Math, Language Arts (reading and writing), Social Studies and
Science.
What
we DO and do NOT do at Lyman Moore:
-
Our Chapter 104
(Gifted and Talented) consulting teachers are district-wide specialists who
consult with our teachers to help with classroom unit design for identified
students in English, Social Studies, Science or Math. Our identified Chapter
104 students are not pulled out for classes.
-
The Chapter 104
consultant teachers work with classroom teachers to develop supports to the
curriculum that address the educational needs of the gifted student usually in
the regular class. This might involve discussions with the Chapter 104
consultant and the classroom teacher about ideas or methods to provide
in-depth exploration related to the current unit of study.
-
The consulting
teachers provide regular guidance about identification procedures, including
what data is reviewed and how frequently.
-
Our district generally
has placed two pre-qualifying conditions on Chapter 104 services: first, that
a student needs to score in the top two percent on standardized testing for
that subject area and secondly, the student must have a teacher recommendation
for services.
-
Lyman Moore works with
one or more Chapter 104 consultants depending upon the school's needs. Parents
may call, e-mail or arrange to meet with Chapter 104 consultants throughout
the year. And of course at any time, parents can ask questions of teachers,
the school counselor, our administration, or our central office noted on the
next line below. Our Principal and Assistant Principal help to coordinate at
least one large group meeting with parents per year to explain and explore the
Chapter 104 processes and policies.
I will try to post here as an attachment an overview provided by our
Central Office Chapter 104 Coordinator that explains the process in Portland.
(If you don't find it here, it means I haven't figured out how to do that
(yet!) but I will so check back.)
