Gifted Services Description
Curriculum & Instruction
All levels of the MILE gifted program include instruction in skills areas basic to gifted education. These are: (1) Cognitive Skills (2) Learning Skills (3) Research and Reference Skills (4) Communication Skills and (5) Meta-cognitive skills. The gifted curriculum incorporates these skill areas into units and/or courses of study which address the appropriate Georgia Performance Standards. Curriculum is differentiated to accommodate students’ areas of strength.
Contact Hours
Service in all direct service models is a minimum of five segments per week. (A segment is one-sixth of a school day.)
Services
Whole Grade Acceleration
Marietta City Schools offers whole grade acceleration as an appropriate educational intervention for exceptionally capable second thru seventh grade* students. Parents/guardians interested in whole grade acceleration should first consult with their child’s teacher and/or counselor concerning the suitability of whole grade acceleration for their child. For more information, parents should contact their child’s school.
Elementary
Services for 1st -5th students are generally provided through a resource center model. Students meet with their teachers one day a week for five - six contact hours throughout the school year. At MCAA, gifted classes are taught one period a day for an equivalent weekly amount of time. Rigorous units emphasizing higher levels of thinking are taught by elementary teachers certified in gifted education. All units are aligned with Georgia Performance Standards. Students in schools or grade levels with small gifted enrollment may be served in one of three ways, depending upon system resources and staffing: 1). Transported by school bus to another school for their gifted services 2). Cluster grouped, whereby a small number of students are taught with separate lesson plans and contracts in a regular education class by a gifted education teacher, or 3). Collaboratively served, with a differentiated curriculum provided by the regular classroom teacher in collaboration with the gifted education teacher. Kindergarten students are tested during the first semester and, upon entrance to the program in January, are provided services through the resource center model for one half day and through the collaborative model for the second half of the day.
Secondary
The main delivery model of gifted education services for 6th - 12th grade students is Advanced Content.
Students may receive a minimum of five segments a week, or the equivalent, in classes taught by gifted education teachers, subject to school resources and staffing. These classes are aligned with the Georgia Performance Standards curriculum for the content subject, and are significantly differentiated from the regular classroom in content, pace, process skills, and expectations. Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes qualify as Advanced Content gifted classes when the teacher has been trained in the content area by AP or IB and has additional training in gifted education as approved by the Georgia Board of Education. The cluster grouping or collaborative model may also be used at this level (see above for definitions). Additionally, in grades 9 – 12, gifted students may be served through the Executive Internship, where students explore a profession of interest with a community mentor, and the Post Secondary Option, where students are jointly enrolled in college, university, or technical school courses.
