Gifted and Talented Program
The Gifted and Talented Program for the Pea Ridge School District has been operational since the spring of 1986. The program provides differentiated educational opportunities to children from kindergarten through twelfth grades.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Pea Ridge Gifted and Talented Program is to provide an inviting, safe, engaging, and playful environment in which students engage in meaningful learning based on strengths and interests while emphasizing the process skills of risk-taking, collaborating, and creating in order to develop a growth mindset.
What is GT?
GT is an special educational service for those students who are gifted and their academic needs are not being met in the regular classroom. It is not a club or social group. GT services are in place to help the gifted students to meet their full academic potential, extend their learning, and to accelerate their knowledge.
Referring a Child for GT Consideration
Referrals for Gifted and Talented are sought from a wide variety of sources to ensure that all potentially gifted and talented students have an opportunity to be considered. Parents, staff, and community members may refer a student at anytime.
When a student is tested for GT, data is collected from teacher recommendations, observational data collected from whole group enrichment, parent recommendations, testing scores, grades, and 2 subjective and 2 objective tests. No single criterion or cut-off score is used to include or exclude a student.
Placement is decided by a placement committee (minimum of 5 members; GT Coordinator, Building Principal, Building Counselor, and at least 2 teachers). If the decision is that the student will be placed, a letter is sent home for the parent’s permission. If a student is not placed, a letter is sent home notifying the parents of the committee’s decision and also to inform them that the student can be re-evaluated in the future.
The GT Program will be evaluated each year and the results will be posted here for all stakeholders.
GT Program Offerings
Students will provide input on topics they are interested in to help tailor our curriculum to meet their interest and/or needs.
Kindergarten thru 2nd grades
K-2 is services through whole group enrichment where an approved teacher of the gifted works with the classroom teacher to design enrichment curriculum for the whole class. These lessons are provided during the students’ auxiliary time.
3th – 6th Grades
Grades 3-6 will be pulled for a minimum of 150 minutes a week. The lessons are extensions and activities that correlate with the Wit and
Wisdom Literacy Curriculum and the Illustrative Mathematics Curriculum. We incorporate STEAM lessons and activities, Coding, Robotics, Quiz Bowl, and personal interest projects. The units of study will consist of the following: 3rd grade-The Sea, Space, Immigration, Artist, 4th grade- Great Hearts- Biologically and Human Emotion, Extreme Environments, American Revolution, Mythology, 5th grade-Cultures, Word Play, Effects of War, Breaking Barriers, 6th grade-Great Depression, Heroes, Narrating and Courage in Crisis.
Lessons vary and are based on topics not typically covered in the regular classroom as well as student interest/choice. Process skills of critical thinking (analysis, evaluation, and synthesis), creative thinking (fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration), independent investigation, group collaboration, communication, and personal development are emphasized.
7th – 12th Grades
7-12 Junior HIgh and High School GT students grades 7-12 will be served through content, process, and products are differentiated based on specialized training for honors, pre-AP and AP teachers, and in the case of AP classes, a College Board approved AP syllabus. Students choose the honors, pre-AP, Concurrent Credit and/or AP courses that best suit their needs, strengths, and interests. Students will meet with the College and Career Readiness Counselor for lessons that are based on the individual needs of the students and mainly focuses on student success plans, which will include High School course offerings, prep for ACT, college visits, college applications, resumes, career interests, internships, etc. Each year, these students have the opportunity to participate in 1 college campus visit and academic appointment in areas of their interest.
Process skills of self-reflection, self-awareness, and risk-taking are emphasized. Products are typically in the form of high school activity/leadership documents and student applications for leadership, summer classes, college, and scholarships.
Extracurricular Opportunities for All
At Pea Ridge, we offer extracurricular opportunities that challenge students to think, work in teams, and problems solve. These opportunities are available to any student, not just those involved in the GT program, who are interested in pushing themselves academically and creatively.
Quiz Bowl
We will have 3 Quiz Bowl teams this year. The 5th and 6th grade team will be coached by Amber Harrison. The 7th-9th grade team will be coached by Caroline Althage, and the 10th-12th grade team will be coached by Tiffani Hash. The top quiz bowl students for each division will be chosen to compete at tournaments.
Parent Advisory Committee
The Parent Advisory Council is in place to help with evaluations and suggestions for the GT program. We will meet once in the fall and once in the spring. If you are interested please contact Amber Harrison, GT Coordinator at aharrison@pearidgek12.com.
GT Handbook
Please click the button below to access the Pea Ridge GT Handbook
Office Hours
Monday - Thursday: 7:30-4:00
Friday: 7:30-3:30
Local: 1-479-451-8181
TF: 1-800-451-0032
Fax: 1-479-431-6095
Pea Ridge School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin or disability in any of its policies, practices or procedures.
