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.

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.

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; Building Principal, Building Counselor, and at least 3 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.

Students will provide input on topics they are interested in to help tailor our curriculum to meet their interest and/or needs.

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 Mindy Ferguson. 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

Questions and Referrals?

Contact Amber Harrison

aharrison@pearidgek12.com