GIFTED EDUCATION: SPIRIT

Seeking to Provide Individual Release of Intellectual Talent

  

LMS Spirit Class at the CNN Station

LMS Spirit Class at the Georgia Aquarium

Mission

Program Goals

Categories of Gifted

Identification Process

Referral Criteria

Eligibility Determination

Re-Testing

Contact Information

 

Mission

      The mission of the Columbus Municipal School District Program for Intellectually gifted is to create a learning environment that fosters and encourages thinking, creativity, metacognition, healthy enriching relationships and appropriate expectations and understanding of self.

     The Mississippi Gifted Education Act of 1989 (amended 1993) mandates that each public school district within the state provide gifted education programs. Gifted programs are designed to identify and serve those students who demonstrate unusually high achievement. These programs are required to be “uniquely and qualitatively different” from those programs offered in the regular classroom. Our program is known as SPIRIT (Seeking to Provide Individual Release of Intellectual Talent).

Lee Middle School’s Gifted Education Program Goals:

• To provide qualitatively, differentiated and challenging learning beyond the regular curriculum through in-depth enrichment in order to develop and maintain our students’ commitment to the love of learning as a life long process.

• To help students through self- awareness, better understand themselves, develop social interest and a feeling of belonging in order to assist them in reaching their full potential.

• To help students develop independence, self direction and to challenge them through various activities and mentors to become productive citizens of society.

Categories of Gifted

Four categories of eligibility are recognized by the state: (1) intellectually gifted for grades 2-12, and (2) academically gifted for students in grades 9-12, (3) creatively gifted, (4) artistically gifted. CMSD currently serves only intellectually gifted students.

A Mississippi eligibility ruling for gifted must be secured on all students served. Students with documented evidence of previous participation in a gifted program in another state or country must be assessed according to Mississippi criteria. Once a student has been recognized as gifted, there is no need to be reevaluated to benefit from gifted programs offered at other grade levels.

Identification Process

A student may be referred by a parent, a teacher, counselor, administrator, peer, self or anyone else having reason to believe that the student might be intellectually gifted.

Referral Criteria

A student shall satisfy a minimum of two of the following criteria before moving forward in the identification process:

(a) group measure of intelligence that has been administered within the past twelve months,

(b) published characteristics of giftedness measure,

(c) published measure of creativity,

(d) published measure of leadership.

Eligibility Determination

This district uses its own Local Survey Committee to determine gifted eligibility. This committee is a district committee which meets regularly. The committee adheres to the MDE’s required criteria (evidence of at least three required criteria plus an individual norm-referenced intelligence test with a minimal score at the 90th percentile) to warrant a ruling of eligible. .

Re-Testing

A required waiting period of at least six months must expire before a student who was previously ruled ineligible may be referred again.

Students may be tested a maximum of two times at the expense of the school district. A child who has been found to be ineligible twice through district-administered testing may be tested privately, at the expense of the parent. Test results showing evidence of eligibility as a result of a private administration of testing will be accepted if (1) the child met all referral and assessment criteria within the accepted timelines and, (2) there is proof that the person administering the test possesses the proper licensure.

Contact Information

Emma Cornwall is the Gifted Education teacher at Lee Middle School (662-241-7300). The district’s contact person for any information on state and district regulations governing the program is Cathy Lindsay (662- 241-7400). Mrs. Lindsay’s office is located in the Brandon Central Services Building at 2630 McArthur Drive, Columbus, MS 39705.