SECTION 3: Curriculum and Instruction

GOAL:  Davis Joint Unified School District provides a comprehensive continuum of services and program options responsive to the needs, interests, and abilities of gifted students and based on philosophical, theoretical, and empirical support.  (EC52206a and 52206b)

RATIONALE:  Gifted students are usually capable of learning at a faster rate than other students and may exhibit needs for a high level of complexity, depth, and acceleration in learning.  They characteristically delve deeper into the curriculum and seek more complex understanding than their peers, and they most often have comprehension and vocabulary levels far beyond their grade mates.  Such educational needs require that modification and differentiation of the curriculum be in place so that the gifted students’ needs, interests, and abilities can be addressed and their continuous progress can be ensured. 

 STANDARD 3.1  Differentiated curriculum is in place that responds to the needs, abilities, and interests of intellectually gifted and high achieving learners and facilitates the ability of each student to meet and exceed the core curriculum standards.  This differentiation, which focuses on depth, complexity, appropriate pacing, and novelty, is but one part of the whole picture.  The curriculum must also provide for the balanced development of critical, abstract and creative thinking, high level problem solving, advanced levels of research and curricular content, and products which are both appropriate and authentic, so that each individual within the program is able to learn in a manner uniquely appropriate to personal interest.   

 RATIONALE:    Differentiating and individualizing the curriculum provides equity for learners who often have the majority of the content already mastered when the year begins. The resulting differentiated assignments reinforce the needs, interests, and abilities of the gifted while helping them develop ethical standards, positive self-concepts, sensitivity, responsiveness to others, and contributions to society. Through differentiation and individual instruction, learners may be challenged both horizontally and vertically to increase depth of knowledge and thinking skills. As a result, every student is provided the opportunity to make at least one year’s growth in knowledge and skills. 

ONGOING IMPLEMENTATION

1.       All teachers are encouraged to attend gifted conferences as well as district GATE inservices and/or to pursue the UCD, or similar, gifted certificate program.

2.       District workshops on differentiating the curriculum are provided by district and other personnel for all teachers on a regular basis.         

3.       In-service is available on the cognitive, social and emotional characteristics, needs, and concerns found with gifted students as a result of their atypical development; the academic and personal/interpersonal development; the interaction with parents and other staff about gifted students and their needs; and the assessment of classroom performance.

4.       Articulation meetings involving all GATE teachers from sites with self-contained programs are provided on a regular, on-going basis.  GATE teachers meet at their sites to plan between grade levels.

5.       The GATE office maintains a library of research and materials related to teaching strategies for gifted learners and materials related to character building and ethics.

6.       All teachers of GATE students in self-contained classes have access to the curriculum standards as modified for the self-contained GATE program. The GATE portion of the comprehensive School Plan is approved/amended by the GATE Coordinator as appropriate and congruent with the GATE Master Plan.

7.       Teachers of GATE students in self-contained and regular classrooms from all grade levels have opportunities to meet together to discuss their teaching and student learning. Problems and strategies are discussed at these meetings.

8.       GATE students have multiple opportunities to use higher level thinking across the curriculum employing the models of such people as Benjamin Bloom, Joseph Renzulli, Howard Gardiner, etc.  They also apply creative thinking to problem solving using the models of such people as Edward deBono, E. Paul Torrance, and others.

9.       Students are encouraged to pursue individual interests through I-Search research. Students may work with mentors from the community on these pursuits.

10.   GATE students use learning resources that are advanced but commensurate with their reading comprehension and interest levels.

11.  Time management and study skills are an integral and continuous part of the regular curriculum for gifted learners.

STANDARD 3.2 Differentiated curriculum is regularly planned by teachers with input from parents, students, and administrators, and offered to every identified intellectually gifted and high achieving student in the program as an integral part of each day.  Teachers utilize a variety of appropriate instructional models that include, but are not limited to, large and small group instruction, homogenous/heterogeneous grouping, teacher/student-directed learning, and multiple opportunities for independent study.   Extensive and appropriate resources and technology support the delivery of this curriculum.

RATIONALE:  Even within the GATE community of learners, students learn differently, so there must be a wide variety of strategies employed to help each student maximize his or her potential.  These strategies may vary between disciplines and grade levels.

ONGOING IMPLEMENTATION

1.       Support and approval processes will be integrated within the district to assist with alignment and support of the GATE Master Plan and district operations. 

2. Periodic progress reports will be provided to the GATE Advisory Committee.
3. An annual report will be provided to the Board of Education by the Superintendent regarding the progress in achieving the GATE Master Plan goals.

Language Arts -

1.       Needs assessments to determine reading levels and skills are administered at the beginning of each school year.  Students then read novels and expository texts, independently, in small groups, and with the whole class, that are commensurate with their abilities and interests

2.       When student readiness demands, teachers work towards the grade level standards of the appropriate grade level.

3.       Parents and other community members are used as mentors for individuals and small groups.

4.       Lists of reading materials, especially those materials dealing with ethical issues, complex themes, social and personal issues, philosophical inquiry, and advanced sources for lateral enrichment across the curriculum, are updated regularly by the GATE Advisory and Articulation committees and are regularly made available to all teachers.

5.       Leveled vocabulary books, using Jerome Shostak’s Vocabulary Workshop program, are used sequentially in self-contained classes in grades 4 through 9.

6.       Students have ample opportunity to choose processes and products that help them pursue personal interests and strengths.

7.       Students participate in the Future Problem Solving Program to develop thinking and performance in communication, research, application, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis.

Writing -

1.       All students work according to their ability to meet state standards at their grade level or above, as assessed by performance-based tasks and increasingly sophisticated application of rubrics and/or teacher evaluation.

2.       Students explore various genre; teachers mentor each according to his/her needs.  Students are offered technology for word processing and research.

3.       Spelling and vocabulary are individualized according to individual student need.

4.       Students 7-12 have opportunities to enroll in elective classes such as:

·         Journalism

·         Senior Writing Seminar

·         Children’s Literature

·         Composition and Literature, AP

Speaking -

1.       All students K-12 have multiple opportunities to develop oral presentation skills via debate, reports of information, speeches, poetry recitation, readers’ theatre, Future Problem Solving, and other venues.

2.       Students 7-12 have opportunities to enroll in elective classes such as:

·         Theater

·         Drama

·         Speech

·         Debate

Reading -

1.       Students K-6 have opportunities to participate in advanced reading/literature via literature circle, readers’ theater, out-of-grade level reading materials, Future Problem Solving, and independent study.

2.       Students 8-12 may enroll in designated high achieving, honor, and Advanced Placement courses such as:

Junior High Classes:

·         American Studies

·         English 9 Classics Approach or English 9 Humanities

High School Classes:

·         Honors English 11

·         The Novel

·         Literature and Composition, AP

Math -

1.       Math – Grades K-6 - Multiple options are available to all identified GATE students and are determined by each individual site/teacher:

a.       Enrichment may be provided within each classroom with mentored instruction and cluster or flexible grouping.

b.       Students learn at their ability levels by regrouping by grade level within a student’s own school (such as high/middle/low instruction within a grade level), accelerated instruction in self-contained GATE classrooms, or placement in a higher grade level for math instruction.

c.       Students may learn at an appropriate pace through placement in a higher grade level at another school within the district (such as elementary students taking math at the junior highs or Davis School for Independent Study.)

d.       Students may seek concurrent enrollment at an institution of higher learning (such as UCD) in math.

e.       All students learn to describe and write out computation processes, learn to solve problems in a variety of ways, and learn a higher level of problem solving.

f.         District GATE students participate in Math Olympiad, and Math Counts.

2.       Math – Grades 7-12 - As students continue into junior high and high school, they enter those classes for which they qualify, including:

·         Algebra I

·         Geometry

·         Algebra II/Trigonometry

·         Introduction to Analysis

·         AP Calculus – both AB and BC

·         AP Statistics

·         UCD and CSUS mathematics courses

Social Science -

1.       K-12   GATE students are taught using a number of instructional strategies and activities:

a.       Students are encouraged to acquire the information at their own accelerated pace.

b.       Students have access to expository sources commensurate with their readability and comprehension levels.

c.       Students go into depth in their studies by looking at the same information from different points of view, by examining the underlying ethical principles of an issue, by looking for patterns and trends, by discovering and pondering unanswered questions, by stating the rules that apply to concepts, by looking at details, and by learning to use language appropriate to each study.

d.       Students study the complexity of issues by understanding how different disciplines view the same event, by defining relationships between and over time, and by multiple and/or opposing viewpoints.

e.       Students may study overarching themes (e.g. power, change) as they apply to social studies.

f.         Study of the social sciences stresses the use of higher order thinking skills, including applying knowledge, analyzing information, synthesizing ideas, and evaluating outcomes using criteria; students also use creative thinking skills as well (such as redesigning and substituting).

g.       Student activities include multiple opportunities to pursue independent interests pursuant to their studies, including personal research.

h.       Students may work independently with or without an adult mentor.

i.        Students may be grouped according to interest and ability, within or across classes at the same grade level, in pairs or small groups.

j.         Activities include Future Problem Solving Program, I-Search, Socratic Seminar, Ethical studies, and Mock Trial.

2.       Secondary level offerings continue opportunities for Future Problem Solving, Mock Trial, I Search, include advanced, honors, and Advanced Placement classes, as well as concurrent university registration (e.g. UCD, CSUS, community college).

·         Advanced Placement US History

·         Advanced Placement US Government and Politics

·         Advanced Placement Economics

Science -

1.       K-6 GATE students are taught using a number of instructional strategies and activities to differentiate the content standards:

a.       The state content standards are used as the foundation; students will acquire additional information through a variety of research techniques.

b.       Students do independent research on topics of interest within a unit to motivate and deepen their understanding of the content.

c.       Students, working in small groups or independently, use scientific method to perform experiments through a process that includes the application of observational and analytical skills.

d.       Students, working in small groups or independently, develop their own experiments using the scientific method; this process allows them to apply the scientific method, to learn how to design experiments, and to understand how to record data and make and verify predictions.

e.       Students, working in small groups or independently, develop models or include technology as visual representations of concepts and processes.

f.         Students discuss in class or in small groups the connections among events and their relationships to each other.

g.       Students examine in class or in small groups the ethical principles of an issue by looking at the details, discussing the possible effects, defining the different viewpoints, pondering unanswered questions, and predicting future impact.

h.       Activities may include, but are not limited to, independent and group research, debate, independent and group experiments, computer simulations, and ethical studies.

i.         Students will be supported in research opportunities for Future Problem Solving scenarios related to science.

2.       7-8 GATE who are identified intellectually gifted and request the self-contained core are enrolled in GATE Science 7 and 8 in which the content standards are differentiated through the use of depth and complexity, enrichment, and acceleration, as well as interdisciplinary study.  Students will be supported in research opportunities for Future Problem Solving Scenarios related to science.

3.       9-12 students identified as intellectually gifted, high achieving, or specific academic ability enroll, based on readiness, in advanced science classes:

·         Advanced Biology

·         Advanced Placement Biology

·         Advanced Placement Chemistry

·         Honors Physics

·         Advanced Placement Physics

·         Physiology and Anatomy

·         ROP Biotechnology

·         ROP Biotechnology Internship