Gifted and Talented Program
The Johnson Creek School District recognizes that, while all students have gifts and talents, some possess them to an extraordinary degree in one or more areas:
- General intellectual ability
- Specific subjects or disciplines
- Visual, musical and performing arts
- Leadership and creativity
Goal
The goal of the district is to meet students’ identified educational needs through differentiated instruction within existing classrooms and through acceleration within departmental structures. Our School Building Committee (SBC), our coordinator and administrators work with teachers and parents to help identify students’ learning needs and make decisions about how to best meet those need with the resources available to us. In analyzing learning needs we look very closely at how well the curriculum is a match for what students need to learn.
Mission
The mission of the Talented and Gifted Program in the Johnson Creek School District is to recognize and meet the unique needs of talented and gifted students.
Vision Statements
The Johnson Creek School District strives to:
- Provide a coordinated pre-K through grade 12 Talented and Gifted Program that ensures continuity of objectives and curriculum
- Provide talented and gifted students access to a support system which meets their social, emotional and academic needs
- Identify, support and serve talented and gifted students from diverse populations
- Provide talented and gifted students with a differentiated curriculum that includes enrichment, acceleration and rigor, which will replace and extend portions of established curricula.
- Provide a nurturing environment for students that encourage problem-solving, critical thinking, innovation and effective education.
- Provide talented and gifted students with resources and experiences that go beyond the structures of the school.
Gifted Education in Johnson Creek Schools
Gifted education extends across all grade levels, subject areas and avenues for learning. Our approach to programming is designed to enrich and extend the development of all students who perform at high levels or who show the potential to perform at high levels in any of the five areas of giftedness defined in Wisconsin State Statute 118.35 and 121.02 (1) and Administrative Rule PI18.01(2)(t). These areas are:
Artistic - Artistic students show high potential for significant contributions in the performing arts and/or visual arts. The performing arts include acting, singing, dancing, playing an instrument and composing. The visual arts include drawing, painting, sculpting, and graphics.
Creative - Creative students tend to think in different ways. They ask many questions and often challenge the teacher or information in the textbook. These students frequently offer a new and unique way to look at information.
Leadership - Students with leadership potential are excellent at organizing and influencing others to do things. They tend to be independent and not afraid to take risks.
Academic - These students are extremely strong in one or two subjects, but may be average or even below average in other subjects. They have a “passion” for their strong areas beyond other students their age.
Intellectual - These students are extremely strong in all subjects. They have advanced vocabularies and tend to be avid readers. They tend to know a lot of information on a variety of topics. Intellectually talented students tend to feel comfortable working alone and can work on projects for long periods of time. They discuss complex topics well beyond other students their age.
Multiple criteria for the identification of talented and gifted pupils shall include intelligence, achievement, leadership, creativity, product, evaluations and nominations.
Identifying the talents and gifts of our students is an ongoing process, which is fostered through diverse activities and monitored by many instructors.
We value the important role parents play in education your child. Communication between teachers and parents/guardians is necessary to maintain a quality educational program such as we have here in Johnson Creek. We hope this site is useful in understanding our program. If you have any question, please contact your child’s teacher or building principal.
