Challenge
Program
Investing
in our future – now
The
Challenge Program of the
Our vision for the Challenge Program
More
and more classroom practices traditionally reserved for gifted students are
being employed by regular classroom teachers to meet the needs of increasingly
diverse students. In addition, new state
curriculum standards have set guidelines for instruction for all students in
higher level thinking skills, including critical thinking, problem solving,
interpretation, analysis and evaluation.
Since students spend most of their day in regular classrooms, our
primary effort is to support teachers in developing more varied and flexible
approaches toward grouping, and instruction to better meet the needs of a wide
range of learners in their classrooms.
Our beliefs
The
Challenge program is designed with the belief that giftedness might be defined
as a complex set of behaviors – above average ability, task commitment, and
creativity – that can occur in different people at different times and
circumstances. It is our aim to provide
a wide array of services and strategies to encourage and nurture the talent in
all of our students.
Nomination and assessment
We
believe the assessment of all students to diagnose instructional needs should
be an ongoing process in our district’s classrooms. Nomination for the Challenge Program may also
be initiated by a teacher or parent/guardian; please contact the Challenge
Program Coordinator or school principal for an application. Screening of
students will include group testing. The
assessment of students include: 1) The
Gifted Evaluation Scale (
The
records of students who qualify for testing through a combination of the above
criteria are then reviewed by the Challenge Program Multi-Disciplinary
Committee, consisting of the Building Principal, Classroom teacher and the
Challenge Director.
The
Committee will review the data and will determine who has met the District’s
criteria.
Acceptance into the Challenge Program
Parents
will be notified of their child’s acceptance into the Challenge Program as soon
as possible after screening. Parents may
choose to enroll their child in the program, or not.
Programs offered
Primary school – The focus is enrichment for all students. Programs include: Annual Student Project Showcase Fair,
Presenting a theatre group, author, or performer with an academic theme,
cooperative activities with high school students,
Elementary school – Programs include:
Continental Math, National Geography Challenge, Young Authors
conference, Readers Digest Vocabulary Bee (have had regional winners), ensure
that high end books are available to students in the school library, Math
Champs (3-6 teams a year compete in County and State Math Champs) and after
school simulations/projects.
Middle school – Programs include:
High Math placement, recommended by parent or teacher, Math/Science
ability grouping, Level 4 Math, Jr. SAT (Highly Capable only), Young Authors
conference, History Day, Science Trip, Spelling bee, Drama, Geography Bee, Math
Champs teams.
High School – Programs include Advanced Placement classes (list
available upon request), Knowledge Bowl/Math team.
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Ron Spanjer, 360.332.5881 Superintendent of Schools |
Nancy Bakarich, 360.332.1300 Principal, Pt. Roberts and |
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Kathy Newport, 360.332.5213 P rincipal, Blaine Elementary 836 Mitchell, |
Dan Newell, 360.332.6045 Principal, |
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Darren Benson, 360.332.8226 Principal, |
Deb Cummings, 360.332.0720 Co-Coordinator, Challenge Program Director, Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment |
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Randy Elsbree, 360.332.0722 Director, Challenge Program Director, Federal and Special Programs |
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Board of Directors Todd Berge Shelly Button Mike Dodd Charles Gibson Pebble |
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