Lamar County School District

Gifted Education Program

Sumrall Middle School Students Taking on the Challenge

Program Design

Phone: 601-794-8137

Fax: 601-794-1457

 

The Lamar County School District serves over 1000 intellectually gifted students in the elementary and middle schools. Students attend EXCEL 1-2 times a week for a combined total of five hours a week. Students usually attend one morning and one afternoon each week through what is known as an enrichment resource program. They receive instruction from a teacher certified in gifted education. Units of study or themes that incorporate the aforementioned skills are used to create a stimulating and challenging learning environment. Learning takes place primarily in small groups and independently.

Participation

After the student has been ruled eligible for one of the gifted programs, written parental permission for placement shall be obtained before the student is placed in the program. "Participation in the Gifted Education Program is an entitlement, not a reward, under state law, Mississippi Gifted Education Act of 1989. Therefore, the student should remain in the gifted program as long as they are being successful in the program. Grades and/or success in the regular education program is the responsibility of the regular classroom teacher and should not be considered as a reason for removal from the gifted program." (Excerpt from Mississippi State Regulations for the Gifted Education Program.) Students who have a valid Mississippi gifted eligibility ruling do not have to be reevaluated. Once a child is placed in the EXCEL program, she or he is eligible for all gifted classes in grades 2-6.

Grading

Gifted students are not graded but are evaluated using the Instructional Management Plan's Scope and Sequence of Skills. EXCEL teachers send out periodic reports using a code of satisfactory, needs improvement and/or unsatisfactory to evaluate behavior, work skills and completion of thematic studies. Students must attend EXCEL classes on a regular basis in order to continue satisfactory progress and participation in the program.

Homework/Classroom

EXCEL students who participate in a resource program miss regular class a total of one day a week. Gifted students in grades 2-7 are not required to make-up class work missed when they are scheduled to be in the gifted classroom. Gifted students shall be held accountable for demonstrating mastery of concepts and information on regularly scheduled tests. It should be noted that some gifted students will not be high academic achievers for a variety of reasons. It is not reasonable to expect intellectually gifted students, artistically gifted students, and/or creatively gifted students by virtue of having been granted one of those gifted eligibility rulings, to make all A's and B's.

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