2. What you should know…
Arizona law requires that all public school districts must both identify gifted learners and provide appropriate educational programs and services for gifted learners. However, the law does not prescribe the models that districts must use to serve their gifted learners.

3. CUSD Verbal Quantitative Non-verbal
Gifted Students are Identified by Cognitive Abilities Test
Measure Reasoning in:
Verbal
Quantitative
Non-verbal

4. Normal Distribution
                              

5. Characteristics of Gifted
Variety of Interests
Excellent memory
Long attention span
Unusual curiosity 
Persistence in attacking difficult mental tasks
Good problem solving/reasoning abilities
Rapid learning ability
High degree of energy
Above average language development
Preference for older friends
Heightened sensitivity
Non-conformity behavior
Keen powers of observation
Vivid imagination
Good sense of humor
Sense of justice and moral sensitivity

6. Program Accommodations
Exposure to ideas at a faster pace
Access to challenging curriculum and intellectual peers
Opportunities to contribute to solutions of meaningful problems
Freedom to pursue individual interests within a given topic
Exposure to increasingly difficult vocabulary and concepts
Integration of a variety of ideas at many levels
Opportunities to solve problems in diverse ways
Even as all children are different, there are some characteristics that most gifted students exhibit that are different or appear earlier than their age peers . This makes them both challenging and delightful to teach. You may recognize some or all of these in your child.
- constant questioning, usually beginning early
- sophisticated sense of humor
- catches on to new ideas quickly
- unique way of looking at things
- outstanding memory
The CATS program makes accommodations for the characteristics unique to the gifted child.

7. CUSD Models Elementary: Secondary: Knox Gifted Academy
Self-Contained CATS Classes at Satellite Campuses
Jacobson, Ryan, Santan, Hull
Consultative Model
Secondary:
Junior High CATS
High School – Accelerated Courses, AP & IB Programming, STEM diploma programs and more

8. Consultative
Offers identified gifted students differentiated curriculum in the regular classroom.
The classroom teacher (with the help of a site mentor teacher or the Assistant Director for Gifted) develops an instructional plan
Plan differentiates the curriculum by:
setting individual goals for the student
recommending the use of advanced materials
setting more rigorous outcomes in the area of strength.
Plan is Communicated to the parents
Revisited quarterly for effectiveness

9. Satellite/KGA Accelerated and In-depth Studies Program
Interaction With Intellectual Peers
Provides Academic Challenge
Provides Opportunities for Independent Studies in Areas of Interest
Experience Meaningful Involvement in Real Problems
Taught by teachers who specialize in gifted education
CUSD is committed to an educational program that recognizes the unique needs, and talents of the individual student. The CATS program helps to meet this goal.
This is a unique program. Chandler is one of the few district in the Valley to offer self-contained gifted classes. The philosophy behind this is that children are gifted all day long and need to be challenged to achieve at high level if we want them to reach their potential.
Research shows that gifted students should spend a large part of each day among intellectual peers to adequately stimulate learning.
Gifted students’ educational needs are less likely to be met within a regular ed. classroom, where the learning needs are more diverse. Also, CATS teachers receive additional training, so that they are better able to meet the educational needs of gifted students.

10. A Three Tier Approach to Gifted Services in CUSD
Knox Gifted Academy
Academic Peers
Accelerated Curriculum
Project/Problem Based
Performing Arts
Gifted Endorsed Teachers
CATS Satellite Campus (Jacobson, Ryan, Santan, Hull)
Consultative
Accelerated Curriculum
Individualized Learning Plan

11. Research (from the National Association of Gifted Children)
Why Are Gifted Programs Needed?
Gifted and talented students and those with high abilities need gifted education programs that will challenge them in regular classroom settings and enrichment and accelerated programs to enable them to make continuous progress in school.

12. It’s more than just giving students a challenge in classrooms:
According to a recent report on high­ achieving students, more than 7 in 10 teachers of these students surveyed noted that their brightest students were not challenged or given a chance to “thrive” in their classrooms.
Gifted students need gifted programming in many cases because the “general education program is not yet ready to meet the needs of gifted students” (p. 9) due to lack of general educators’ training in gifted education and the pressure classroom teachers face to raise the performance of their struggling students.

13. Gifted programming positively influences students’ futures.
Several longitudinal studies have shown that gifted programs have a positive effect on students’ post­secondary plans. For example, studies found that 320 gifted students identified during adolescence who received services through the secondary level pursued doctoral degrees at more than 50X the base rate expectations.
In a follow ­up report on the same study participants at age 38, 203 participants, or 63%, reported holding advanced terminal degrees (master’s and above). Of these, 142 (44%) held doctoral degrees and 8 of these 142 had more than one doctoral degree. As a benchmark for this accomplishment, the authors of this study compared these rates to the general U.S. population, noting that only approximately 2% of the general population held a doctoral degree according to the 2010 U.S. Census.

14. Gifted programming builds life-long learners
A sample of 2,409 intellectually talented adolescents (top 1%) who were assessed on the SAT by age 13, and provided services through a talent search program, was tracked longitudinally for more than 25 years. Their creative accomplishments, with particular emphasis on literary achievement and scientific­technical innovation, were examined and results showed that distinct ability patterns identified by age 13 foreshadowed creative accomplishments in middle age. Among the sample, participants had earned 817 patents and published 93 books.

15. Curriculum Grade Level and Above Grade Level Objectives Differentiated
Depth
Complexity
Novelty
Acceleration
Differentiated through:
Content
Process
Product
Topics
Students in the CATS class will still be required to meet the grade level standards set by the District. The way in which these are delivered may be differentiated. Basic skills in math and language must also be mastered.
Instruction will be differentiated by:
Depth-delving deeper into a subject
Complexity-looking at a subject in a more complex manner or combining subjects
Novelty-taking a new approach
Acceleration-working above grade level peers.
Differentiation may take place in one or more of the following:
content-what is studied
process-how it is studied
product-what is done with the learned material
Topics. Teachers do teach two separate curricula to meet the required standards of the grade level, but make connections between those topics for students. Separate investigations and projects may take place, as well as some whole group connecting lessons that address general concepts covered in both grade level standards.

17. CATS Program Guiding Principles
1 Support mastery of accelerated core content incorporating depth and complexity 2 Develop an understanding of the interrelationships among the disciplines 3 Develop inquiry skills 4 Develop critical and creative thinking, problem solving, and decision making skills 5 Develop proficiency in communicating abstract and complex ideas, relationships, and issues
Diane

18. Answers to FAQ’s Teacher/Student Ratio Schools Transportation
Multi-Age Classes
Homework
Siblings
Class size and ratio is comparable to the regular education classes within that school.
Not every school has a CATS class. Selection of schools is based by the district on space availability and numbers of students returning contracts and current participants at that school. Students are bussed to partner schools from their home schools as needed.
Many classes are multi-age. This again depends on numbers at a particular school.Research shows that there are many benefits to this structure.
Many classes loop, which means they stay together with the same students and teacher for two years. Some new students may be added as new students are identified.
Students and parents must sign a contract , making a one year commitment to the program. If a student leaves the CATS program, he/she must be tested again.

19. Challenges for Families
Change of Schools
First Experience With Academic Challenge
Label
Perfectionism
Due to the numbers of students in the program, it is sometime necessary for students to change schools. The District provides bussing from the home school to the CATS school to which the students is assigned. Most of the time there is a group going together. Every effort is made the keep students at one school through sixth grade. CATS students become part of their host school community and we encourage parents to support that. Students in 5th and 6th grade participate in block activities with the regular ed. students and have the opportunity to play a musical instrument at that time. CATS classes are also included in other grade level activities at the school. Teachers work to build a classroom environment that welcomes all students.
Students are off to an exciting learning adventure when they enter the CATS class. Although they usually welcome the educational challenges, they might experience a time of adjustment. For example, their status in the classroom changes. After spending several years as the “top dog” they are suddenly one of many. The pace is faster. An adjustment period is typical. Most students will experience this sometime during their education, whether it is in elementary school, honors classes, or college. By learning to cope with these emotions early on, they will be better prepared for challenges later in life, often when more is at stake.
Now that your child has been identified and labeled as “gifted”, his or her friends and siblings, may wonder what it means as well as the student himself. Downplaying differences while accepting that we all learn in different ways will help children understand this label.
Your child might define himself by being “the best” at everything he tries. Help him or her realize that while accomplishments bring a feeling of success, comparisons to others does not determine our success. Occasional set-backs are part of the learning process. The difference between a plastic flower and a real flower is that only one is growing.

20. Next Steps… Complete an open enrollment application
Final placement letters will be sent to your home in March.

21. Please be our guest at the Catalyst for Change Conference
Save the Date
Saturday April 22nd, 2017
Basha High School
11 am – 2 pm