Moline School District is trying out a new type of gifted program -- one that does not separate students.
Moline School District is trying out a new type of gifted program -- one that does not separate students.
Moline School District Superintendent Lanty McGuire recently provided the school board with an update on the district's new approach to providing gifted students with ability-appropriate learning at Roosevelt Elementary School.
The district approved a shift in the school's Program for Academically Talented Students (PATS) last year. In the former program, high-achieving students -- labeled as gifted -- were separated from the student bodies at their respective schools and brought together for part of their school days with other gifted students for a higher level of education.
The new program continues to offer customized education to high-achieving students, but depends on individual teacher's responses to do it. Instead of separating high-achieving students, the new program incorporates the students into classrooms of students with mixed-levels of abilities, with the idea that all students will benefit from the exposure to each other's diversity.
McGuire said district officials have hired Purdue's Marcia Gentry to provide an independent, comparative assessment that will measure the difference in impact between the former PATS program and the new "school cluster grouping" approach.
The board also approved a dozen substitute teachers and support staff for the current school year and authorized the retirement of custodian Kathleen Hook and Hall Supervisory Assistant Marianne Jamieson.
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