High-C

Each spring schools across the country test their students to ensure they have learned the curriculum expected of them. In some school districts a handful of students are issued additional testing to determine eligibility for gifted programs. These students are selected by teacher recommendation, prior high scores on standard tests, or by the request of the child’s parents. Abigail was one of the students at her previous school selected to be tested for their STEP = (student teacher enrichment program) class. The way it worked is that based on these special tests the top 25 third grade students in the district (14 elementary schools) would attend 4th and 5th grade together. These students would be bussed each day to the school where the program is sponsored. The program sounds great in that it provides a challenging environment for these students, but the drawback (in my opinion) was that they would be completely removed from their peers. Shortly after we moved we were contacted by our previous school counselor with Abigail’s test scores and were told that she would have been one of the few students in the district selected for the gifted program. Of course we were proud (but let’s be honest, not surprised). The counselor advised us to send Abigail’s scores to our new school district where they too have a gifted program they refer to as High-C (highly capable). I called the gal over the program and she unofficially told me Abigail was a shoe-in and explained how their program is structured. The students are pulled out of their regular classes once a week for 90-minutes. So while it’s not nearly as much time as STEP would have been I feel that it may be just the right balance between providing additional opportunities to excel while also remaining quite normal and mainstream.

This week we received official notification of Abigail’s acceptance into the High-C program – she didn’t know anything about it so it was exciting news for her. The teacher included an outline of the program and it sounds really awesome – the students get to go on extra field trips and are taught some really fun and challenging curriculum.

Great job Abigail!