Thanks for all the great advice! Being part of the charter school board has been very interesting to me. Just when you think everything is set (charter renewed, policies updated, terrific set of teachers) there's a new challenge.

It's small (20 kids in each of 6th, 7th, & 8th grades...60 total), limiting simultaneous scheduling of classes (there's only one math teacher, e.g. Imagine the little PTA--although we've been successful in raising money for things like a bus ride to have the kids see Mikhail Gorbachev speak in Midland last year. I really like the "contract" idea. The school has the Iowa scale, so that's good, and the teachers are all "highly qualified", plus several are pursuing their "gifted licensure", new requirement in the state.

I agree with grouping--which happens to be in the school's charter/philosophy/mission. At first I was wary of it because I thought, "why can't kids just work independently when they're ready; why are groups so necessary?" In the workplace, I had experiences where groups held you back, added frustration, some would work hard, some were lax, etc. However, I see how the group encourages my DS 11 to work harder than he would independently, so I'm ok with it.

Partial homeschooling is not possible because of funding, but working independently or in small groups is possible. Plus, commuting to the high school or community college would be possible, with parents required to transport, but clearly it would be better (less time) to have credit courses available at the middle school.

Thanks again for all the great ideas. I've also asked DITD counselors for input re: online courses or programming options for gifted ed plan. Here's what they said:

I had a chance to talk with the team. Everyone agreed both Art of Problem Solving and IMACS are great options. The other option we discussed is ALEKS. ALEKS does offer a school program and comes with an online tutor http://www.aleks.com/k12. Crissa knows of a GT Coordinator who used this program at his school and was going to try and contact him to see if we can get some feedback. Online courses would be a great option to have at your school. However, with any new addition there will be drawbacks. For example, some students may really prefer to work with someone directly, while others may really enjoy a distance program for the sake of working at their own pace. As I understand it, the student could either work in the classroom on the material or go to the computer lab. It probably would be a good idea to have someone present in the room for questions and monitoring. I believe most programs have print out sheets or progress reports and exams, so proctoring probably will not be needed. As you know, it will be hard to please everyone, but this is a wonderful option. I don�t know of too many schools who offer their students distance learning as a choice.


Is there anyone at school who is an Educators Guild member? If some is, or wants to sign up they can post to the e-List and get feedback from educators http://www.davidsongifted.org/edguild/ If someone isn�t able to sign up, I can ask Aimee, our Educators Guild Director to post to the E-list. You may also want to take a look at http://www.bestevidence.org/. This is a great tool that allows you to see ratings of programs and they do have math programs.


I know you may have most of this information below; however you may find it helpful with your decision making process.


Books and a website



� Building a Gifted Program http://www.giftedbooks.com/productdetails.asp?id=40

� Aiming for Excellence: Gifted Program Standards; Annotations to the NAGC Pre-K Grade 12 Gifted Program Standards http://www.nagc.org/acb/stores/1/product1.aspx?Product_ID=69

� Designing Services and Programs for High-Ability Learners http://www.nagc.org/acb/stores/1/Designing-Services-Programs-for-High-Abilit y-Learners-A-Guidebook-for-Gifted-Education-66-P187C0.aspx

� How Academic Talents Are Developed & Nurtured in America http://www.a1books.com/cgi-bin/mktS...gbase&rel=1&ITEM_CODE=0889371121

� Gifted Education: Promising Practices http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Resources_id_12331.aspx

� Re-Forming Gifted Education http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10044.aspx

� Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education Professional Development services http://www.education.uiowa.edu/belinblank/professional/



Articles



� Twelve Cost Effective Educational Options for Serving Gifted Students http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10363.aspx

� Successful Strategies for Teaching Gifted Learners http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10075.aspx

� Basic educational options for gifted students in schools http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10270.aspx

� Individual instruction plan menu for the gifted child http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10272.aspx

� Best Practices of Schools that Nurture Excellence http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10289.aspx

� What the Research Says About Gifted Learners http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10292.aspx

� Planning effective curriculum experiences for gifted learners http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10278.aspx

� Gifted children: Are their gifts being identified, encouraged, or ignored? http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10169.aspx