Our school district is going to adopt a Level of Services model of gifted services, and I'm wondering if anyone has children attending a school with a similar program. It's based on the following book, by Donald Treffinger et al.
Enhancing & Expanding Gifted Programs: A Levels of Service Approach P. 21 of this preview is where they start describing the 4 levels of service, from Level 1, being the most inclusive and providing all students with such things as critical thinking skills, to Level 4, which would be services such as mentoring or acceleration for students with exceptional needs. Students are not labeled; the program is. Also, students would not necessarily be pigeon-holed in a particular level at all times. Rather, they could move in and out of services as needed. E.g., a kid may need Level 3 services for geometry, but not for algebra.
It sounds like a lot of work for the teachers - pretests and observation and coordination. But on paper, it sounds really great, especially for the kids who just miss traditional cutoffs for gifted services. In this model, achievement and IQ tests are only part of the assessment to determine whether a student is in need of services, and a student may move in and out of different levels of service for units throughout the year.
Anyone familiar with this model?
