Gifted programs provide a differentiated, enriched academic environment for students with advanced learning abilities. Gifted students participate in gifted and talented programs from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

The purpose of Spring Branch Gifted and Talented programs is to identify students who exhibit characteristics of high general intellectual ability and to meet their special learning needs.

Research has shown that gifted students possess similar general characteristics and that along with these characteristics are specific learning needs. General intellectual ability giftedness is seen in students who show behaviors in three general clusters of characteristics; above average intellectual ability, task commitment, and creativity (Renzulli).

The program seeks to serve students who "possess superior intelligence, with potential or demonstrated achievement in several fields of study and the ability to perform complex mental tasks", not bright memory learners. We meet the specific learning needs that stem from this type of giftedness through a differentiated curriculum as required by the Texas State Guidelines for the Education of the Gifted and Talented.

The differentiation is accomplished by providing a curriculum which uses the Principles of a Differentiated Curriculum for the Gifted/Talented (N/S-LTI-G/T).

These Principles are recommended for use by the state guidelines. The regular curriculum will be differentiated by modifying content, process, product, and environment; by meeting advanced skills' needs, especially in the area of research, and by nurturing the abstract thinking abilities of these students. A combination of the strategies of differentiation, enrichment and acceleration is used in designing appropriate programs.

Our gifted and talented program for Kindergarten, first, and second graders is called PGP, the Primary Gifted Program. From third grade through twelfth grade, the program is called SPIRAL Spring Branch Program for Improving Reasoning and Accelerating Learning.

Students identified for the gifted primary program (PGP), participate on their school campus. The PGP program format is a campus-based decision. Third, fourth, and fifth grade students travel to Bendwood Campus one day each week for SPIRAL classes. Elementary schools send their SPIRAL students to Bendwood Campus. In sixth through twelfth grades, students enroll in language arts, math, science, and social studies classes which meet at their school campuses daily.

Identification screening for the gifted and talented program takes place in the fall for elementary students and in the spring for secondary students.

Approximately 5-7% of the district's student population will meet the general guidelines of the identification process. Parents, community members, counselors, and teachers, as well as students themselves may nominate potential candidates. Schools gather screening information and offer testing for interested students. Students new to the district must be tested and qualify for the program unless they have been in a comparable gifted program in another school district with similar identification requirements.

The goal of our gifted programs is to provide a differentiated, enriched academic environment for students with advanced learning abilities that uses instructional methods and materials designed to develop thinking processes that enhance independent study and personal effectiveness.

If you think your child is a good candidate for the gifted and talented program, please contact your school counselor at the Spring Branch school where your child currently attends. G/T nomination and screening is open to all every year from Kindergarten to twelfth grade. Parents, educators, and students may submit names for nomination and screening. Elementary screening is completed in the fall semester and secondary screening is completed in the spring semester.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) publishes the Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted/Talented Students, the official state document which outlines the current G/T state law, G/T state rules, and G/T state guidelines for Texas public schools. This document may be accessed through the Texas Education Agency web site at http://www.gted@tmail.tea.state.tx.us