Advanced Learning Plans are legal documents outlining programming for gifted students, and are used as a guide for educational planning and decision making. Students actively participate in their Advanced Learning Plan process, and parents are engaged in the plan’s development.

Advanced Learning Plans include:

• Annual achievement goals developed for a student’s strength area
• Goals reflecting development of personal competency, social competency, communication skills, leadership skills, and/or cultural competency
• A description of supplemental curriculum, activities, specific strategies, and extended or expanded opportunities that support those goals

For students in eighth grade and on, their Advanced Learning Plan is blended with their Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP).

Identification

ECSD Gifted Identification Assessment

Eagle County School District identifies and serves students whose aptitude or competence in abilities, talents, and potential in one or more domains (areas) are so exceptional or developmentally advanced that they require special provisions to meet their educational programming needs.

Exceptional Children's Educational Act (ECEA) Rules specify that a student may be identified in one or more of these domains:

General or Specific Intellectual Ability

Intellectual ability is exceptional capability or potential, recognized through processes such as memory, reasoning, rate of learning, spatial reasoning, ability to find and solve problems, and ability to manipulate abstract ideas and make connections.

Specific Academic Aptitude

Specific academic aptitude is exceptional capability or potential in one or more academic content areas. For example a strong knowledge base, or the ability to ask insightful questions within the content. All academic content areas are considered.

Talent Aptitudes

Students demonstrate exceptional capabilities or potential in one or more of the following talent areas: visual arts, performing arts, music, dance or psychomotor (physical skills).

Creative or Productive Thinking

Creative or productive thinking is exceptional capability or potential in mental processes such as critical thinking, creative problem solving, humor, or independent/original thinking and/or products.

Leadership Abilities

Leadership is the exceptional capability or potential to influence and empower people e.g. social perceptiveness, visionary ability, communication skills, inter- and intra-personal skills, and a sense of responsibility.

District Parent Connection Groups provide GT families with opportunities to learn, ask questions, and connect with one another around the unique needs of gifted learners. These sessions take place quarterly, rotate between up and down valley locations and support meaningful partnerships between families and the district by focusing on topics such as gifted identification, acceleration, overexcitabilities, emotional intensity, motivation, perfectionism, resilience, and social-emotional development.” Please contact Marjorie Oyler if you would like to join our groups.

• National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)

Supporting the Needs of High Potential Learners

• NAGC Parent TIP Sheets

• Colorado Association of Gifted and Talented

Welcome to Colorado's gifted community, where educators, families and community advocates come together for support, education, and information.

• Hoagies

Welcome to Hoagies' Gifted Education Page, the all-things-gifted site, full of resources, articles, books, and links to help and support parents, teachers, and gifted children alike.

• Davidson Institute for Talent Development

We are a national non-profit organization dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted students, 18 and under.

• Acceleration Institute

The Acceleration Institute is dedicated to the study of curricular acceleration for academically talented children.

• National Society for the Gifted & Talented

To advance the development of gifted, talented, and high potential youth, in the United States and abroad, through opportunities, advocacy, and exemplary programs and practices.

• Gifted Guru

Practical and useful resources, tips and tricks of the trade for parents and educators and homeschooling momecators (mom + educator!) alike.

• GoStrong 

Organizing your student for success: Tips and tricks for maximizing executive functions, by Susanne Phillips Keely, M.A. CCC-SLP

• Council for Exceptional Children

The Voice of Special Education

• IGGY

Connecting and Challenging the Worlds Brightest Young Minds

• International Gifted Education Teacher-Development Network

A fundamental mission of the International Gifted Education Teacher-Development Network (IGET-Network) is to bring worldwide best practices in the gifted education field of study and practice, to countries where gifted education is not incorporated into school governance policies.

• Social and Emotional Needs of the Gifted

SENG is dedicated to fostering environments in which gifted adults and children, in all their uniqueness, understand and accept themselves and are understood, valued, nurtured, and supported by their families, schools, workplaces, and communities.

• Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development

Studies focusing on meeting the needs of gifted and talented youth have received national and international attention for over 40 years.

• The Gifted Child Society

The Gifted Child Society is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1957 by parents of New Jersey to further the cause of gifted children.

• Gifted Student Institute

The Institute's goals draw on our strengths and challenge us to assist educators, parents, and students and to contribute to ongoing research in giftedness.

• Duke TIP

The Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving academically gifted and talented youth. As a world leader in gifted and talented education, Duke TIP works with students, their families, and educators to identify, recognize, challenge, engage, and help students reach their highest potential.

• Center for Bright Kids

CBK offers K-12 enrichment and acceleration programming for high interest and high ability kids.

• Center for Talent Development

Center for Talent Development (CTD) at Northwestern University exists to serve the gifted community and ensure that gifted students receive the education, encouragement, and support they need to learn and grow into confident and accomplished adults whose love for learning grows stronger each year.

• The Belin Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development

The Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development (B-BC) is a comprehensive center focused on nurturing potential and inspiring excellence through myriad programs and services.

• Center for the Education and Study of Gifted, Talented, Creative Learners

The purpose of the Center for the Education and Study of Gifted, Talented, Creative Learners at the University of Northern Colorado is to support and promote all aspects of gifted and talented education.

Gifted specialists in each building collaborate with classroom teachers to monitor the growth and achievement of identified gifted students. Progress monitoring data is used to guide instructional decisions and track a student’s progress in their strength area(s). This data is gathered using standardized tests and other assessments in the classroom.

A student who is not formally identified as gifted may be included in a Talent Pool: a group of students who demonstrate an advanced ability in a particular area, but at this time do not meet the criteria for gifted identification.

Students in a talent pool are often provided with advanced or gifted programming services. As students are presented with more challenging curriculum, increased achievement may occur, potentially leading to a gifted identification at a later date. Students identified as gifted in one area my be part of a talent pool for a different domain. Not all students will stay in the talent pool for the same amount of time.

TRANSFERRING GIFTED STUDENTS

Any student identified as gifted within Eagle County Schools is able to transfer into the gifted program of any other school district in the state of Colorado, in accordance with the new district’s programming options. This “portability” is part of a student’s permanent record and Advanced Learning Plan.

For students moving into Eagle County from another state, district personnel will review their records for evidence of giftedness and determine if additional assessments are needed to confirm if the student meets Colorado criteria for gifted identification. In the event a transferring student’s gifted identification does not meet these guidelines, the building gifted specialist will collect a body of evidence, which may include administering additional assessments. An identification decision will be made within 60 days of the student’s transfer documentation.

Twice-exceptional refers to students who are identified as gifted and with a disability that qualifies them for either an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) or 504 Plan. Gifted specialists attend IEP and 504 Plan meetings to ensure the strengths of the student are considered in all areas of the student’s programming plan, including the student’s Advanced Learning Plan.

Advanced Learning Plans for twice-exceptional students focus on strength-based programming and supports to develop social emotional skills such as self-advocacy and perseverance. We believe twice-exceptional students engage in their learning and demonstrate growth in both their strength and deficit area(s).

Universal screening, or the assessment of all students within a grade level, is one of the many different pathways from which a student might be referred.

All ECSD students in second and sixth grades are assessed with the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) Screener in October or March each year. Data collected through the screening assessment provides information for instructional planning for all students, and is also used for the specific purpose of identifying highly capable or gifted students.

UNIversal screener and referral process

Universal screening flow chart

“Early Access” refers to early entrance into kindergarten at age 4, or into first grade at age 5 for highly advanced, gifted children who are placed in a grade level above their same aged peers. To qualify for early access, the student must:

• by October 1, be age 4 for kindergarten or age 5 for first grade
• be formally identified as gifted, and
• meet requirements for accelerated placement as determined in a body of evidence

Regular public or private preschools or homeschooling meet the needs of the majority of gifted 4 and 5 year olds. The early access identification process recognizes there are highly advanced, gifted children who require comprehensive academic acceleration.

Applications for early access are due by April 1 for the following school year.

Early Access Information-Procedure (English and Spanish)

Early Access Application (English and Spanish)

Kingore Observation Inventory 

Students may opt out of gifted services for one or several reasons.  First, they may not need the level of support being offered at their school, or students may have self-selected programming at their school and don’t require additional support from a Gifted Education Specialist. 

If you would like to opt your child out of Gifted Education services, please complete the Intent to Decline letter and share it with your child’s Gifted Education Specialist.

Gifted education OPT OUT LETTER (Eng/spa)

Gifted Education Disagreement Resolution Process

Eagle County School District is committed to working collaboratively with parents, guardians, and students to support the educational needs of gifted learners. If a disagreement arises regarding gifted identification, programming, Advanced Learning Plans (ALPs), acceleration, or early access decisions, the district provides a process for expressing, discussing, and reviewing concerns in a timely manner.

Parents, guardians, or students are encouraged to first communicate concerns with the school-based Gifted Education specialist and/or school administrator. The purpose of this initial conversation is to clarify the decision, review relevant student information, and determine whether the concern can be resolved at the school level.

If the concern is not resolved at the school level, the parent/guardian may submit a written request for review. When applicable, disputed decisions may be reviewed before implementation.

The appeal process will follow the order below:

1. Director of Gifted Education
2. Executive Director of Exceptional Student Services
3. Assistant Superintendent for Learning Services
4. Superintendent of Schools
5. Board of Education

At each level, the designated district personnel will review available documentation, which may include the student’s body of evidence, assessment data, classroom performance, ALP goals, programming records, acceleration documentation, and any additional information provided by the parent/guardian or student. After reviewing the information, the designated district personnel will issue a decision regarding the appeal. If the appeal is denied, or if the parent/guardian or student disagrees with the decision, they may appeal to the next designated level in the process. The district will communicate decisions in a timely manner and will make reasonable efforts to resolve concerns collaboratively.

This process applies to disagreements related to gifted identification, gifted programming and services, ALP development or implementation, and acceleration decisions.