Developing a school-based program
A Total School Approach
School-based gifted and talented programs should reflect the schools unique priorities, population and individual learning needs as documented in the school development plan and as required by the Gifted and Talented Policy and supporting Guidelines.
Conduct a school needs assessment
As a part of the annual school development plan review, a school needs assessment may highlight the need for gifted and talented students to be catered for in a more specialised manner.
Information should be gathered from a range of sources when considering students to be included in a school-based gifted and talented program. Profiles of gifted and talented students should indicate areas of strength and weakness
Student information may be compiled from:
- Achievement tests
- Primary Extension and Challenge (PEAC) test results
- MIS data;
- Western Australian Literacy and Numeracy (WALNA) data
- Monitoring Standards in Education (MSE) data
- Anecdotal comments
- Interest Inventories and Student/ Teacher/Parent surveys
- Student record files including transition data (e.g. when students are transition from middle childhood to early adolescent phase - typically primary to secondary school)
- Identification checklists
Identification of giftedness early in a student's school life is important. In establishing a program, selection of participants may be done in several ways including those already mentioned above or in the Identification section.
Summary of methods and points to consider in the identification of gifted and talented students 
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Determine the learning needs of the students
- Not all gifted learners develop to the same level in all skill areas. Pre-testing to identify levels of student achievement (and avoid unnecessary repetition) and recognition of prior learning are important strategies to employ.
- Gifted and talented students use a variety of learning styles. They need time and freedom to explore learning areas in depth and the opportunity to engage with intellectual peers to share what they have learnt.
- Student interest inventories and surveys may be of use.
- Gifted and talented students require learning experiences and a curriculum that differentiates from the normal class provision.
Establish the program outcomes and learning outcomes for the students
- Teachers may decide to set the learning outcomes based on the needs of the identified students, but should allow for student negotiation.
- Ensure that these outcomes are audited against the Curriculum Framework (1998) Overarching Learning Outcomes and Learning,Teaching and Assessment Principles.
- Consideration should be given to time availability and extra-curricula commitments of both staff and students when setting time-lines and review dates.
Discussions, meetings and expressions of interest should be sought to identify staff that are most suitable and available to facilitate a school based gifted and talented program. Brainstorming sessions will enable the best possible resource allocation is made to the program.
Staff Consider support staff, key teachers, resource teachers, teachers with expertise and interest in particular areas
Community Resources
List community resources; e.g. museums, industry, telecentres, tertiary institutions, clubs, guest speakers
Parents
List parents with special skills and interests who may be invited as visiting speakers, to help on excursions or to establish contacts with other community groups
Other
List other available resources including information communication technology (ICT)
- Select the knowledge, content and relevant skills according to the learning outcomes desired.
- Select the strategies needed to achieve these learning outcomes and development of skills.
Refer to the Provision section for appropriate teaching models; approaches and strategies and suggested activities.
Select ongoing monitoring and assessment procedures
- Ongoing monitoring and assessment should:
- Be subjective and criterion referenced
- Involve students, teachers and parents
- Be linked to the program and individual learning outcomes
For further information see Monitoring and Assessment and refer to the Curriculum Framework (1998) Assessment principles (p.37-39)
Inform and involve parents/carers
It is vital that parents/carers of students be informed and involved in a consultative role whilst their children are a part of any school based program. This process could involve information sessions, general meetings or in/formal individual sessions. For students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, the use of interpreters or liaison officers may be required.
Provision may take many organisational forms designed to fit the needs of students and possibilities for consideration include:
- Enrichment activities within the basic core of the curriculum by the use of individual instruction where required
- Widening of students' interests through school clubs and exposure to a range of topics, events and experiences
- A more specialised provision, for example when a chess club becomes a chess club for talented chess players
- A school-based withdrawal program, in which identified students move out of the normal classroom for particular instruction at a different level and at a different pace
- Core-curriculum enrichment, which is done incidentally by most good classroom practitioners. The levels of questioning for these activities are altered.
- Whole-of-school experiences can be provided through camps or cluster groups, however these are considered enrichment not differentiated academic extension.
- Students can take part in competitions
- Extension groups can work on more challenging and rigorous academic areas
Suggestions for consideration:
- Program organised and conducted by the key teachers
- Program organised and conducted by the support teachers
- Support teacher organises the program then takes classes to release classroom teachers to conduct the program
- A staff committee takes responsibility for organising and conducting the program
- Resource teacher/teacher librarian conducts programs
- Staff ICT specialist conducts a program
- Staff learning area specialists conduct a program
- Staff, students and programs rotated each term
- Team teaching
Some of these options may be useful to consider when organising a school-based program for gifted students.
| Grouping Option |  |
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| Across year level/phase cluster on full/part time basis |  |
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| Autonomous Learner Model | |
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| Camps | |
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| Centrally located school cluster/inter-school groupings, sharing program/ resourcing responsibilities | |
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| Contact local secondary school for access to resources and extension or enrichment activities | |
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| Curriculum compacting | |
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| Differentiate curriculum in class setting | |
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| Individual contracts | |
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| Learning centres | |
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| Lunch time competitions/ clubs (could involve community expertise) | |
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| Mentoring | |
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| Mini-courses | |
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| Multi-age grouping | |
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| Multiple Intelligence/Learning Style groupings involved in special enrichment program | |
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| Peer tutoring/Research project work | |
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| Team teaching/programming between class/library resource teacher | |
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| Whole or part of school involved in the program at one time or on a rotational basis | |
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| Within year level/phase cluster on full/part time basis | |
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