Page 10 - FDLRS Focus - Winter 2020

Gifted

“I raise up my voice, not so I can shout, but so those without a voice can be heard...we cannot succeed
when half of us are held back.”
-- Malala Yousafzai

Strategic Theme #1 of the Palm Beach School District’s Strategic Plan expresses the importance of addressing
the instructional needs of its students. The goal of “effective and relevant instruction to meet the needs of all
students” is inclusive of our top performing students. Gifted and high achieving students demonstrate a need
for a challenging academic experience; presented in a creative and differentiated format with support for the
unique social/emotional needs of this special population of students. This is achieved through the opportunity
of gifted services being provided for students that demonstrate a need for rigor and depth beyond the scope of
the traditional instructional program.

As a District, we realize the importance of challenge and rigor in the gifted classroom
and presenting the standards with greater depth and creativity than would be found in
the general education setting. To support this philosophy, professional development
and teacher support has been enhanced. This year, our Gifted Education Team has
worked hard to ensure that the needs of all gifted learners are being met. This year the
team has provided in-service and instructional support to teachers, presented at Parent
University to ensure that parents of gifted and potentially gifted students are aware
of the many services provided to our students, and finally presented at local and state
conferences, like FLAG, on the importance of recognizing the diverse needs of gifted
learners.

An essential component of building a strong gifted
program is increasing the applicant pool of teachers
with the state mandated Gifted Endorsement. The
opportunity for public school teachers to obtain their
Gifted Endorsement at no cost has been a great incentive
for teachers to register for these classes. The Gifted
Endorsement helps to enhance the marketability of a
teacher. The Florida Department of Education requires
fifteen additional semester hours of course credit to
add an Endorsement in Gifted Education to a teaching
certificate. Palm Beach County offers the necessary
courses for endorsement to teachers employed by the
district free of charge and for a fee of $300 per course
for charter school employees seeking to earn the credits
toward the Gifted Endorsement in the form of five
10-week module courses. Each class is worth 60 in-service points and can also be used for recertification and
include the following course titles:

Module 1: Nature and Needs of Gifted Students
Module 2: Theory and Development of Creativity for the Gifted
Module 3: Guidance and Counseling of Gifted Students
Module 4: Education of Special Populations of Gifted Students
Module 5: Curriculum Development for the Gifted

Page 10 FDLRS Focus