District AIG Advisory Board

November 14, 2011

I want to express my sincere thanks to all of you who attended the meeting. I recognize that attending the Advisory Board meeting presented a hardship for some of you. I realize that when a meeting date is scheduled that everyone will not be able to attend, but whether you arrived late, left early, or stayed for the entire meeting know that I am grateful for the commitment you have made to the AIG program and the students that it touches. It is through active participation, suggestions and dialogue that we may see continued growth and improvement in AIG services. The AIG program does not receive any federal money; therefore, it is important that we make ourselves heard to our local and state leaders.

Members present – Gabriela Anaya-Barrera, Melanie Barham. Sharon Beam, Angela Hamlet, Nakia Hardy, Becca Isley, Wayne Knight, Kerri Newsome, Darla Page, Tiffany Perkins, Pam Reynolds, Dean Richardson, Laura Rodgers, Debbie Smith, Wanda Smith, Mironda Williams

I.State Coordinator

Much appreciation is extended to our state AIG Coordinator, Sneha Shah-Coltrane, for taking the time to skype with us. Sneha works closely with two regional leads from each of the eight regions in North Carolina. Wanda Smithis one of two regional leads for Region 5.

II. Update on AIG plan

The goal of DPI is to have all district AIG plans on the DPI website by the end of December. We are at the mid-point of the current 2010-2013 plan cycle. There are six standards and fifty-one practices. RCS’AIG Plan has designated fourteen practices as focus practices; eight as future practices; and nineteen as maintained practices.

In the near future, DPI will release a template to use as a mid-point narrative. The narrative will serve as an interim report indicating our progression in 2010-2013 AIG Plan.

III. Purpose

An important role of the district Advisory Board is to serve as an advocate for our AIG students. One way of doing this is by forming a PAGE Chapter (Partners the Advancement of Gifted Education). Please let me know if you are interested in starting a chapter as a means to advocate for our gifted students. More information can be found at

Another important role is to help evaluate the plan and program so we can better serve our AIG students in RockinghamCounty.

IV. Budget

Although there was concern last spring that the AIG budget at the state level might be cut by as much as 18%, the AIG budget was protected this year at both the state and local levels. The following message came from our state AIG director, Sneha Shah-Coltrane,“ ‘Don’t mess with gifted!’ was the message that was spread last spring to the legislators when our state law was being threatened as well as our funding. Well, everyone heard your loud roar! State AIG funds were maintained this year at the same level! We are grateful for the state’s support. NC General Assembly allocated close to $70 million to our LEAs.” Thank you for contacting your state legislators.

V. AIGHigh School Students

Academic Challenge Competition - This is our 12th year of sponsoring the Academic Challenge Competition. It is open to AIG high school students as well as any student who chooses to participate. This year, RockinghamEarlyCollegeHigh School has joined the four traditional high schools in the Academic Challenge Competition. There will be 5 matches throughout the school year and students will compete in the areas of math, English, social studies, science, and all-around. Dates for these matches are posted on both the district calendar and the High School AIG website. At the end of the season, a recognition event will be held to award a trophy to the overall winning team as well as medals for team members of the winning team in each category. In the past, Mr. Sam Coates of Tri-City Automotive group has generously funded a scholarship to a senior member of each team.

Summer Ventures in Science and Mathematics - Summer Ventures is a four-week residential program for gifted students who have a strong interest in math and/or science. This program is offered on five campuses of the University of North Carolina and is administered by the North Carolina School of Science and Math. It is open to both rising juniors and seniors. Counselors at each high school have been given information. The deadline for applying is January 31, 2012.

Governor’s School - Governor’s School is a six-week residential program for gifted students in North Carolina. The State Board of Education has recently approved the opening of at least one campus for Governor’s School for next summer. Although all funding for this program was cut last summer by the state legislature, over $525,000 has been raised so far from private donations. The Governor’s School district committee for RCS has selected one “Superintendent’s Nominee” who will automatically receive an invitation to attend Governor’s School. In addition, we were allowed to send nine academic applications and two performing arts applications to be considered by a state selection committee in Raleigh should funding permit additional students to attend. The state charges a $500 stipend per student. The McMichael Family Foundation and Mr. McMichael have agreed to provide the $500 tuition payment for all students from RockinghamCounty who are accepted to attend Governor's School next summer. We are so thankful for his continued support for this program!

VI. Professional Development for AIG Teachers

For the past two years, the focus of professional development for the AIG specialists has been differentiation. We are continuing with differentiation as the focus this year as we target web 2.0 tools. Some of the tools we’ll be utilizing are Skype, Jing, Linoit (book studies), digital storytelling, wikis, blogs, etc.

VII. Guidance Counselors

Three books have been purchased for each guidance counselor in each of the twenty-six schools. The book titles are:

  1. On the Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Children
  2. The Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Children: What Do We Know?
  3. Some of My Best Friends Are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers

Mrs. Wanda Smithwill deliver a presentation/book talk at the December guidance counselor meeting.

VIII. CommonCoreState Standards

This year is considered a transition year concerning the Common Core. All certified staff is receiving training on the new Common Core State Standards throughout this school year. We will move next year to teaching and testing based on the new standards. You can access the Common Core at the following websites:

DPI - Look at the left sidebar for “CommonCoreState and NC Essential Standards”

  • (national website)

IX. AIG Endorsement

AIG endorsement is only recognized within Rockingham County Schools.AIG endorsement consists of three days of professional development for those teachers wanting to learn more about differentiation for the AIG student, social and emotional needs of gifted students, characteristics of gifted students, etc. Once teachers have received an AIG endorsement, AIG students may be placed in the classrooms of these teachers if there are no teachers with AIG state certification. In NC, a teacher can earn an add-on AIG license through an accredited Institute of Higher Education. Programs are generally 12 semester hours of credit; some offer graduate programs.

X. WesternRockinghamMiddle School

Mrs. Smith is providing staff development and working closely with these teachers to obtain the local endorsement.

XI.10 Myths in Gifted Education Video

Members at each table discussed some of the myths that were presented in the video. The following were ideas/suggestions/insight as a result of the video.

  • Spanish and other resource teachers don’t have the training to work with AIG students since there is a concentration on math and reading.As a result of this conversation, when AIG endorsement sessions are offered in the future, the AIG specialists will be asked to get the word to all certified staff members.
  • Acceleration was discussed at the kindergarten level. Acceleration procedures were discussed, and these procedures are in the AIG plan which can be accessed on the district website.
  • Acceleration program: AP and IB is not a replacement for AIG students; many high school students are bored in classrooms and as a resultschool attendance not always good.
  • Gifted students are bright and these students will “get it on their own.” Assigning more work is not differentiating.

XII. District AIG Website is located at

  • Lots of resources for parents and teachers
  • Link to the website of each of the AIG specialists
  • Email Wanda smith if you think something needs to be added to our site.
  • One suggestion – Indicators of giftedness in Spanish for Hispanic parents? Several forms are already translated into Spanish that have yet to be posted on the site.

XIII. Questions

  • To whom do you go to when there is a question/concern about AIG?

This is dependent upon the question being asked, but it is usually as listed below:

  • AIG specialist
  • Principal
  • AIG Coordinator
  • AIG Director
  • How are grades determined between the classroom teacher and the specialist?
  • In the elementary grades, the grades provided by the AIG specialist are incorporated into the final average.
  • At the middle school/high school level, it is the teacher of record.
  • Are AIG students identified in elementary school always identified as gifted even if they are not performing in class?
  • Yes, RCS no longer exits a student from the AIG program because of underachievement. It is our goal to address the underachievement.
  • What happens when a student transfer to RCS from another district?
  • If a student moves to RCS from another district, they are grandfathered into our AIG program until the end of the school year. Then the student is evaluated according to the criteria of RCS.

XIV. Areas of Strength/Improvement

Committee members were asked to list some areas of strength as well as areas of

improvement.

Strengths:

  • Extracurricular activities
  • Information provided concerning the AIG program/plan
  • AIG specialist’s website
  • In-depth, quality literacy instruction
  • District AIG website

Areas of Improvement:

  • Feedback needs to be provided other than grades.
  • Teachers who teach AIG students need to provide more challenging work
  • In the middle school grades, have students clustered in social studies and science as well as math and ELA. At the elementary level, cluster AIG students according to area and level of identification
  • Principals need to buy into the AIG program
  • Better identification of AIG students – consider bright versus gifted

characteristics.

  • Translate gifted characteristics into Spanish
  • More differentiation is needed at the high school level
  • More collaboration with classroom teachers
  • Feedback to parents regarding how AIG assignments are incorporated into report card grades.

Please contact Wanda Smith by phone or email if you have any questions or concerns.

634-3209, extension 49221