The Gifted and Talented mission at American Academy is to promote intellectual, social and emotional growth in the gifted and twice exceptional student population through encouraging student-lead advocacy, providing active support and purposeful education programming and opportunities.
Gifted Program Vision
To develop an exemplary gifted education program that is comprehensive, fluid and adaptable where life-long learning and intellectual pursuits are encouraged, supported and valued.
American Academy's Gifted and Talented Coordinator is Karen Billings (
[email protected])
Definition of Giftedness
Gifted and talented students are those students between the ages of four and twenty-one whose abilities, talents, and potential for accomplishment are so exceptional or developmentally advanced that they require special provisions to meet their educational programming needs. Gifted students include students with disabilities (i.e. twice exceptional) and students with exceptional abilities or potential from all socio-economic and ethnic, cultural populations. Gifted students are capable of high performance, exceptional production, or exceptional learning behavior by virtue of any or a combination of these areas:
• General or Specific Intellectual Ability
• Specific Academic Aptitude
• Creative or Productive Thinking
• Leadership Abilities
• Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Musical or Psychomotor Abilities
Gifted Program Goals
- To build a cohesive peer support group for learning and socialization.
- To equip and support faculty in their efforts to appropriately differentiate curriculum and instruction for gifted and twice exceptional students.
- To build a support system for the unique emotional needs of gifted and twice exceptional students.
- To challenge students in their area of talent on a regular basis.
- To create partnerships with the wider public that enhance both community life and student-centered objectives.
- To educate the school community about the gifted in order to remove barriers and to promote understanding.
Gifted and Talented Resources
Whether your student is learning in-person or learning from home, gifted programming will continue and teachers will use Advanced Learning Plans to inform their instruction. We will be following cohort restrictions and taking into account all guidelines for maintaining the integrity of student cohorts and student and staff safety.