The Cleveland School District provides a program of enrichment for intellectually gifted students. The classes are called “INSPIRE” and serve second through sixth grade students at each elementary school and the middle schools. Students at each school spend one day per week in the gifted “pull-out” enrichment program and the rest of the week in their general education classrooms. Second through sixth grade gifted students will attend INSPIRE classes at their schools.
Mississippi Department of Education gifted regulations and state mandate require that intellectually gifted students in grades two through six be provided services by a teacher with gifted endorsement for a minimum of five hours per week.
District Mission
The mission of the Cleveland School District gifted program is to insure that intellectually gifted children, as defined by the Mississippi Department of Education, are offered appropriate educational experiences that are qualitatively different from those available in the regular classroom in order to provide opportunities for them to realize their abilities and potential.
Structure
Meeting the needs of the intellectually gifted learner requires differential treatments both in curriculum and in instructional patterns of delivery. Because the intellectually gifted learner has special needs in both cognitive and affective areas, the curriculum focuses on both these areas. In working with both the Mississippi Department of Education's Suggested Outcomes for Intellectually Gifted; The Mississippi Gifted Education Programs Program Standards; and the Mississippi Association for Gifted Children's Recommended Curricular Elements, the INSPIRE Program will implement the following framework:
I. THINKING SKILLS
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
Analogical
Critical
Decision Making
Inductive
Deductive
Intuitive
Probability/Prediction
Questioning
Global Implications
II. CREATIVITY
Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, Elaboration
Affective
Problem Solving
Identify Relationships
III. SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING/RESEARCH
Topic Selection
Questioning
Gathering Data
Goal Setting
Planning
Task Commitment
Technology
Evaluation
IV. GROUP DYNAMICS
Intrapersonal Skills
Interpersonal Skills
V. COMMUNICATION
Listening Skills
Writing Effectively
Propaganda Technique
Verbal Skills
VI. LEADERSHIP
Understanding Need
Evaluating Skills/Styles
Effective Use of Leadership Skills
VII. VISUAL/PERFORMING ARTS
Exposed to/experiment with
Individually selected art forms (visual arts)
Analyze using elements of art
Apply elements of art
Introduced to variety
Individually selected art forms (performing arts)
Analyze for improvement
VIII. CAREER EXPLORATION AND LIFE SKILLS
Exposed to variety of career opportunities
IX. AFFECTIVE SKILLS/SOCIO-EMOTIONAL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING
