Students can be referred by anyone for services.  Once parental permission is received, the coordinator administers nationally-normed achievement and aptitude testing, reviews grades, and asks the math and English teachers to complete normed SIGS teacher evaluations of student performance.  The coordinator records student scores on a selection rubric.  The rubric and the supporting documents are reviewed by the Identification and Placement Committee, which determines (based on a minimum rubric score of fourteen (14) points out of twenty (20) points) if  the student would benefit from gifted services.   The identification process can take up to ninety (90) instructional days.

Students are served primarily by in-class differentiation, which is provided by the regular classroom teacher and documented in the student's annual Differentiated Progress Plan (DEP).  Upon request, the coordinator consults with teachers and can order materials for the instruction of the gifted if funding is available.

 The coordinator tests and screens students in all four of Radford City's schools.  Elementary students receive services through differentiated classroom instruction, and the Belle Heth principal provides enrichment opportunities such as Rosetta Stone and the National Geographic Bee.  At Dalton, the coordinator teaches a seventh grade exploratory course in Critical Thinking and offers semester enrichment activities (such as the National Geographic Bee, the American Mathematics Competition 8, College Board ReadiStep testing, and in-school presentations/book clubs or enrichment trips).  She also conducts an eighth grade re-evaluation of each identified student.  At RHS, she coordinates the Advanced Placement program and administers AP examinations, works with students interested in applying to Summer Residential Governor's Schools, and functions as a liaison to the Southwest Virginia Governor's School in Pulaski.  The gifted coordinator also administers the American Mathematics Competition (AMC 12).  She is available for academic counseling upon request. 

Gifted services maintains this Web page and publishes an online newsletter twice a year.  The coordinator's office is in the high school, where she can be contacted at 540 731-3649, ext. 6619 or by email (lswope@rcps.org).  If you wish to refer a student for screening or have questions about our identification process, please see information on this Web site or contact the coordinator for more information.  Under Program Information you will find identification referral forms and the Radford City Local Plan for the Education of the Gifted.

Our local gifted advisory committee meets at least three times a year.  The main purpose of this committee is to oversee compliance with the local gifted plan. These meetings are announced in our local newspaper and are open to the public.  Our current Local Plan for the Education of the Gifted was approved in April 2010 and expires in 2012.

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