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 matrix.  The matrix and the supporting documents are reviewed by the Identification and Placement Committee, which determines (based on a minimum matrix score of fourteen (14) points) if  the student would benefit from gifted services.   

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). 

Three courses are taught directly by the coordinator of gifted services:  Critical Thinking (seventh grade), Dalton Independent Study (eighth grade), and RHS Independent Study (grades ten-twelve).  At Dalton, the coordinator offers semester enrichment trips/activities, the National Geographic Bee, and the American Mathematics Competition 8.  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 provides opportunities to participate in the Virginia Tech Engineering Day and the American Mathematics Competition 12.  She is available for academic counseling upon request. 

Gifted services maintains this Web page and publishes an online newsletter three times 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.

Our local gifted advisory committee meets 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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