Gifted Education
                         and
                              Advanced Placement

Beatrice w. Gullia, Supervisor   BSE, MSE, M.ED  

  The supervisor for GT/AP Programs develops and implements technical assistance to the 26 member districts of CREC.   This technical assistance correlates to the State’s Standards for Gifted Education/Advanced Placement, as set forth by the State Board and ADE Office of GT/AP.

       In order to assist in the individual needs of the districts; workshops, in-services and consultation are

arranged in the selection of personnel, the identification process, curriculum, programs options

Teaching strategies, instructional materials, parent/community involvement, long range planning and preparing application for state program funding.    Files are maintained on the districts, agencies and personnel that can provide services to students, parent’s  teachers and administration.      Strategies, theories,  and instructional planning are constantly being updated as new developments and trends in Gifted Education become available. Attendance at Conferences, workshops and meetings with ADE are a source of updated information.  As the district director for AR Association of Gifted Administrators (AAGEA), I write grants to fund annual  GT workshops for the four Coopertives in northeastern AR.  These workshops relate to the needs of all Gt programs.  This assists district’s GT/AP programs when  monitored by ADE every three years.  This monitoring of programs is overseen by the Coordinator with the Supervisor’s assistance.

         GT students need to be involved in competitions with their peers.   CREC hosts Quiz Bowl, Chess Tournaments, and cultural events such as theatre and art exhibits.   AR Definition of Giftedness guides the program in providing services and opportunities for students who are identified.  Gifted and talented children and youth are those of “High Potential” whose learning needs require differentiated education experiences and services.   Possession of these talents and gifts, or the potential for their development, will be evidenced through an interaction of above average intellectual ability, task commitment and /or motivation and creative ability.     

     Since 2001, Advanced Placement program assistance, workshops and trainings to the schools have been in place to prepare schools for Pre/AP and AP program by 2008-09 SY.   Beginning in 2004-05, ADE required that schools began phasing in over the next four years, with a minimum of one core class per year in math, English, science and social studies.  At this time, College Board, the organization that oversees AP programs, and ADE are requiring AP teachers to take their class curriculum through a course audit process. 

   “Failure to help the gifted child is a societal tragedy, the extent of which is difficult to measure.  How can we measure the unwritten sonata, the undiscovered curative drug, the absence of political insight? They are the difference between what we are and what we could be as a society.”  James Gallagher