New Split D89 Gifted Program More Inclusive

Should a student in the top of his/her class in math be deprived of advanced study in that subject if he/she struggles with reading, or vice versa? 

That will no longer be the case under new standards for the Glen Ellyn District 89 Challenge Program, the Chicago Tribune reports, which allows students to qualify for the program in either math or reading (or both), based on scoring in the top 93 percent in their August Measures of Academic Progress testing.

"Their one score was keeping them out of the program," Kerin Motsinger, who runs the gifted program at Park View Elementary, told the paper. "We want to look for trend data where someone is performing consistently at that high level.” 

Specializing the three-hour-per-week advanced classes in both math and reading will also increase their rigor, the paper said, with gifted young readers tackling Shakespeare and public speaking, and gifted math students beginning to study computer programming and robotics. 

Read the full story at the Chicago Tribune website.