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Gifted and Highly Achieving Students
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Figure 3

Different than a department or specific content area, the district’s Gifted Education Plan served as the springboard for this
work. The Gifted Education Plan is required by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and must address a wide range
of program elements. Since the delivery of services for gifted and highly achieving students occurs in a wide range of
settings, the composition of the expanded team was designed to serve as a representative sample of the overall teaching
staff.
Gifted and Highly Achieving Students Program Review Design Model
We strongly believe that meaningful and lasting change requires engagement of all key stakeholders. The core team included
several district office administrators, building principals/assistant principals based on vertical team assignment, and a small
group of academic leadership council members (i.e., department chairs) and teachers. The core team conducted the planning
and thinking necessary to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the expanded team. The expanded team included all
core team members and additional teachers to ensure representation by all buildings, levels, and courses. Given that the
gifted education team is comparatively small, this group represented the majority of the K-12 team.
It is important to note that the expanded teams also used a systematic approach to listen to students and parents. Student

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