In January, parents of gifted fifth graders will receive a Sixth Grade General Selection Form. This form has a space for you to check "Currently in Gifted and Talented Program (TAG)”.  Whether or not your child is attending the Center at this time, you should put a check in this area.  This enrollment form also contains an area to check your child’s preferences for exploratory courses and electives (such as art and foreign language).

In the spring, you will receive a letter from the middle school counselor indicating whether your child has qualified for Challenge Language Arts and/or Challenge Science. Those courses will be highlighted in the letter.  You need to know that once a gifted student has qualified for Challenge Language Arts, he or she may choose to enroll in Academic Stretch with Compacted Challenge Language Arts.  That course combination is the only way that students can receive services from the gifted program at the middle school level.  To receive those services, you will need to put a check by the entry, "Compacted CLA w/Stretch (TAG)".

In the summer, parents will be notified by mail if their child qualifies for Challenge Social Studies and/or Challenge Math.  In some cases, students who did not qualify for Challenge Language Arts or Challenge Science in the spring may qualify in the summer.  That qualification is based on calculations using updated scores from the district’s standardized achievement test program.

If you have any questions about these forms or what is best for your child next year, please feel free to call me or the Academic Stretch teacher at your middle school.  The name and contact number for each school’s Academic Stretch teacher is attached.  Also attached in a copy of our Academic Stretch information brochure.  I hope this information proves helpful to you as you begin a new phase in your child’s educational life. 

Sincerely,
Linda Smith, Ph.D.
Director
Rockwood Gifted Program