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Weber School District hires gifted-and-talented coordinator and outlines plan for accelerated services
Summary
The district announced hire of a gifted-and-talented coordinator and described a $195,689.79 state-funded plan to identify and expand services, especially for underrepresented students; the plan includes a universal screener and teacher professional development.
The Weber School District will strengthen its gifted-and-talented programming after hiring a district-level coordinator and receiving a targeted state allocation, the curriculum and instruction director told the board.
Why it matters: the district must submit a plan to the state superintendent to receive and spend a USBE allocation for accelerated-student services. District staff said the appropriation for the current cycle amounts to $195,689.79 and must be accompanied by an approved plan describing identification processes, services, professional learning, and steps to increase identification of underrepresented students.
Heather Nelson, director of curriculum and instruction, said the district had not previously had a dedicated district-level gifted-and-talented lead and that hiring was an early priority for compliance and program development. The district hired Morgan Christiansen (introduced at the meeting) to lead identification, professional learning and program oversight. Christiansen told the board she has visited each elementary school to form a baseline of existing offerings and needs.
Nelson outlined a multi-tier continuum of services the district will document for the state, ranging from Tier 1 classroom differentiation and enrichment through Tier 3 honors, concurrent enrollment and AP courses and Tier 4 early entrance/magnet-like options (magnet programs are not currently offered district-wide and pose transportation barriers). The plan calls for:
- Paying part of the coordinator's salary from the program allocation. - Funding professional development: sending one teacher from each elementary school to a summer gifted-and-talented conference and paying a stipend. - Creating a screening tool and implementing a universal screener for accelerated mathematics so all sixth graders can be assessed for potential acceleration into junior high math pathways. - Prioritizing identification and supports for students from under-resourced schools and increasing outreach to parents in multiple languages.
Nelson said the district will expand enrichment offerings such as STEM and VEX robotics and create newsletters and website updates to improve parent awareness. Board members asked operational questions about how elementary acceleration might look; Nelson and Christiansen said the district is still gathering baseline data and will develop specific programming once identification systems and staff training are in place.
On accelerated mathematics, staff said they plan to give a universal screener next year to identify candidates for acceleration into seventh- and eighth-grade math paths.
