PWCS updates gifted education plan, reports growth in identified students and outreach efforts

Prince William County Public Schools presented an update Feb. 19 on its Gifted Education and Talent Development Program, outlining identification methods, enrollment figures, service delivery and outreach activities intended to increase equitable representation among underrepresented student groups.

Associate Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Sullivan introduced Brenda Bailey, program supervisor for Gifted Education and Talent Development, who led the presentation. Bailey said that as of the start of the school year 15,158 students were identified for and receiving gifted services, about 17% of the division’s student population. She said the division had increased participating students by about 14% over five years and that the program identifies students in general intellectual aptitude, specific academic areas and visual and performing arts. Bailey noted that 24.1% of identified students were economically disadvantaged, 11.6% were English learners and 3.6% were twice-exceptional (gifted and special education), and she presented a racial/ethnic breakdown of identified students.

Bailey described several changes the division has implemented to make identification more equitable: universal screening at key grades using the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (grades 2, 6 and 9) and the Cognitive Abilities Test (grade 3); an early-talent development program for kindergarten through grade 2; and a new language-growth percentile metric developed with the Research, Assessment and Data Services Department to better capture rapid language acquisition among English learners. She said these steps have narrowed gaps for several groups, with particularly notable progress in identification of English learners and economically disadvantaged students even as overall gaps remain for some populations.

On service delivery, Bailey said each PWCS school now has at least one full-time gifted resource teacher; elementary students receive increasing pullout time by grade level (from about 25 minutes per week in kindergarten to full-day services in grades 4–5), and middle- and high-school services include scheduled classes, seminars and accelerated pathways. She described classroom-collaboration models, enrichment activities, and examples of student projects and partnerships such as mentorships, camps, governor’s schools and community programming.

The presentation also noted related division work in career and technical education (CTE): a new partnership with Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow, Human Resources and Northern Virginia Community College to create a two-year pathway that grants 14–17 credits toward the teaching professional career study certificate, and a $75,000 advancing computer science education grant to fund camps, teacher training and internships. Bailey highlighted that PWCS continues to send nominees for national honors (one PWCS student was a U.S. presidential scholar candidate) and that the Gifted Advisory Committee reviews local plan implementation annually.

Board members asked about outreach to families (including non–English-speaking families), funding and program evaluation. Bailey and Dr. Sullivan described training for parent liaisons, stronger school-level relationships because of the additional gifted resource teachers, and the advisory committee’s role in collecting quantitative and qualitative data. Several board members asked whether high-school gifted electives are weighted; staff said the current gifted seminar courses carry a standard weight (4.0) but noted the division is conducting a coding and weighting review and will report back. Bailey invited families to a May 3 parent advocacy event on gifted services.

The presentation provides a status update on the program’s expansion and on efforts to make identification and services more accessible to underrepresented students; the board posed follow-up questions about high-school service models, transcript weighting and further outreach.