Fridley leaders outline plan to build talent‑development program after national gifted‑education conference

Fridley Public School District principals and academic leaders reported on learning from the National Association for Gifted Children conference and described next steps to create a talent‑development program that builds on existing International Baccalaureate (IB), AVID and MTSS work.

The district said the work will follow four stages: learning (already completed by a cross‑district team), planning, implementation (targeted for next school year) and continuous improvement.

Why it matters: District leaders said the initiative aims to ensure “every student should have the right to access academic content at the level that they are capable of doing,” and to do so equitably across grades and schools.

Carol Scott, senior officer of academics and innovation, and several principals described practical next steps: use local norming on assessment, review how students are clustered across classrooms, align identification with existing screeners (Aubrey, Xello) and expand concurrent enrollment and Diploma Programme (DP) pathways at the high school.

Elementary principals said the district will refine small‑group instruction in balanced math and structured reading blocks to provide enrichment opportunities during teacher direct‑instruction time. Secondary leaders discussed accelerating opportunities, aligning ninth‑ and tenth‑grade courses and expanding concurrent‑enrollment and DP/CEP classes at Fridley High School.

Michelle (last name not specified in the transcript) said sessions on MTSS (multi‑tiered systems of support) emphasized serving both students who need remediation and those who need acceleration, describing a flexible “diamond” model rather than a single downward pyramid. She said supports should be based on frequent data review and that staff must be trained in differentiation and assessment.

Administrators stressed that the district is in an early stage of building identification processes and logic models and that the district will bring more specifics to the board after planning and pilot work. Board members asked how the district’s approach would differ from past practice; Dr. Lewis and principals said much of the work is a deliberate, ground‑up effort to create an intentional identification and support model.

Ending: District leaders said they expect to “hit the ground running” next year with implementation after this year’s planning and professional development.

Provenance: several principals and senior officers presented the NAGC takeaways and next steps; the presentation emphasized alignment to IB, AVID and MTSS frameworks and cited planned changes for identification, clustering and professional learning.