Shelton presentation: highly capable services expand earlier screening and more college-credit options

The Shelton School District highlighted growth in its Highly Capable (HiCap) program during a presentation to the school board.

Adrian Minery and Chelsea Cornwall Brady summarized identification and services: the district uses referrals and universal screening (currently at second and fifth grades) and administers the CogAT; multidisciplinary teams review multiple measures to avoid relying on a single test. Minery said the district expanded identification and is now above pre-pandemic identification levels.

"We are now above the number of students identified that we were pre pandemic," Minery said, noting screening, feeder-district coordination and outreach increased identification.

Chelsea Cornwall Brady described expanded advanced coursework at the high-school level and district partnerships that let students earn college credit as part of classes taught in-district. "We are up to over 50 credits, college credits that students can earn while still in high school," she said, and noted district alignment work with local colleges.

Board members asked about when services begin and how pull-outs or clustered instruction operate at elementary levels. Minery explained principals are notified in spring to inform classroom placements, the district builds a small-group block into master schedules at every grade level, and kindergarten through second grade typically uses push-in services while older grades use small-group pull-outs or clustered placements.

The presenters also noted a temporary delay in CogAT test delivery from the vendor; the district said it had arranged testing so identification will still occur before spring testing windows.

The board welcomed the presentation and asked staff to provide additional outcome data on older HiCap students in a future update.