Highly Capable Education Plan

WELCOME

Welcome to Nine Mile School District’s Highly Capable Program.  We are passionate about serving the needs of gifted and potentially gifted students.  We are proud of our students’ academic potential and the bright future they represent.  Working together, staff, administration, students, teachers and parents are collaborating to help these exceptional kids stay challenged at the appropriate level during their regular school day, as well as offering some after school enrichment and summer opportunities for continued depth and rigor.  We are committed to reaching all students where they are, and customize learning opportunities that are optimal for their abilities.  Thank you for your interest and support!

MISSION

It is our mission to identify and provide, through a variety of instructional strategies, for the unique intellectual, social, and emotional needs of our highly capable students to help ensure their college and career readiness.  

SERVICES

Highly Capable Services are designed for students identified as advanced learners through cognitive and/or academic performance. According to Washington State law, students identified for Highly Capable Program services are those who

“perform or show potential for performing at significantly advanced academic levels compared with others of their age, experiences, or environments. Outstanding abilities are seen within students’ general intellectual aptitudes, specific academic abilities, and/or creative productivity within a specific domain.”

Combined with the commitment of our Board of Directors and instructional staff, State law ensures high-quality HiCap services for eligible students; here in Nine Mile School District, we offer a continuum of appropriate Highly Capable Program services.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

• Whole-child focus: Support for academic, creative, and social-emotional development, fostering a growth mindset.

• Different work, not more work: Developing innovative, creative, and critical thinkers through access to advanced learning standards with appropriate depth and rigor.

• Not a one-size-fits-all: Highly Capable qualified students have diverse needs and unique challenges, in addition to high cognitive capability and/or academic achievement. Often this requires the collaboration of teams across programs to meet the needs of individual learners.

• Equitable access: Ability and talent are equally distributed, opportunity is not. All students, regardless of race, income, culture, special needs, or support program, have the potential to qualify for advanced learning services when given equitable opportunity with culturally and linguistically accessible instruments and an unbiased qualification system.

“RCW 28A.185.050 - Beginning November 1, 2023, and annually thereafter, the superintendent of public instruction must make data publicly available that includes a comparison of the race, ethnicity, and low-income status of highly capable students compared to the same demographic groups in the general student population of each school district. Reporting must also include comparisons for students who are English language learners, have an individualized education program, have a 504 plan, are covered by provisions of the McKinney-Vento homeless assistance act, or are highly mobile.”

Please use this link to view data about identified highly capable students as reported to OSPI by Local Education Agencies (school districts, charter schools.) The link opens to Data.WA.gov and explains what to do to download an Excel file. When you download the Excel file, you will see a title at the top of each column. For example, line 1, Column F is the State Total of All Students.  Reading across, Column K is the number of Highly Capable identified students in the state.  Column M is the number of Non-Highly Capable students in the state.

You can filter to view district-level data only as follows: After downloading the excel file, click the link in the ribbon for “Sort and Filter”, then click “Filter”. This opens pull-down menus at the top of each column. In column B, “OrgLevel”, click the down arrow, unclick (Select All) and click “District” and “OK”. Scroll down to where “Aberdeen” appears in Column F. Districts/LEAs are in alphabetical order.  Columns G and H are the Student Groups. 

School district assessment or data personnel can help you with questions about how to filter the data in the spreadsheet. Disclosure Avoidance Technique (Column I) relates to what is required to ensure the security of individual student data.--

PUBLIC NOTICE

Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 392-170-042 requires school districts to annually make public notification to parents and students before any major identification activity for Highly Capable services occurs. Next month, Nine Mile Falls School District will engage in preliminary identification activities of those who may show potential for performance significantly above grade level. This helps us provide daily services within the regular classroom (including differentiation of instruction, special awareness regarding the social-emotional needs of gifted kids, and more). Secondly, it opens the opportunity for certain higher-performing students to participate in after-school enrichment programs. We have several grade-level opportunities available year round.

Some examples of criteria used to identify students are in-district assessments like MAP, state assessments like the SBAC, curriculum or classroom-based assessments, teacher recommendations and parent nominations. If you believe your student clearly displays significant above average ability and may benefit from adjusted class activities or more challenge and rigor, you may fill out a Parent Nomination form and submit it to Peter Elzey at the administration building.

You may submit these forms any time throughout the year. Contact Peter Elzey at 509.340.4305 or Email Peter Elzey if you have questions.