Gifted Education Add-On Endorsement

(First eight weeks of fall semester.)
This course will provide a foundation for integrating gifted and general education. Educators will learn to identify giftedness using diagnostic and prescriptive approaches to assessment and practice using authentic assessment tools (i.e., portfolios) to measure performance, motivation, and interests of gifted students. An appreciation of contemporary issues and research at the local, state, and national levels will be fostered, and emphasis will be placed on the importance of collaboration and consultation with general education teachers and other resource specialists in curriculum/professional development on behalf of gifted students.

(Second eight weeks of fall semester.)
This course will help educators learn to apply a variety of curricular and instructional models, methodologies, and strategies to enhance their gifted instruction. Educators will acquire tools to enable their students to contribute to a multicultural, diverse society. The Virginia Standards of Learning will be used to develop strong academic rigor and complexity across disciplines and to prepare students for college and careers. Educators will learn about and develop instructional materials and methods that facilitate critical thinking inside and outside the classroom-including inquiry-based instruction and problem solving skills-to help them develop an environment that guides students to become self-directed, reflective, independent learners.

(First eight weeks of spring semester.)
This course will ensure that educators form a solid understanding of the characteristics of gifted students, particularly varied expressions of the affective, such as social-emotional needs, and of advanced aptitudes, skills, creativity, and conceptual understandings. In this course educators will explore the variances in expression of giftedness across special populations, including students who are culturally and linguistically diverse, are economically disadvantaged, are highly gifted, and have special needs or disabilities, including twice exceptional students.

(Second eight weeks of spring semester.)
This course provides educators with an understanding of the unique characteristics of underrepresented populations of gifted learners. It incorporates issues related to poverty, equity, and gender and examines questions of prejudice and stereotyping of special populations; and lack of awareness, understanding, and representation of students in gifted programming. It examines policies and procedures to screen, identify, and provide quality programming for underserved gifted students. Educators will reflect on current practices, evaluate applicable strategies, and explore innovative programs for various underrepresented populations of gifted students.

The course is designed to examine and analyze assessment and evaluation in relation to gifted identification, support, instruction, and performance. Educators will develop and analyze various assessment strategies and both formal and informal assessment techniques. Awareness of social, environmental, and cultural influences that affect assessments in relation to the identification of gifted students and the evaluation of their learning will be explored.

This course will focus on designing and developing programs for gifted learners with differentiated curricula. During this course, educators will learn to incorporate advanced and complex content that is paced and sequenced to respond to gifted students’ persistent intellectual, artistic, or technical curiosity; exceptional problem-solving abilities; rapid acquisition and mastery of information; conceptual thinking processes; and imaginative expression across a broad range of disciplines. These programs will include opportunities for students to explore, develop, and research their areas of interest, talent, or strength using varied modes of expression, as well as make use of current and advanced technologies to enhance student performance and academic growth.