Highly Capable
Warden School District strives to recognize, support, and encourage the unique needs of highly capable students and to provide challenging and invigorating curriculum and opportunities.
How is a student determined to be eligible for the highly capable program?
Definition
The Warden School District recognizes the state definition of highly capable students as students who perform or show potential for performing at significantly advanced academic levels when compared with others of their age, experience, and environments. Outstanding abilities are seen within students’ general intellectual aptitudes, specific academic abilities, and/or creative productivities within a specific domain. Highly capable students may possess, but are not limited to, the following learning characteristics:
- Capacity to learn with unusual depth of understanding, to retain what has been learned, and to transfer learning to new situations;
- Capacity and willingness to deal with increasing levels of abstraction and complexity earlier than their chronological peers;
- Creative ability to make unusual connections among ideas and concepts;
- Ability to learn quickly in their area(s) of intellectual strength; and
- Capacity for intense concentration and/or focus
The Warden School District Highly Capable Program seeks to identify the most highly capable students in our district who will benefit the most from highly capable services. A student will be identified as highly capable, and therefore qualify for highly capable services, if he/she meets criteria on two of the three state defined areas noted below:
- Academic abilities
- Intellectual aptitude (cognitive)
- Creativity
Characteristics
Observing characteristics of highly capable students is often difficult when we are dealing with obviously bright children. The chart below is helpful in seeing the subtle differences between the bright child and the highly capable learner.
Bright Child |
Highly Capable Learner |
---|---|
Knows the answers |
Asks the questions |
Is interested |
Is highly curious |
Is attentive |
Is mentally and physically involved |
Answers the questions |
Discusses in detail, elaborates |
Top group |
Beyond top group |
Listens with interest |
Shows strong feelings and opinions |
Learns with ease |
Already knows |
6-8 repetitions for mastery |
1-2 repetitions for mastery |
Understands ideas |
Constructs abstractions |
Enjoys peers |
Prefers adults |
Grasps the meaning |
Draws inferences |
Is receptive |
Is intense |
Copies accurately |
Creates a new design |
Enjoys school |
Enjoys learning |
Absorbs information |
Manipulates information |
Technician |
Inventor |
Good memorizer |
Good guesser |
Enjoys straightforward, sequential presentation |
Thrives on complexity |
Is alert |
Is keenly observant |
Is pleased with own learning |
Is highly self-critical |
Overview of the process
Confidentiality is maintained during all steps of the process. If you have a question about this process, please contact the Director of Support Services at (509) 349-2366 ext. 1440.