[MCCSC] Monroe County
Community School Corporation
315 E North Drive . Bloomington, IN 47401 . USA . 812.330.7700

 

MCCSC High Ability Programs



Overview of HA Programs
Elementary ALPS
Middle School ALPS
Opportunities for High Ability High School Students
Guiding Principles of HA Education in the MCCSC
HA News [including BBPC Minutes]
Other High Ability Education Sites
Contact G/T Office

Overview of Programs
for High Ability Students in the MCCSC

Programs for high ability students are administered through the Office of High Ability Education. Using state grant and local school corporation funds, programs are supported to serve the needs of high ability students throughout the corporation.  The Coordinator of High Ability Education works with the local Broad-Based Planning Committee (composed of parents, school personnel, students, and community representatives) [Select [Adobe PDF®] to view.] to ensure compliance with state and local requirements.

Throughout the MCCSC, students are provided with differentiated instruction and opportunities for acceleration.  These opportunities are not restricted to students who are formally identified as high ability. Individual teachers and building principals work to develop the most appropriate educational experience possible for each child.

For students in grade four and above who clearly demonstrate high academic and intellectual ability, the MCCSC offers the Accelerated Learning Program for Students or ALPS.

Elementary ALPS

Elementary ALPS is available to students in grades four, five, and six who are formally identified as being high ability students.  At this level, one self-contained classroom at each grade is housed at University Elementary School. (Transportation is provided.)

ALPS students complete grade-level requirements as well as appropriate enriched and accelerated activities. They attend regular art, music, and physical education classes and have lunch and recess with their age-level peers. Students are placed in the program based on their reading/language arts skills for this humanities-based program (emphasizing Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science). However, all areas of the curriculum are taught. Students complete many reading and writing activities, including in-depth research projects and activities using higher level thinking skills.

In addition, most MCCSC elementary schools offer students who demonstrate exceptional ability in mathematics the opportunity for accelerated instruction in this subject.  This opportunity is not restricted to students who participate in the ALPS program.  Teachers and principals in each elementary school work with parents to determine how best to provide an appropriate level of challenge and acceleration in mathematics for each child.

General consideration for elementary ALPS begins in spring semester of students' third-grade year. Families and teachers of third-graders who meet baseline criteria for consideration for the humanities-based ALPS program as fourth-graders are notified each spring and invited to prepare and submit an application portfolio. After an intensive review process, approximately 28 children are invited to participate in fourth-grade ALPS during the subsequent academic year. Invitations are offered on the basis of each student’s comparative ranking with all applying students. Any child may apply for the ALPS program; families that are interested in this opportunity should speak with their children’s teachers or principal.

Alternative application for elementary ALPS occurs throughout the year. Elementary school students who are new to the MCCSC or those who did not apply, did not qualify, or opted not to accept an invitation to the ALPS program at the end of third grade can submit a portfolio for review by the Identification Committee during their fourth, fifth, and sixth grade years.  Alternative admission applications are considered by the Identification Committee in the week or two prior to the end of the current school year and/or the beginning of the next academic year.  Invitations are offered on the basis of the students’ ratings by the Identification Committee and the availability of placements in the program at the appropriate grade. Families are notified immediately upon completion of this process. 

More information about the elementary ALPS program and the application process can be obtained by clicking the appropriate links below, or by contacting your child’s teachers or principal. You may find links to all MCCSC schools on the website.  Select University Elementary to visit the pages for that school.


Copies are also available at the Office of High Ability Education, 315 North Drive, Bloomington, IN 47401

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Middle School ALPS

All three MCCSC middle schools offer one self-contained ALPS class section for identified high ability students at grades seven and eight. The ALPS program at this level continues to focus on a core of English, Social Studies, and Science.  However, as in elementary school, students of exceptional ability in mathematics may also be identified to participate in advanced coursework (e.g., algebra or geometry). Middle school ALPS students enroll in additional regular classes to meet the curricular requirements of the State.

General consideration for middle school ALPS begins in January of students’ sixth-grade year.  Families and teachers of sixth-graders who meet baseline criteria for consideration for the middle school ALPS program are notified early in the spring semester and are invited to prepare and submit an application portfolio.  After an intensive review process by the Identification Committee, approximately 75 students are invited to participate in the seventh grade ALPS program across the three middle schools (i.e., roughly 25 seventh-grade students at each school).  Invitations are offered on the basis of each student’s comparative ranking with all applying students and may be offered at any of the three middle schools.  (When a student is offered placement at a middle school that is not his or her “home” school, transportation is provided to the assigned ALPS class school.)

Alternative application for middle school ALPS occurs throughout the year. Middle school students who are new to the MCCSC or those who did not apply, did not qualify, or opted not to accept an invitation to the ALPS program at the end of sixth grade can, with the recommendation of their teacher, counselor, or principal, submit a portfolio for review by the Identification Committee during their seventh and eighth grade years.  Alternative admission applications are considered by the Identification Committee in the week or two prior to the end of the current school year and/or the beginning of the next academic year.  Invitations are offered on the basis of the students’ ratings by the Identification Committee and the availability of placements in the program at the appropriate grade. Families are notified immediately upon completion of this process. 

More information about the middle school ALPS program and the application process can be obtained by clicking the appropriate link below, or by contacting middle school teachers, principals, or counselors.  You may find links to all MCCSC schools on the website.  Select Batchelor, Jackson Creek, or Tri North to visit the pages for those schools.

 


Copies are also available at the Office of High Ability Education, 315 North Drive, Bloomington, IN 47401.

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Opportunities for High Ability High School Students

In our high schools, the MCCSC offers a wide range of opportunities for any student who is interested in accelerated or advanced learning in particular subjects.  For all students, honors level classes, Advanced Placement courses, Advanced College Project courses with Indiana University and other experiences are available.

For students who are identified as high ability, the MCCSC provides a number of unique opportunities for experiential learning and for advanced study.  These include the flexibility of mentorships, independent study courses, and other opportunities unique to each high school. Students who are interested in any of these options should contact their high school counselor.

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Guiding Principles of High Ability Education in MCCSC

At its January 24, 2005 meeting, the Broad-Based Planning Committee approved a set of four principles that should guide the identification of students to be served by the High Ability program in MCCSC.  These principles are:

  1. Equity:  The process must be structured to ensure that every high ability child in MCCSC is considered for and given the opportunity to participate in the High Ability program without regard to or influence by his or her family’s education level, stability, influence, motivation, economic status, or political savvy.

  2. Consistency:  The process, factors or elements considered, and, when possible, the criteria used to make identification decisions must be clearly defined, defensible, and applied consistently to each eligible student.  When questions arise about decisions made for particular students, we must be able to demonstrate exactly how the identification process was applied and how or why the student’s placement came about.

  3. Legitimacy:  The factors that are considered in making identification decisions must be legitimate or valid and must be viewed as such by those outside the process.  Complete agreement will never be reached about exactly what should be considered, but we must be clear about and able to justify to others how we arrived at the operational definition of “high Ability” that we apply.

  4. Significance:  The decisions that result from the process should result in meaningful differences in the types of educational experiences and challenges that students receive.  While differentiated instruction throughout the district should allow every child to receive instruction that is appropriately tailored to her or his particular needs and abilities, being identified as a participant in the district’s High Ability program must mean that a child is experiencing something genuinely different than students not participating in the program.

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High Ability News from the MCCSC

Other High Ability Education Sites

Resources

  • Humanities and Geography


  • Language Arts


  • ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication

  • Other ERIC Sites on Reading, English, and Communication

  • Mathematics


  • The Math Forum: A center for Math Education funded by the National Science Foundation

  • Math History: Annotated Bibliography of Mathematics History Web Sites

  • Museums


  • Science







  • Other Interesting Sites





  • PBS: Public Broadcasting Service Online





For More Information:

More information about high ability programs provided by the MCCSC can be acquired by contacting the Office of High Ability Education at:


mccsc_gt@mccsc.edu


315 E. North Drive

Bloomington, Indiana 47401

(812) 349-4789





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The MCCSC Learning Network subscribes to Policy and Guidelines 2521 of the Monroe County Community School Corporation. Links contained on these pages to information or other organizations are presented as a service and neither constitute nor imply endorsement or warranty. © 1998 MCCSC. Last update: 11 February 2008.