2015/2016 Lead Hill GT Program Evaluation
1516 Evaluation
More than 90% of teachers who responded to surveys at the end of last year support the goals of our gifted program and believe it is an important part of Lead Hill School. They all said they were familiar with the identification process. 73% regularly differentiate for gifted students, and 82% believe they are skilled at differentiating. All primary teachers who responded said their students enjoyed and benefitted from enrichment classes.For pd, the top requests were differentiation and giftedness/poverty. Program rating: 20% excellent, 80% good.
All but one parent who responded said their student enjoyed coming to GT class. Only about half have visited the GT web page. They all said they understand the identification process and agreed that GT offers opportunities for their students. All agreed or agreed somewhat that their students had grown in the GT program. There is still some confusion about whether students need to make up regular classwork they miss while they are pulled out for GT class. (They don’t need to make up assignments done in class while they are in GT, but they are held responsible for the knowledge on tests. This does not apply to long-term projects or assignments.) 75% rated the program excellent and 25% rated it very good. 80% said they would like to be more involved. 60% agreed strongly they would like to have more activities for GT students, even if they had to take place after school, and the rest either agreed or agreed somewhat.
93% of intermediate pullout students last year said they enjoyed being in GT, and they all said they were willing to work hard in GT class. About half said their regular classroom teachers differentiated for them. All agreed, at least somewhat, that GT helps them develop their higher level thinking skills and creativity, and 86% agree, at least somewhat, that GT helps them understand themselves better.
93% of intermediate pullout students last year said they enjoyed being in GT, and they all said they were willing to work hard in GT class. About half said their regular classroom teachers differentiated for them. All agreed, at least somewhat, that GT helps them develop their higher level thinking skills and creativity, and 86% agree, at least somewhat, that GT helps them understand themselves better.
2013/2014 Lead Hill GT Program Evaluation Summary
3 Program Options: Enrichment, Pullouts, Secondary Content/AP/PreAP
Teachers and staff support the goals of the program and believe it is an important part of our school. Students, parents, and teachers say our program emphasizes creativity and critical thinking skills. Students enjoy the enrichment and pullout programs. 100% of the students in the pullout program said they would be willing to work hard in GT Class. Teachers would like more PD, especially on differentiation.
2014/2015 Lead Hill GT Program Evaluation
All 4th-6th grade students who took part in the year-end survey said they enjoyed being in GT and that they felt the program helped improve their higher-level thinking skills. 87.5% said it helped improve their creativity, and the rest said it did somewhat. About 87% felt being in GT made them feel like they had a special place at Lead Hill School, and about 93% said GT students have a responsibility to behave well and be a good example for other students at the school.
Teachers who answered our survey overwhelmingly (about 91%) support the goals of our gifted program and believe it is an important part of Lead Hill School.. They have read our GT newsletter. A wide majority feel the program helps students develop leadership, creativity, critical thinking, and communications skills. More than 80% would support having more activities for GT students. About half of those who had students pulled for GT felt it was to some extent a disruption to class, but at the same time they thought the GT students could handle it. Teachers of primary grades said their students enjoyed and benefited from enrichment lessons.
Parents who responded to last year’s evaluation questionnaire said their students enjoyed being in GT and that the program emphasizes critical thinking, creativity, and offers opportunities for cooperative learning. Most felt the program offers opportunities for their students. Half agreed that their students had shown growth in the program, and the other half agreed somewhat. They all said they understood the identification process, and most felt communication with GT staff was adequate. However, a sizable percentage (29%) haven’t read the newsletter, and a larger percentage (38%) haven’t visited the GT webpage. 43% agreed they would like more activities, even if they had to be outside of school, and 57% agreed somewhat. 25% felt the GT curriculum was not challenging.
2012/2013 Lead Hill GT Program Evaluation
Overall Program:
School board:
They support the goals of the program & feel it is an important part of the school.
They feel it helps students develop critical and creative thinking.
They would like to learn more.
They understand the benefits of Advanced Placement classes.
They support acceleration.
They support more extracurricular academic activities.
Areas for improvement: More communication about identification and the way services are delivered.
Comments: Program needs more recognition and would like a presentation at School Board meeting.
Ratings:
School Board: 40% excellent, 60% good
Overall teacher district ratings: 27% excellent, 54% good, 9% adequate, 9% inadequate
Resource Room (4th-6th grade pullouts):
Students enjoy GT, are willing to work hard, and would like more in-depth research. Teachers differentiate for them. They rate their achievement high, and would like more time in GT.
Parents—GT emphasizes creativity and thinking skills. There is some confusion over make-up work. Communication is good. Most understand identification process, and they think students have shown growth.
Teachers support goals, would like more PD, and believe GT is important part of the school. About half say they are skilled at differentiating. They believe the program helps creativity, thinking skills, communication, leadership and emotional growth.
K-3 Enrichment:
Teachers support the goals of the program, but half are only somewhat clear on the identification process. 80% are skilled at differentiating. 80% believe GT is an important part of Lead Hill School. They believe communication with GT staff is adequate and believe GT helps critical and creative thinking skills. 80% say students enjoy enrichment and 80% think it is beneficial.
Secondary:
Teachers support the goals of the program. Fewer teachers at this level say they are skilled at differentiating. 80% believe GT is an important part of the school. They understand the importance of AP classes. They rate the program as good, but they would like to simplify reporting requirements and suggest ID through content areas. They would like more assistance planning GT lessons.
Parents believe GT helps with creativity and offers opportunities for students. 75% say communication is adequate, yet only 25% have visited the website. Half have read the newsletter. Half would like to be more involved. Overall quality: 50% excellent, 50% adequate.
Students: A majority agrees the regular class work is too easy, but only 45% would like more challenge if it means their GPA would suffer. 73% have a GPA of 3.5 or higher. All have been called on to help other students. 91% feel GT helps develop creativity, and 81% higher order thinking skills. 73% would like more opportunities for in-depth research. Most agree, at least somewhat, that they would like to have more GT meetings and activities. They believe GT will help them with their college applications. 72% have taken part in GT activities (such as Quiz Bowl or helping with elementary Science Fair) besides the monthly meetings. 91% have taken or plan to take at least one AP class.
Program Evaluation 2011/2012
Primary
All of the elementary teachers who responded to the survey support the goals of the
gifted program. All are familiar with the identification process and agree, at
least somewhat, that it is fair and efficient. A majority (75%) feels
prepared to work with their gifted students, is skilled at differentiating, and
regularly differentiates for them. Most only agree somewhat that we need
more PD on topics related to gifted education, and the topics they rated most
important were differentiation and the relationship between giftedness and
poverty. A majority (75%) agree at least somewhat that the gifted program is an
important part of Lead Hill School. All agree, at least somewhat, that
communication with GT staff is adequate, although only half say they have read
our newsletter, which is put in teacher mailboxes. The perceived benefits most
often chosen from a list include critical thinking skills, communication skills,
and leadership skills. Only half say their students enjoy K-3 enrichment, but
judging by student reactions and questions “When do we get to come to GT?” I
question this result. A majority would like to be more involved with the GT
program. 25% rated the program excellent, 75% rated it good, and 25% rated it
inadequate.
Evaluation of curriculum: Our creativity scores, as measured by the Torrance Test, continue
to be much higher than when we first started using the Primary Education Thinking
Skills curriculum.
Intermediate
TEACHERS:
The intermediate teachers support the program, are familiar with identification,
and feel it is fair and efficient. They feel prepared to teach gifted students,
are skilled at differentiating (at least somewhat), and regularly do so. They
would like more professional development, with no clear agreement as to topic,
except for differentiation. Communication with GT staff and GT parents no longer
seems to be an issue, and they read the newsletter. They all agree
strongly that the program helps students develop critical thinking skills,
creativity, communication skills, leadership, and emotional growth. A majority
of the teachers feel the amount of time students are pulled out of class is a
disruption to their classrooms, but they feel the students can handle it.
STUDENTS:
Almost all of the pullout students who returned the questionnaire enjoy being in
GT, and most agree, at least somewhat, that GT develops higher level thinking
skills, creativity, and communication skills. Just half say their teachers
differentiate for them in class. They don’t feel their regular class work is too hard,
and most don’t feel it is too easy. More than half say they have to make up all the work
they miss while in GT. About the same amount feel their GT work is too hard as feel it is too easy.
They acknowledge that being in GT includes a responsibility to set an example and serve
their community. All agree, at least somewhat, that they are willing to work hard while in GT,
and a majority would like to research topics of interest in depth. Overall, 62.5% of students
rated their academic achievement, emotional growth, and social growth in the gifted program
as high or above average.
PARENTS:
Parents who answered the survey agree that the GT program emphasized critical
thinking skills, creativity, and offered opportunities for cooperative learning. They agree,
at least somewhat, that their students enjoy being part of GT and tell them about what they
do in their GT classes. Their students are required to make up work they miss. They would like
to be more involved in the program. Communication with the GT staff no longer seems
to be an issue. Their perception of the quality of the GT program ranges from excellent to
inadequate.
ADMINISTRATION:
(Primary and Intermediate) Administration rates the program excellent,
supports the goals, the identification process, and feels the gifted program is
an important part of Lead Hill School. Administration agrees the GT program
helps students develops critical thinking, creativity, communication skills,
leadership skills, and helps them grow emotionally. Communication with staff and
parents is adequate. The preferred topic for PD would be
differentiation.
Secondary
TEACHERS:
Almost all of the secondary teachers agree, at least somewhat, that they support
the GT program’s goals, are familiar with the identification process, feel
prepared to teach gifted, regularly differentiate, and are skilled at doing
it. They feel gifted students are sufficiently challenged in the
classroom, that communication with GT staff and parents is adequate, and they
realize content teachers deliver most GT services to secondary students. They
understand the benefit of AP classes. An area of weakness is regularly and
promptly turning in GT paperwork. Two thirds have read our newsletter.
They would support having more activities for GT students, and they recognize
developing critical thinking skills, creativity, communication skills,
leadership, and emotional growth as benefits of the GT program. 78% express an
interest in more professional development related to GT, with differentiation
being the first choice of topic, and identification second. 37.5%
rated the program as adequate, and 62.5% rated it
adequate.
STUDENTS:
Secondary students agree that being in the gifted program helps develop higher
level thinking skills, creativity, and communication skills. About half say
teachers differentiate in their regular end classes. They feel their
regular class work is too easy, but only agree somewhat that they would like to
have more challenge, even if their GPA suffered. They would like more
activities, but not necessarily more meetings. Most are called on to help others
in class. Most read the newsletter, have taken or plan to take an AP class, and
have an idea what they want to do after high school. They would like to
see the GT program get more involved with the community. Most participated in GT
activities this year, but all have skipped or cancelled participation in GT
events because of sports or other school events. They don’t hide their ability
to fit in, and only a few get teased about “being smart.” They realize they
have the responsibility to behave in a way that sets a good example for other
students at our school. Slightly more than half rate their academic achievement
in the program as high or above average, and slightly less than half give that
rating to their social growth. Two-thirds rated their emotional growth in
the program as average.
PARENT:
There was little return of parent surveys. The program was rated as
adequate. Areas needing improvement include communication and
understanding the identification process. The program somewhat emphasizes
critical thinking, creativity, and cooperative learning. Neither the gifted nor
regular ed curriculum is challenging. More GT activities would be
welcome.
Almost all of the secondary teachers agree, at least somewhat, that they support
the GT program’s goals, are familiar with the identification process, feel
prepared to teach gifted, regularly differentiate, and are skilled at doing
it. They feel gifted students are sufficiently challenged in the
classroom, that communication with GT staff and parents is adequate, and they
realize content teachers deliver most GT services to secondary students. They
understand the benefit of AP classes. An area of weakness is regularly and
promptly turning in GT paperwork. Two thirds have read our newsletter.
They would support having more activities for GT students, and they recognize
developing critical thinking skills, creativity, communication skills,
leadership, and emotional growth as benefits of the GT program. 78% express an
interest in more professional development related to GT, with differentiation
being the first choice of topic, and identification second. 37.5%
rated the program as adequate, and 62.5% rated it
adequate.
STUDENTS:
Secondary students agree that being in the gifted program helps develop higher
level thinking skills, creativity, and communication skills. About half say
teachers differentiate in their regular end classes. They feel their
regular class work is too easy, but only agree somewhat that they would like to
have more challenge, even if their GPA suffered. They would like more
activities, but not necessarily more meetings. Most are called on to help others
in class. Most read the newsletter, have taken or plan to take an AP class, and
have an idea what they want to do after high school. They would like to
see the GT program get more involved with the community. Most participated in GT
activities this year, but all have skipped or cancelled participation in GT
events because of sports or other school events. They don’t hide their ability
to fit in, and only a few get teased about “being smart.” They realize they
have the responsibility to behave in a way that sets a good example for other
students at our school. Slightly more than half rate their academic achievement
in the program as high or above average, and slightly less than half give that
rating to their social growth. Two-thirds rated their emotional growth in
the program as average.
PARENT:
There was little return of parent surveys. The program was rated as
adequate. Areas needing improvement include communication and
understanding the identification process. The program somewhat emphasizes
critical thinking, creativity, and cooperative learning. Neither the gifted nor
regular ed curriculum is challenging. More GT activities would be
welcome.