Middle School Gifted and Talented Programs

The report investigates main components, instructional approaches, staffing, professional development, and service delivery for middle school gifted and talented programs.

Each year, the National Association for Gifted Children recognizes administrators for exceptional management of gifted and talented programs. This report incorporates insights from five of those administrators and finds that middle school gifted and talented programs elevate the rigor of gifted students’ coursework and provide opportunities to develop a sense of community among themselves.

Create gifted classes or clusters

To optimize gifted student instruction, create classes specifically for gifted students or cluster gifted students in general education classes with mid- to high-achieving students if too few students qualify for gifted services. Teachers can focus specifically on gifted student needs and preferences through classes exclusively designed for these students. Therefore, middle schools at most profiled districts—District B, District C, some middle schools at District D, and District E—offer these types of classes.

In some cases, however, not enough students exhibit giftedness in a subject area to completely fill a gifted-level class. At District A and some middle schools at District D, administrators cluster gifted students and assign them to general education classes. Contacts at District D recommend that administrators place these clusters in classes with mid-to-high achieving students so teachers can focus on a narrower range of student abilities.

Use complex content for gifted students

Rigorous instruction for gifted and talented middle school students requires elevating the depth and complexity of classroom tasks.For example, gifted instructional specialists at District A created a repository of rigorous math tasks for teachers to assign to gifted students. In these tasks, students complete ambiguous, multi-faceted math problems that do not have a clear or single answer.

The exact tactics that teachers use to implement a rigorous instructional approach vary across middle schools within profiled districts and across profiled districts. At all profiled districts, however, rigorous instruction—in which teachers elevate the depth and complexity of classroom tasks—represents the primary component of middle school gifted and talented programs.

Design special electives for gifted students

Create elective courses for gifted students to provide social-emotional support and additional academic enrichment. At District B and some middle schools at District E, gifted students attend an elective course (i.e., a course that is not a core subject) of exclusively gifted students. This course represents a vehicle for administrators to provide a welcoming environment and additional, challenging coursework.

At District B, students in the elective create projects to answer ambiguous, existential questions such as “What does it mean to be human?” and “What dos it mean to be me?”

Contacts report that without this elective, gifted students may feel frustrated in general education classes that lack challenging content and they may have insufficient opportunities to connect with their high-achieving peers. Gifted elective courses at both profiled districts incorporate assignments that ask students to tackle rigorous, real-world problems.

Provide support for teachers of gifted students

Offer professional development for gifted students’ teachers around gifted educational tactics sourced from state guidelines, teacher interests, and observed practices. Administrators at all profiled districts provide professional development for teachers of gifted students (i.e., teachers who teach gifted classes, general education classes with clusters of gifted students, and/or electives for gifted students).

Professional development ensures that all teachers of gifted students implement rigorous, gifted-level coursework consistently, and thus represents a major component of the gifted and talented program at profiled districts.

Gifted and talented program staff provide professional development opportunities including trainings during designated professional development days and webconferences posted to the district’s learning management system. Gifted and talented program administrators use state guidelines, tactics highlighted on teacher surveys, and innovative practices that they observe during classrooms to create teacher trainings.