Higley Schools Blog

Hayley Ringle recently wrote an article on the new all day gifted program HUSD is launching. Here are some excerpts:

Connor, who will be going into the fourth grade, is coming back to the Higley district to join the new all-day gifted program at Centennial Elementary School.
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District officials are working hard to find those families who have moved out of the district for this reason. They’re also trying to get the word out to other district and nondistrict families who want their children to be a part of the new gifted program for third- to fifth-graders. An informational meeting on Tuesday brought out nearly 100 interested parents and students.

“The new program is designed for those who are among the most gifted who may have not had academic needs met and who need higher academic instruction,” said Steve Nance, Higley’s director of curriculum. “(It’s for students) who need to be with other highly gifted students throughout the day.”

Higley now has a “pullout” gifted program for students who want to take an advanced math or language arts class at their school. The children are pulled from regular classes and put into gifted classes. The new program will have third- to fifth-graders engaging in gifted classes all day at Centennial.
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About 107 eligible third- and fourth-graders in the Higley district have been notified of the program. Students have to score well on the Cognitive Abilities Test to qualify. The number of classes and teachers needed depends on the interest, said Nancy Foote, a Higley teacher on special assignment who is so far the lone teacher identified for the new program.

Here is my take as a parent of one of those 107 kids: I was pleased that my daughter was invited but we don’t currently plan to accept the invitation. The primary reason is my kids attend Cortina and I want her to attend school with her siblings. All four will be in the same school for the next two years and I love the idea of them watching out for each other there as well as traveling to and from school together. It may be a nice thing but not quite worth it in our case from my point of view.

But if the new program brings more families with good students back to the district that is a very good thing for HUSD overall.