Gifted & Talented

At Sandra Todd-Williams Academy, we strive to inspire happy, healthy, life-long learners in our community of students, families, and staff.  As we build towards a district wide pre-k through 12 continuum of services for Gifted and Talented students, we commit to understanding characteristics of giftedness as well as embracing the identification process in early childhood. Our instructional practices focus on elevating rigor and differentiation through questioning, understanding the unique social emotional and affective needs of gifted students, and reflecting on our practices through ongoing data analysis.  We acknowledge the bias in systems of gifted and talented identification and are working towards equitable practices for identification and programming for all students in our school family. Our staff members build strong relationships with students, which enables them to look for characteristics of giftedness in all students including our students of color, multilingual learners, and twice-exceptional students, who may be underidentified.

We plan to meet these goals by intentionally planning opportunities, in our safe and nurturing environments, for students to develop background knowledge, problem solve, engage, and grow.  Our instructional focus on how to support students focuses on rigorous questioning and intentional developmentally appropriate play.  We create educational environments that are joyful, rigorous, and personalized to the individual strengths and needs of each student.  Through our partnerships with families and the community, we have developed equitable pathways for gifted students to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally in our supportive learning environment.

Please see this link HERE for information on Gifted & Talented (GT) characteristics for ECE students, testing nominations, Early Access information for Kindergarten and first grade, and more! 

If you have any questions, please reach out to the school’s front office team, or our GT support person, Chelsea Chappell-Cox, at chelsea_chappell_cox@dpsk12.net.

Gifted & Talented (GT) in Early Education

What is Giftedness in ECE? Click here. 
GT Screening

Notice connections between the characteristics linked above and your student? You can reach out to our GT Itinerant, Chelsea Chappell-Cox, chelsea_chappell-cox@dpsk12.net, for more information and/or opt into additional Gifted & Talented testing. For testing information for students in our ECE classrooms, click here (nomination window closes October 3rd).
Early Access
In alignment with Colorado’s Exceptional Children’s Education Act (ECEA), DPS offers early access to kindergarten and first grade. Read all about that process here. The fall Early Access interest form closes on October 15th. 

Family Resources
Check out the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) website, which contains Tip Sheets for families. They are also available in Spanish here. Topics include Advocacy, Creativity, Giftedness, Giftedness in the Classroom and Social Emotional Development.
DPS GT Family EngagementMark your calendar for our next DPS GT Family series session on October 7th. The topic is Understanding the GT Identification Process & Equity in Identification. For more information click on this link to the GT Family Series one-pager. We’ll host an event each month on either the 1st or 2nd Tuesday from 5pm-6:15pm virtually, with interpretation available in DPS’ eight most commonly spoken languages. Families are encouraged to register at least one week in advance so we can arrange interpretation services.In case you missed our first GT Department Family Series event on Social Emotional Supports for GT Students, here’s a One Pager Recap — DPS GT Department Family — Social Emotional Supports for GT Students. For more information, reach out to our GT Itinerant, Chelsea Chappell-Cox, chelsea_chappell-cox@dpsk12.net.