Frequently Asked Questions
- What are characteristics of gifted and talented children?
- How are gifted students educated in Eden Prairie schools?
- What is the KEY program in the Eden Prairie schools?
- How are students tested for KEY?
- What options are available for mathematically gifted students?
- My CMS student has been invited to take the SAT or ACT test. Should she sign up for the optional Midwest Academic Talent Search testing service?
- What options are available to help my student study for the SAT or ACT?
What are characteristics of gifted and talented children?
There are numerous lists of these characteristics. The following is from Guiding the Gifted Child by James T. Webb, Elizabeth A. Meckstroth, and Stephanie Tolan:
Typical Intellectual Characteristics of Gifted Children:
- Unusually large vocabularies for their age
- Ability to read earlier than most children, often before entering school
- Greater comprehension of the subtleties of language
- Longer attention span, persistence and intense concentration
- Ability to learn basic skills more quickly and with less practice
- Wide range of interests
- Highly developed curiosity and a limitless supply of questions
- Interest in experimenting and doing things differently
- Tendency to put ideas or things together in ways that are unusual and not obvious (divergent thinking)
- Ability to retain a great deal of information
- Unusual sense of humor
How are gifted students educated in Eden Prairie schools?
Eden Prairie Schools provide two avenues at the elementary level for meeting individual students’ needs for challenge. For all students, the regular classroom curriculum is designed to include higher level thinking activities, authentic assessments, and numerous opportunities for extensions and enrichment. Identified gifted and talented learners in the KEY program are grouped within regular classrooms. In a KEY classroom [a regular classroom that includes some KEY students], the emphasis is to provide opportunities for these students to interact with peers with similar skills and interests and utilize higher-order thinking skills to explore subjects in greater depth. The second avenue is the KEY program, in which a gifted and talented resource teacher is available at each building to work with identified gifted and talented students in a resource setting.**
**This information is found in the Gifted Services Program Handbook published by Eden Prairie School District 272, and distributed to all parents of identified KEY students.
What is the KEY program in the Eden Prairie schools?
KEY is Eden Prairie’s program for gifted and talented students in 1st through 6th grade. All KEY students engage in activities utilizing problem solving, higher level thinking skills, and advanced topics. Students don’t work specifically on subject areas such as math or science in KEY; those subjects are integrated into the problem solving and thinking skill activities. Students will do some assignments and activities in KEY that will be assessed. These “grades” won’t go on their report cards, but will serve as indicators of students’ progress and growth.**
The program in first and second grade is flexible and designed around the needs of the particular students involved. Students may remain in the regular classroom and work on extension activities with the classroom teacher and/or the gifted and talented resource teacher, or students may leave their regular classroom to work with the gifted and talented teacher in the resource room. In grades 1 and 2 a typical range of service is up to 2 hours per week.**
In grades 3-4, students meet with the gifted resource teacher for approximately 2 hours per week in the resource room and do an in-depth study of an advanced topic in an interdisciplinary format.**
In grades 5 and 6 KEY students will meet with their KEY teacher on a 21-day rotating cycle. They will be in KEY every day during their reading block for 21 school days, then in homeroom for 21 school days, rotating in and out for 4 rotations during the school year. **
Some examples of KEY topics in the elementary grades are architecture, volcanoes, flight, time, the Mayan culture, dinosaurs, advertising, and zoos. Topics may vary from site to site. At the intermediate school, students read and discuss novels and engage in debate in 5th grade and Mock Trial in 6th grade.
**This information is found in the Gifted Services Program Handbook published by Eden Prairie School District 272, and distributed to all parents of identified KEY students.
How are students tested for KEY?
Students are referred for placement in the KEY program by teachers, parents, or through self-referral. Identification for the KEY program is through a formal process that includes standardized testing. Decisions about KEY placement are made by a district placement committee, which consists of classroom teachers, gifted resource teachers, and administrators, and may include a school psychologist and other professionals as needed. The committee makes placement recommendations based upon reviews of comprehensive student profiles, which consist of:
- Teacher assessments of classroom performance
- Aptitude scores in the verbal, quantitative, and visual/spatial areas
- Achievement scores (grades 4-6)
- Scores measuring higher level thinking skills
- Parent questionnaire
The needs of students who move into the district prior to or during the school year will be reviewed on an individual basis.**
**This information is found in the Gifted Services Program Handbook published by Eden Prairie School District 272, and distributed to all parents of identified KEY students.
What options are available for mathematically gifted students?
Eden Prairie has an accelerated math program available for students in grades 5 and 6 at Oak Point. Students work on curriculum that is one year advanced (5th graders work on 6th-grade curriculum, and 6th graders work on 7th-grade curriculum). Qualification for the program is based on standardized test scores, Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment test results, and teacher input. For more details about math in Eden Prairie Schools, see our Math Pathways article and diagram. For options outside the school district, look at the Math options at Beyond the Classroom.
My CMS student has been invited to take the SAT or ACT test. Should she sign up for the optional Midwest Academic Talent Search testing service?
There are good reasons to pay the extra fee. See MATS for more information.
What options are available to help my student study for the SAT or ACT?
Students at CMS who elect to test are given a short preparation guide of information about the test and sample questions (which may be all they are interested in looking at) to prepare them to take the test.
For students at the high school whose scores may determine college acceptance or scholarship, the Career Resource Center at EPHS has a listing of local class options including cost, location and dates. A free online study option is available at www.number2.com. It includes the new SAT course, the ACT, a vocabulary-only option and capability for “parent coaches” to oversee progress. High school students may be able to check out SAT or ACT review books from the high school Career Resource Center or the Hennepin County Library (quantities are limited). Review books can, of course, be purchased at a bookseller.