Five years ago when I began working as the psychologist for the gifted program in our school district, I quickly found that the majority of my time was spent with highly gifted students (IQ - 145 and up), their families, and respective schools. The district is made Lip of about 30,000 students, with gifted services operating at two levels, gifted and highly gifted. Gifted students are identified by multiple criteria with an individual IQ test being one option. Highly gifted are identified by an individual IQ score of 145 or above. In addition to the differentiated Curriculum for gifted students, highly gifted students also have the option of receiving one-on-one mentoring services for one hour each school day from the time they are identified until they graduate from high school. Lincoln Public Schools has approximately 10,000 students in the gifted program and 300 in the highly gifted program. Approximately twenty-seven of the highly gifted population score in the 150+ IQ range [extremely highly gifted).

The School Within a School is funded by a Nebraska State Lottery Grant for the 1995-96 and 1996-97 school years. The grant was written by parents of ten of the extremely highly gifted students and the psychologist for the gifted program. The grant evolved out of a semester of weekly meetings of the parents and psychologist, focusing on parenting issues with this unique group of children. The children met together in a social format during the same time periods guided by a mentor.

The aim of the program is to provide a part-time (three afternoons a week, year 1, five afternoons a week, year 2j, multi-age (8-13), multi-level (grades 3-7) educational experience for the ten students whose unique abilities and learning styles often pose special challenges and high risks. The classroom is staffed by a "special" teacher who is assisted one day a week by a consultant-teacher. Parent assistance is provided in the classroom as needed. The seven families served by the program meet monthly to plan, determine needs, etc.

This year, each of our students spends the mornings and Monday and Friday afternoons in his/her home school. During that time Language Arts, Mathematics, "Specials" (art, music, computer, physical education) and five hours weekly of individual mentoring in an area of academic strength are provided. Next year, five afternoons each week will be spent in our program.

The aim of the program is to maximize intellectual, social, and leadership development for the students through individual and group experiences with intellectual peers. The grant writing relied heavily on Hollingworth's work on the needs of highly gifted students. The daily programming revolves around reducing social isolation by opportunities to be with "like minds", opportunities to display interests and expertise in an environment which lauds the levels of both, and time and guidance to conduct in-depth individual research in areas chosen by the students. Community expertise from visiting scholars as well as field trips and other experimental learning are built into the program.

We are funded for five computers which the students are using as learning tools in more and more sophisticated ways. We have a wealth of resources provided by our very capable parents. For one example, one Of our parents is a specialist at the University of Nebraska library. He is providing individual and/or small group instruction to the students at the library as they do their research. We are also funded for "community experiences" which allows us to take advantage of learning opportunities throughout the city, state, and surrounding areas.

We have found the human component to be our most vital asset. The first months of the program were rocky until a teacher who "matched" the group was employed. We needed a very bright, non-defensive, creative teacher with an easy temperament (those folks aren't just sitting around), and we now have that person.

From the beginning of our efforts, we have had wonderful support from our district's Gifted Consultant, the School Board, Administration and individual schools. We anticipated that we had many problems to be addressed. School support turned out not to be one. Finding the "right" personnel for the program, revising our budget as our needs changed, providing transportation to the central site, getting a telephone installed in the classroom, and getting the computers hooked up to the internet were larger and/or more time-consuming problems.

We have just completed the first round of our on-going evaluation with very positive feedback. Parents reported, on individual interview, the most positive aspects of the students' experiences in the program thus far. The overwhelming response was the interactions/experiences with the other students. This was followed by becoming aware of her/his own potential; understanding the breadth and complexity of intelligence, connecting with the teacher; a sense of self; being in a safe environment where he/she can be his/her self; freedom to pursue her/his passions in an accepting environment; and a place where he/she can develop and demonstrate resilience. We met with each family to determine additional specific needs for each student and made a plan to attack those needs.

We have worked harder and invested more personal time than we ever imagined we would but we feel very good about our efforts. Overall, we are all having a good time and are happy to think that we are a part of providing "appropriate educational experiences". Our next big goal is to identify appropriate national grant sources for funding after 1996-97. We would appreciate any ideas from readers.

Permission Statement

Reprinted with permission of the author, L. Rivers. Copyright held by author.

This article is provided as a service of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted young people under 18. To learn more about the Davidson Institute’s programs, please visit www.DavidsonGifted.org.