The Gifted Student
A student who demonstrates a high degree of intellectual, creative abilities, exhibits an exceptionally high degree of motivation, and/or excels in specific academic fields, and who needs special instruction and/or special ancillary services to achieve at levels commensurate with his or her abilities.
Gifted Placement
Students are identified and placed in gifted education based on criteria established by the Georgia General Assembly and the state Board of Education. Students who transfer from gifted education programs within the state will be placed into the Gwinnett program, providing the original placement was correctly completed. Students who transfer from out of state must meet Georgia requirements.
The eligibility criteria for the gifted program is collected from four categories : mental ability, achievement, creativity, and motivation. Performance standards must be achieved in 3 of the 4 areas for a student to become eligible for gifted education services.
Once a child is placed in the FOCUS program, they do not have to be retested and placed again the following year. A child may be dismissed from the program for a variety of reasons. Parents are notified before any action is taken. Also, parents have the right to request their child be exited from the FOCUS program if they feel that is beneficial to the child.

GCPS Gifted Programs
Gwinnett County’s Gifted Programs serve students by providing academic challenges for those who are intellectually advanced. The gifted program is called FOCUS at the elementary school level, PROBE at the middle school level, and is referred to as gifted education and QUEST in high school. The program is designed to help each child reach his or her full potential. Students participating in the program receive additional instruction during their school day. This instruction may be in the form of a gifted education resource class, cluster group class, and/or content based class. These classes offer accelerated learning and enriched academic curriculum experiences that focus on and extend Gwinnett County Public Schools’ Academic Knowledge and Skills.
The gifted curriculum standards are divided into seven areas: (1) Creativity, (2) Thinking Skills, (3) Problem Solving, (4) Autonomous Learning, (5) Discovery, (6) Leadership and (7) Research. These seven areas are fundamental to Gwinnett County Public School’s curriculum for gifted students. Learning experiences that develop the use of the seven areas of curriculum standards enable gifted students to make informed decisions, to understand and apply concepts, to make reasonable judgments and to define, create and implement strategies for solving problems.

Starling Elementary Gifted Program

Fostering
Originality
Creativity
Understanding
Self Awareness

This pamphlet briefly describes the FOCUS program at Starling Elementary. This gifted program provides academic challenges for those who are intellectually and academically advanced based on state criteria. The classes offer enriched curriculum experiences that extend Gwinnett County Public Schools AKS.

The Nuts and Bolts of Starling Elementary School’s FOCUS Program
Gifted Program Resource Teachers
Darlene Bartik
darlene_bartik@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Katrina Ferebee
katrina_ferebee@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Shannon McMillen
shannon_mcmillen@gwinnett.k12.ga.us

When, Where, and How
All gifted students at Starling will receive instruction in the FOCUS Resource classroom for the majority of an instructional day per week. In addition, students in grades 2-5 who qualify may also receive instruction within their classrooms in Advanced Content Math and Advanced Content Reading. These classes are taught by gifted certified teachers aided by one of the gifted program teachers and are replacement classes for these subject areas.
Grading
All FOCUS Resource work is evaluated on a scale of E, S, N, or U similar to the way students are graded in Specials. Advanced Content classes replace the regular classroom grade on the report card. These classes adhere to the grading procedures as determined by the school-wide grading policy.
Make Up Work Policy
FOCUS students are responsible for mastery of all grade level AKS. However, due to the nature of the gifted program, they will, in most cases, be excused from daily work missed while attending FOCUS class.
Communication
Gifted students will no longer receive a separate report card for FOCUS Resource; progress within the FOCUS Resource classroom will be reported as a line item on the 9 week progress reports. Our primary source for communication is our grade level web site . It is linked from the Faculty and Staff page of Starling’s web site. The site contains general information about our FOCUS programs , as well as, course pages that are updated regularly and provide information about homework, projects, field trips, current units of study, etc… We will also utilize parent e-mail groups to communicate as needed., so please be sure we have your current e-mail address.

Classroom Discipline Plan
Step 1: Verbal Warning
Step 2: Student signs the classroom discipline notebook and the FOCUS resource teacher records it in the Friday Folder/discusses the behavior with the classroom teacher
Step 3: Time out in another classroom; parent phone call; student will complete a school-wide discipline plan
Supply Request
A voluntary monetary donation to help defer costs of supplies would be greatly appreciated. Donations can be made through My Payment Plus.

We FOCUS on Excellence!

Puckett's Mill Elementary