Gifted Education

Camp Hill School District offers the following continuum of services designed to meet the needs of our gifted learners, with a focus on providing opportunities for acceleration, enrichment, or both. 

At the elementary level, students are grouped according to their reading and math levels.  Gifted students work on reading materials and assignments above their grade level. They may move more quickly through the core material and therefore participate in lessons that expand (enrich) their skills, as well as progress onto skills in the next grade level.  During an intervention time called What I Need (WIN), gifted students are grouped together to work on various projects on topics that coordinate with standard, not only at their grade level, but the grade level above. Activities include additional opportunities for experimentation, research, discussion, and written products. Under the gifted teacher's guidance, they can choose topics in their areas of strength and interest. The topics can be in the areas of science and social studies, as well as English language arts and math. The Gifted Individual Education Plan (GIEP) team reviews the student’s present levels at least annually, to decide when the student should be accelerated into the next grade for a particular subject area or for the entire grade (grade skipping).  For example, the team might decide that the student's strengths are across subject areas and sufficiently advanced to have the student skip a particular grade.  If this happens, the GIEP is written to reflect that the goals are for above grade level material.    As another example, another student might have a strength in only one subject area. The team might decide that the student should advance to the next grade only in that subject area.

At the middle school level, acceleration and enrichment occur during the courses chosen by the GIEP team of which the student is a member.  A student with a strength in language based areas may be placed in replacement enrichment reading courses in sixth and seventh grades. Students may be accelerated into a higher level course in their area(s) of strength.  For example, a student may qualify to take pre-algebra then algebra, geometry, etc.  a year before most of his/her peers would take those courses. The GIEP team works within the course offerings and schedule to meet the strengths and interests of middle school students.  Because the middle school and high school are within the same building, students can advance in courses without transportation or school day mismatches.   Students may work on independent study projects under the direction of the gifted education teacher.  The topics may coordinate with projects in any of the core academic areas. For example, students have researched science fair topics to complete more sophisticated science fair project, which is a sixth grade science requirement.  GIEP goals are developed around the student's strength and special interest. Students who demonstrate high achievement across all academic areas may accelerate into the next grade at the recommendation of the GIEP team.   At the eighth grade level, some gifted students may qualify to take Honors level courses and have GIEP goals written as enrichment goals designed to enhance the curricular goals of the course.

At the high school level, some students meet their strengths and interests through their choices of courses and extra-curricular activities.  They might choose to take Honors and Advanced Placement Courses earlier than their peers.  They may choose to concentrate their electives in a particular subject area, advancing more rapidly in that area than in others.  An example of this would be taking several World Languages as electives or choosing additional science and math courses.  A few students choose to complete high school in three years instead of four or to enroll in a post-secondary school for college credit prior to graduating from high school.  Independent study projects and internships can be developed in areas of strength and interest with the support of a mentor teacher, the gifted teacher, and parents/guardians. Online courses may be used to provide flexibility in scheduling required courses and for meeting the enrichment and/or acceleration needs of the student.  Finally, if the GIEP team decides that the student's needs are being met within the general education curricular offerings, the recommendation may be made to discontinue the GIEP.

Camp Hill School District annually conducts various awareness activities to inform the public of the gifted education services and programs offered.  The school district follows the child find procedures described by the state for the identification of gifted children.  Public notice of the district's responsibility to locate and assessment potential gifted students is described on the district's web site within the Director of Student Services' web page.  Additionally, the school handbook and calendar describe the identification of gifted children and the services that the district offers.  The borough/district newsletter annually publishes the child find information as well. Teachers and guidance counselors speak individually with parents when school performance is indicative of potential giftedness.

Camp Hill School District has established screening procedures to locate and identify students who are gifted and who require gifted education to meet their potential. These procedures comply with the Pennsylvania regulations that are delineated in 22 Pa. Code Chapter 16. 

Screening and identification of gifted students occurs from kindergarten through twelfth grades.  Students may be identified in several different ways.

Teacher Referral:  Through classroom based assessments and observations, a teacher may identify that a student has exceptional aptitude for academic achievement and creativity. A teacher would discuss a child’s educational progress with his/her parent and recommend that the parent consider using the District’s multidisciplinary evaluation process to determine if the child is gifted and in need of specially designed instruction to meet his/her unique learning needs. If the parent agrees, the teacher would request that the multidisciplinary evaluation team review the student’s performance data to determine if a more in-depth evaluation is warranted. The multidisciplinary evaluation team is the classroom teacher, the parent/guardian, the school psychologist, the gifted education teacher, and the building principal or the Director of Student Services.  A request for a multidisciplinary evaluation may occur one time per school year.

Parent Referral:  Parents/Guardians may request that the District review their child’s school performance to consider a multidisciplinary evaluation to determine if he/she is gifted and in need of specially designed instruction to meet his/her unique learning needs.  The performance data will be reviewed at a multidisciplinary team meeting, consisting of the classroom teacher(s), parent/guardian, the school psychologist, the gifted education teacher, and the building principal or the Director of Student Services. If the review of performance data warrants a more in depth evaluation, the parent may, in writing, request a multidisciplinary evaluation by submitting a letter to the Director of Student Services no more than one time per school year.

Screening Meeting: When a teacher or parent refers a student, a multidisciplinary team meeting is held. The team consists of: the classroom teacher(s), the parent(s) or guardian(s), the principal, the school psychologist, the gifted education teacher, and any other pertinent professional staff. At the meeting the team reviews the child’s performance information. The performance information should include: a completed screening matrix, any current standardized testing information such as PSSA testing, report cards, other curriculum-based assessments, and observations. Based on a review of the information, the team will decide to recommend a multidisciplinary evaluation. If the team decides to proceed with the multidisciplinary evaluation, the paperwork and timelines governing the process, which are outlined in Chapter 16 regulations, will be implemented.

The District uses the above screening procedures on a case-by-case basis for all students in the District to find and identify students who are of superior mental ability. The District uses the screening matrix to screen all students in the spring of their second grade year in order to determine who meets the criteria for further assessment using an abbreviated intelligence test. While this is currently the only time an entire class of students is evaluated, District professionals use student performance data on a yearly basis to identify students who may qualify for the gifted education program.

Eligibility Criteria: To be identified as a gifted student, the child must meet these criteria:

1. Score 130 or above on an individual Intelligence (IQ) test such as the WISC-IV and demonstrate through their achievement and rates of acquisition and retention that he/she is a student of gifted ability.
2. If the child scores less than 130 IQ, the student must meet all of the following criteria:
3. Have a reading level, as measured by a nationally normed standardized test, at the 96^th percentile for his/her age, or above
4. Have a math level, as measured by a nationally normed standardized test, at the 96^th percentile for his/her age, or above.
5. Have the recommendation of the multi-disciplinary team, which includes a score on the GATES, which is a checklist of gifted traits completed by the teacher of at least an average of 4.5 out of 5.
6. Once a student has been identified as gifted according to the above criteria, the multi-disciplinary team must decide whether the student is in need of specially designed instruction outside the regular education program to meet his/her unique educational needs. If the team decides that specially designed instruction is needed, the team would write a Gifted Individual Education Program (GIEP) for the child.  If the team decides that the child does not need specially designed instruction, the child would continue to receive instruction within the regular education program to meet his/her educational needs. Once a decision has been reached, a Notice of Recommended Assignment (NORA) documents the team’s decision. It requires a signature by a parent and by the District Superintendent.

The requirements for a student's Gifted Individualized Education Plan can be found in the Pennsylvania Code (22 Pa Code §16.32).  For additional questions regarding the gifted screening process, please contact Ms. Autumn Reely, Director of Student Services and Special Education, at areely@camphillsd.k12.pa.us or 717-901-2400 ext. 5935.

For more information and resources to support gifted learners, please check out the links to resources below.

• Pennsylvania Department of Education - Gifted Education
• Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education
• National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Knowledge Center
• Davidson Institute Resource Library for Gifted Children & their Families