HAP / Pre-AP

Approximately 10 percent of Fort Worth ISD students are formally identified as gifted learners. Elementary gifted students in grades 2—5 on each campus are clustered in High Academic Program (HAP) classes with a teacher certified in gifted education. Middle and high school students are placed in Pre-AP and Advanced Placement classes with teachers who have attended additional professional development focusing on Pre-AP and AP strategies. Far more students than those identified as gifted benefit through the differentiation offered to all students by gifted certified teachers. The new curriculum provides a core curriculum that is a rich, rigorous, concept-based approach to learning for all students. HAP and Pre-AP teachers will have differentiated instructional strategies, learning experiences, resources, products and assessments that are designed to facilitate differentiation and meet the needs of the advanced learner.

Identification Of Gifted Students

Identification of gifted students is based on multiple sources of data. These include achievement and ability test score data, parent and teacher perception surveys, and student performance as measured by a student portfolio. Information on identification procedures is provided by each school and each school follows a specific timeline for the identification of students.

Renzulli Learning

Parents appreciate seeing their child passionate about a topic or school experience that demonstrates the true joy and excitement of learning. With the rapid evolution of instructional technology, rich and complex resources tailored to individual students’ abilities, interests and learning styles may be accessed by students with the click of a mouse—in the classroom, during after-school programs, at home or wherever internet access is available.

The Renzulli Learning System is a Web-based learning system based on more than 30 years of research and development in the field of gifted education including advanced level thinking skills, motivation, creativity and engagement in learning. Renzulli Learning is being integrated into the gifted differentiation component of the new curriculum frameworks as a supplementary resource for HAP and Pre-AP students. RLS creates a student’s profile; then, the differentiation search engine examines over 19,000 safe and appropriate online and offline resources that relate to each student’s profile. This enables the student to work on assignments and projects that are challenging and engaging.