FLPS GIFTED & TALENTED SERVICES

Franklin Lakes Public Schools’ supplemental Gifted & Talented (G&T) services are designed for those students who “possess or demonstrate a high level of ability in one or more content areas when compared to their chronological peers in the school district and who require modifications to their educational program if they are to achieve in accordance with their capabilities”  (C.18A:35-35).

Our continuum of Gifted & Talented services is designed to flexibly address the needs of identified students by appropriately matching services to the individual needs of students demonstrating gifted behaviors.  Needs-based services are developed in accordance with Policy 2464 Gifted & Talented, New Jersey Administrative Code, Strengthening Gifted and Talented Education Act, and with consideration of the National Association for Gifted Children.  Our identification process incorporates evidence-based practices outlined by the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), and relevant empirical research. The eligibility criteria include multiple valid and reliable quantitative and qualitative measures to identify high ability and high potential in students. G&T services are delivered via a flexible tiered system of support throughout grades K-8. 

MISSION

Our mission is to facilitate student learning, achievement, and development in accordance with a learner’s abilities via appropriate standards-based extensions, enrichment opportunities, and challenges aligned with the student’s instructional level.  The curriculum framework to be developed will be based on the New Jersey Student Learning Standards and designed to provide appropriate challenges to intellectually and academically advanced learners.

GOALS

The Franklin Lakes Gifted & Talented Supplemental Services aspire to support identified students in meeting their potential by:

• Fostering self-reflective, analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills in alignment with students’ instructional levels and the NJSLS;
• Improving and enhancing students’ ability to think in novel or divergent ways;
• Addressing the social and emotional needs of students with giftedness;
• Deepening student learning and facilitating growth; 
• Expanding student interests, perseverance, and performance in an atmosphere where individual strengths and uniqueness are acknowledged and celebrated;
• Providing time for students to meet and interact with similar-ability peers.

We are pleased to share our 2024-25 Gifted & Talented Services Handbook, which provides further information about our supplemental Gifted & Talented services and processes.

DEFINITIONS (per New Jersey Administrative Code)

• "Gifted and talented students" means students who possess or demonstrate high levels of ability in one or more content areas when compared to their chronological peers in the local school district and who require modifications of their educational program if they are to achieve in accordance with their capabilities. [N.J.A.C. 6A:8-1.3]
  
  
• "Instructional adaptation" means an adjustment or modification to instruction enabling students with disabilities, ELLs, or students in alternative education programs or who are gifted and talented to participate in, benefit from, and/or demonstrate knowledge and application of the NJSLS.
  
  

Educational Services

The board of education shall ensure that appropriate instructional adaptations and educational services are provided to gifted and talented students in kindergarten through grade 12 [8] to enable them to participate in, benefit from, and demonstrate knowledge and application of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards at the instructional level of the student.

IDENTIFICATION TIMELINES

A variety of assessments and instruments (e.g., state-standardized assessments, commercially-developed standardized reasoning abilities assessments, and other district-administered assessments (diagnostic, benchmark, creativity, rating scales, etc.) are used annually to provide educators with an understanding of a student's performance and may contribute to a body of evidence identifying a need for gifted and talented services. Parents/ guardians are also annually invited to submit optional rating scales and/ or supplemental information about their child ahead of the formal G&T identification process for the subsequent school year, which typically occurs in the late spring.

In preparation for 2024-25 G&T Identification, parent/ guardian rating scales will accept responses/ submissions from 12/15/23-1/12/24.