Every Ranger • Every Reason • Every Day

HLS Gifted

Giving Students Opportunities to Express and Grow Their Unique and Varied Abilities

Allyson White, Gifted Coordinator [[email protected]]

Our gifted education program seeks to support the academic and emotional needs of our gifted students through challenging curricula, engaging activities, encouragement, and guidance. We maintain our focus on several important components of gifted education, including:

Aligning to Ohio Gifted Operating Standards and the Department of Education Guidelines
Reviewing best practices and research and follow a continuous improvement model
Building educational capacity within our teachers working with gifted students
Analyzing data to determine the best curricular and programming options for our gifted students
Improving our communication with all stakeholders

Explore Gifted

HLS Gifted Documents

Helpful Websites

Print Resources

RECENTLY ADDED: What to Expect...When You're Parenting a Gifted Child

Visual & Performing Arts Gifted Identification

How are students identified as Gifted and Talented in the visual and performing arts?

Hamilton Local Schools follows the state of Ohio mandate for identification in the visual and performing arts. Students are identified in five arts areas; vocal music, instrumental music, theater/drama, dance and visual art. To be identified, students must demonstrate ability and obtain an acceptable score on an Ohio Department of Education rubric in combination with a qualifying score on a state approved checklist of behaviors related to the specific arts area.

Who identifies students as gifted and talented in the visual and performing arts?

Once parent permission is received for assessment, the visual and performing arts teachers complete a checklist of artistic behaviors for each screened student. If students earn a qualifying score on the checklist, they are invited to a performance audition, or for visual art, a portfolio evaluation (Phase Two). Students who earn a qualifying score on the state-approved performance rubric in combination with the checklist of artistic behaviors, are formally identified as gifted and talented in a specific area of the arts.

How and when are parents notified?

If a child is newly identified in any area of the visual and performing arts, parents/guardians will receive an identification notification letter through U.S. mail within 30 days of the completed assessment.

Does the Gifted and Talented team offer direct service to gifted students?

At this time, the state of Ohio only mandates gifted identification in the arts. Official service is not provided by Hamilton Local Schools. However, opportunities for identified students do exist throughout the district.

This is our guide to the HLS gifted program. Individual pages from this guide appear below.

HLS Gifted: Comprehensive Guide Overview

Read our introduction to our HLS Gifted Guide

This document explains our gifted referral and identification process.

Learn how we ensure equitable gifted referral, identification, and services to HLS students.

Whole-grade and individual subject acceleration, early entrance to kindergarten, and early high school graduation are discussed in this document.

See where and how gifted services are provided throughout HLS.

The components of WEPS are explained in this document.

We direct and document high-quality PD for our teachers who serve HLS gifted students.