A mentoring program for gifted students involving teachers and other adults helps encourage bright students to explore knowledge and thrive.
Typical stories of gifted students include a kindergartner who learned to read three years previous to her entry in school. How can this child be educated in a classroom with other children who are still learning alphabet sounds?
She is not alone. In the Lincoln Public Schools, more than 5,000 students are in the LPS gifted program. They include the four year old who entered the school chess tournament and won second place. By first grade he could add three digit nmbers in his head faster than most people could enter them on a calculator.
Despite a large number of gifted students, the supervisor of gifted education Dr. Joan Jacobs says that her team only used .0087 percent of the LPS budget.
“These students can work at their own pace, go more in-depth, do more applications that are specific to their own interests,” Jacobs explained. “They still do the curriculum, but they can do it in less time so they have time for other things.”
Students do the same work as their peers in literature and math 60 percent of the time. During the remaining time they work on lessons that are specifically created for them. Highly gifted students may also have a mentor in the area where they show the most strength.
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