D303 to start middle school magnet program

[title1parent]

www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1571087,3_1_EL13_06D303_S1.article

D303 to start middle school magnet program

May 13, 2009

By JANELLE WALKER For The Courier-News
ST. CHARLES -- Middle-school students who academically are in the top 3 percent in Community Unit School District 303 will now be able to attend classes designed to keep them challenged.

The board voted 6-0 Monday night to approve a news magnet program, to be housed at Wredling Middle School, for exceptionally gifted students. The program is set to start in the fall for the 2009-10 school year.

"This was one of the areas put forth by Summit 303," said Peg Sanders, who served on a task force led by Principal Charlie Kyle. Parents of gifted students said their children need more programs to meet their specific needs.

District 303 has set aside $200,000 in start-up costs for the program, including materials and incremental increases to the salaries of three teachers tapped to teach the gifted students. The district hopes to have a minimum of 42 students in the program, or 12 from each grade from sixth through eighth, Superintendent Don Schlomann said.

It will take at least three years to determine the program's success and after that, it would have to be self-sufficient, Sanders said.

The district has sent surveys to parents of the top 3 percent of students, but so far, only about 40 percent of those parents have responded, Kyle said. "As of (Monday), 27 kids have signed on, but we still have 60 percent to get signed up for this program."

The district has identified 91 students who could benefit from the program, Kyle said.

The key, Schlomann said, is not having so small of classes that it becomes "onerous financially." But, he added, it is not expected to pull teachers away from other students or increase classroom sizes in other middle schools.

"I would like to see 75 kids in the program, but I am pretty confident we will not be there next year," he said. "It is the Iowa 'Field of Dreams.' Build it and they will come."

Gifted students often need magnet schools and programs like these to make sure they stay challenged and motivated.

[gatordog]

I am glad we do Project Arrow within all of our MS's.

I know some are a bit hesitant about PA because of perceived social isolation for the students.

Going to a magnet school, that really must be a socially-isolating decision for these St Charles students to make.

[justvote]

Wredling Middle School is located on the far Northeast side of the district - very far away from many of the students it would serve. Maybe that's why only 40% have responded.

I agree with gatordog - I like our system much better.

[gatormom]

The biggest disadvantage you run into with a magnet program is a very rigid adherence to numbers. There will always be only so many chairs that can be filled and those bubble children will be the ones knocked out first. I wonder if they also offer a gifted program to children who are gifted but not in the top 3%.

D203 has magnet schools for the top 2% from 4th through 8th.

www.naperville203.org/departments/curriculum/ProjectIdeaPlus.asp

[asmodeus]

I wonder if they also offer a gifted program to children who are gifted but not in the top 3%

But at some point you have to define gifted. Should it apply to the top 3%, 5%, 20%? At what threshold does it become too inclusive?

[macy]

May 13, 2009 11:14:59 GMT -5 gatordog said:

I am glad we do Project Arrow within all of our MS's.

I know some are a bit hesitant about PA because of perceived social isolation for the students.

Going to a magnet school, that really must be a socially-isolating decision for these St Charles students to make.

My daughter went to a magnet program in elementary school prior to our move to 204. She then went through PA in middle school. As parents, we were very worried about the social isolation she might experience.

She is graduating high school this year. Our worries were baseless. She was able to create a very strong bond in PA with friends that carried on throughout high school.

[macy]

May 13, 2009 15:15:29 GMT -5 asmodeus said:

I wonder if they also offer a gifted program to children who are gifted but not in the top 3%

But at some point you have to define gifted. Should it apply to the top 3%, 5%, 20%? At what threshold does it become too inclusive?

I agree, you do have to define gifted. The elementary program my daughter was in used not only standardized test scores, teacher recommendations but also had applicants test for IQ level. Sounds a bit harsh, but it had to be. There needed to be a standard.

The program was meant to be for those children in the top 2 percent.

[title1parent]

www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1580334,3_1_EL19_08GIFTED_S1.article

Pressure is on to establish gifted magnet school

May 19, 2009

By PAUL DAILING For The Courier-News
ST. CHARLES -- With unanimous approval by the School Board coming last week, School District staff must start turning plans for a gifted magnet middle school into reality quickly.

The School Board has given planners until June 15 to get the needed minimum of students -- either 42 total or 12 in each of the three middle school grades -- to take part in the magnet program, which will be based at Wredling Middle School.

"It's kind of like a contingent approval," said Haines Middle School Principal Charlie Kyle, co-chairman of the task force on the program.

He said the parents of 31 students have expressed interest so far.

In total, 91 students qualify, Kyle said. The program will require three new teachers.

"The next step is to get the teachers in place and then get firm commitments from the parents," district Communications Director Jim Blaney said.

Kyle said he expects to have the teachers ready by Wednesday.

Although Wredling will be the home of the new gifted program, its test scores will be unaffected by the shift. The gifted students' scores will stay with the school they would normally attend.

"The test scores with a student at a home school of Haines, their test scores would stay at Haines," Kyle said.

Of the three St. Charles middle schools, Wredling had the lowest test scores in the 2007 Illinois School Report Card. Thompson had the lowest score the year before.

However, all three middle schools scored in at least the 90th percentile in the state testing -- well above the district average and nearly 20 points above the state average.

Wredling was chosen because it has the space, the classrooms are arranged in convenient "pods" so the gifted students can stay together, and the school is near St. Charles East High School, making it convenient for exceptionally accelerated students to attend classes at the high school, Kyle said.

A student in the program will have four gifted courses: language arts, math, science and social studies. Currently, the middle schools offer gifted courses only in language arts and math.

Gym and exploratory courses such as foreign languages will be taken with other Wredling students, as will extracurricular activities.

The top 3 percent of middle school students -- as determined by the Cognitive Abilities Test, the Illinois Standards Achievement Test and teacher recommendations -- will be eligible for the program.

The call for a gifted magnet middle school came from the public as part of Summit 303, a series of community engagement meetings designed to ask St. Charles residents what they want from the School District.

"Those are concrete examples of things the community said they wanted done through Summit 303 that are getting done," Blaney said.

For information or to express interest in the gifted middle school program, parents should contact Kyle at [e-mail] or call [phone].