Haart General Power Point

HAARTHAARTHHighlandsighlands

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PHILOSOPHY of HAARTPHILOSOPHY of HAARTIn order to provide the best educational opportunity for all students, HAART students will be offered higher order thinking activities that challenge them to make connections within and across disciplines. After mastering the core curriculum, these students will receive paced, in-depth and complex assignments. This will allow them to gain a deeper understanding of the basic concepts being studied in the classroom based on the student’s talents, abilities and interests, enabling them to reach their highest potential.

RATIONALE for HAARTRATIONALE for HAART1. “Educational equity does not mean educational sameness. Equality

respects individual differences in readiness to learn and recognizes the value of each student.” (A Nation Deceived)

2. Society gains from the advancement of all abilities and from the highest development of the talents of all its members. The establishment of adequate programs for advanced students results not in fostering elitism but improving social relations, bettering attitudes and developing an understanding of the unique capabilities of highly able children. Society needs a significant number of highly functioning persons that will carry and lead us into a satisfying and fulfilling future.

3. High ability children often think differently and have different

interests from those of their age mates. Many of these students enter school having already developed many of the basic skills at unusually high levels. Almost from the very first day of school many advanced students experience wariness or rejection because they are perceived as “different.” Initiation and innovation are typical traits found in these children resulting in a different view of the world and different educational needs.

RATIONALE for HAARTRATIONALE for HAART

4. HAART teachers will provide a differentiated curriculum that will reflect their students’ unique abilities, interests and talents.

5. When children are limited and restricted in their development they suffer physical and psychological pain. When not allowed to reach beyond what they learned previously, they often become bored, discouraged, frustrated and angry.

6 When the needs of the advanced students are considered and an educational program is designed to meet these needs, these students make significant gains in achievement, and their sense of well-being and competence is nurtured. Appropriate educational experiences will allow the advanced student to grow. Every child deserves the opportunity to learn something new each and every day they come to school.

GOALSGOALS1. To provide a learning environment which will be a

support for optimizing learning for its students by:A Providing a curriculum which is flexible and responsiveB Providing materials at many levels

2. To provide challenging activities by:A Providing continuous assessment to ascertain pace and depth of instructional needB Providing variety, novelty and choice in activities chosen for studentsC Providing opportunities for students to identify areas of interests D Providing educational components which link Sunshine State Standards with important critical thinking skills (high order/creative thinking, problem solving, etc.)

3. To provide independent learning opportunities by : A Encouraging interest-based research B Setting short and long-term goalsC Identifying information management techniques with organizational strategies

4. To provide advanced academics to low socio-economic and limited English proficient students who demonstrate high potential for academic success by:A Providing opportunities to enhance critical

thinking skillsB Providing training in effective study habits

GOALSGOALS

HAART then --HAART then --

began in 2005-2006began in 2005-2006

in grades 4 and 5in grades 4 and 5

at 8 schoolsat 8 schools

with a total of 16 classeswith a total of 16 classes

HAART now – 2008-09HAART now – 2008-09

in grades 1-5in grades 1-5

at 9 elementary schoolsat 9 elementary schools

in kindergarten at 2 schoolsin kindergarten at 2 schools

with a total of 55 classeswith a total of 55 classes

HAART teachers are qualifiedHAART teachers are qualified

training in gifted endorsement training in gifted endorsement classesclassesusing best practices with high ability using best practices with high ability studentsstudentsincorporating technologyincorporating technologydifferentiating for studentsdifferentiating for studentsnetworking with other HAART networking with other HAART teachersteacherscontinuing professional developmentcontinuing professional development

HAART – their futureHAART – their future

advanced academic opportunities are advanced academic opportunities are available at all middle schoolsavailable at all middle schools

honors and advanced placement honors and advanced placement classes are available at all high classes are available at all high schoolsschools

International Baccalaureate program International Baccalaureate program being pursued for the countybeing pursued for the county