District

Welcome to Upper Perkiomen School District

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21st Century Education

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Horseback riding in Green Lane Park

School Board

All Board and Workshop meetings are held at the Education Center - 2229 East Buck Road, Pennsburg.

Gifted Program

Program Mission Statement:

The Upper Perkiomen School District recognizes the need to educate gifted students according to their abilities, interests, talents, and needs. Since “…no single focus program…can hope to adequately serve a population with such potentially complex profiles” (Lewis, 2002); we will provide a continuum of services which may include the following where appropriate: compacting, expanding, enrichment, and/or acceleration of curriculum and instruction. This will be evidenced in the differentiation of content, process, product, and learning styles. We also recognize that gifted students have unique patterns of social and emotional development. Given that, “the balance between cognitive and effective learning outcomes is key to a functional program” (Delcourt, Cornell, and Goldberg, 2007), we aim to foster an environment that will develop their individual academic talents while simultaneously nurturing the whole child.

Notice of Parental Rights for Gifted Students:

This notice describes parent/guardian rights and the procedures that safeguard your rights as outlined in Chapter 16 of the State Board of Education's Regulations (22 Pa Code). These regulations require school districts to provide gifted education services to students who have been identified as gifted and in need of specially designed instruction. These services must be described in a Gifted Individualized Education Plan (GIEP). Click on the following link to view the Notice of Parental Rights for Gifted Students.


Gifted Identification Process:

Parents may request an evaluation to determine if their child is exceptional and in need of gifted education services by contacting their child's teacher or school counselor. Pennsylvania regulations state that a child is mentally gifted if the child has an IQ of 130 or higher. Students with IQ's lower than 130 may also be eligible for gifted services when multiple criteria strongly indicate gifted ability. Pennsylvania's multiple criteria include the following:

  • The student is a year or more above grade achievement level for the normal age group in one or more academic subjects as measured by nationally-normed and validated achievement tests able to accurately reflect gifted performance.
  • The student has an observed or measured rate of acquisition/retention of new academic content or skills that reflect gifted ability
  • The student has demonstrated achievement, performance or expertise in one or more academic areas as evidenced by excellence of products, portfolio or research, as well as criterion-referenced team judgment.
  • The student has demonstrated early and measured use of high level thinking skills, academic creativity, leadership skills, intense academic interest areas, communication skills, foreign language aptitude or technology expertise.
  • There are not intervening factors such as English as a second language, disabilities, gender or race bias, or socio/cultural deprivation masking gifted abilities.
When your request is received, it will be referred to the school’s Child Study Team. The school district will provide notice regarding whether it will proceed with an evaluation.

Please utilize the link below to access the Chapter 16 Guidelines of PA Code related to Gifted Programming: http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/022/chapter16/s16.1.html.

If you have questions related to gifted programming please contact the principal of you child's building or Dr. Andrea Farina, the Director of Pupil Services and Special Education.