At Stephen Knight Center for Early Education, we strive to inspire happy, healthy, life-long learners in our community of students, families, and staff. As we build towards a district wide pre-k through 12 continuum of services for Gifted and Talented students, we commit to understanding characteristics of giftedness as well as embracing the identification process in early childhood. Our instructional practices focus on elevating rigor and differentiation through questioning, understanding the unique social emotional and affective needs of gifted students, and reflecting on our practices through ongoing data analysis. We acknowledge the bias in systems of gifted and talented identification and are working towards equitable practices for identification and programming for all students in our school family. Our staff members build strong relationships with students, which enables them to look for characteristics of giftedness in all students including our BIPOC students who may be underidentified.
We plan to meet these goals by intentionally planning opportunities, in our safe and nurturing environments, for students to develop background knowledge, problem solve, engage, and grow. Our instructional focus on how to support students focuses on rigorous questioning and intentional developmentally appropriate play. We create educational environments that are joyful, rigorous, and personalized to the individual strengths and needs of each student. Through our partnerships with families and the community, we have developed equitable pathways for gifted students to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally in our supportive learning environment.