Be Challenged
Beach Court’s Service Delivery Models for GT and Talent Pool students will include pull-out, flexible/cluster grouping, and multi-age classrooms. Beach Court has an intentional focus on identifying traditionally underrepresented populations and identifying students for Talent Pool in non-traditional categories that do not show up in standardized testing such as dance, art, leadership, etc. Beach Court implements a standards-aligned, rigorous inquiry-based model throughout all content giving students access to inquiry-driven content and personalized learning. Additionally, PEBC’s Thinking Strategies are implemented in every classroom in the school, supporting students in understanding content at deeper and more complex levels in all classrooms. Beach Court’s GT and Talent Pool students participated in accelerated learning daily through lesson plan design and differentiated skills block. Effectively, Beach Court supports students through a restorative justice approach, with a full time RJ coordinator and school psychologist/social worker. GT students are encouraged to advocate for their needs to teachers, and are supported in building their self-advocacy muscles. Beach Court GT students are served by a .25 GT Specialist as well as a GT endorsed Instructional Dean and Principal.
Beach Court also has a 5-day a week acceleration teacher who supports acceleration in literacy and math for all identified GT students as well as those who need to be accelerated in a content area such as students who are in the Talent Pool.
We are excited to announce that Beach Court has been identify by DPS as a Gifted and Talented Magnet School!
As you already know, we already cluster identified students in classrooms, but becoming a magnet school allows us to now train all staff in differentiated instruction! This will also result in more opportunities for students throughout our district who seek depth, complexity and rigor in instructional programming. We are excited to be able to also serve our Gifted students in our ELA-S classrooms in native language!
We will start our preparation and planning in April of 2025 and begin official Magnet status Fall of 2026! As we prepare for the 25/26 school year, we are working to ensure that all GT identified students in Grades 2-5th are in cluster groups. We are also beginning our staff professional development plan to ensure all staff members are GT Certified. We will also continue with acceleration for literacy and math. More information to come as we continue our journey as a magnet school!
What is Cluster Grouping?
Cluster grouping is an educational process in which four to six Gifted and Talented (GT) and/or Talent Pool Identified students are assigned to an otherwise heterogeneous classroom within their grade to be instructed by a teacher that has had specialized training in differentiating for gifted learners.
Our magnet program is integrated into our general education classrooms meaning gifted and highly gifted students are in classes with students of varying abilities. This differs from some magnet programs in which HGT students are in self-contained classrooms where they learn and interact with only other highly gifted students. All classrooms have a cluster of gifted and highly gifted students to ensure they always have intellectual peers, but Beach Court values the benefits of heterogeneous classrooms.
Beach Court has a strong Gifted and Talented (GT) program and talent development for our students who have not yet been formally identified, and we believe in meeting students where they are academically and effectively. Teachers have high expectations for meeting the needs of our GT students through rigorous, inquiry-based, differentiated lessons, and the support of “push in” services. Here are just a few of the ways we support our GT students: