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Show EDUCATION NEWS The Salt Lake City School Board has created a new entity, The Extended Learning Program, to integrate the various existing programs dealing with gifted education into one program. This integrati on was reconmended by the District 's Gifted Education Task Force. The Task Force was establish ed by superinte ndent John Bennion in Noverrber, 1985, to examine the roles and relations hips of the existing programs, to develop a philosoph y of gifted education , to develop criteria for identific ation and a coordinat ed means of placing students in extended learning programs, and to recormnend methods of coordinat ion and utilizati on of existing programs to be used within an overall district program for students with extraordi nary learning abilities . The Task Force will continue to meet to develop recorrmendations to reach an ultimate goal of an extended learning program which meets the needs of able learners in grades K-12. The current programs are murP, a full time program with required parent cooping of 3 hours per child per week and housed at LOwell Elementary School and South High School, Horizons which places a half time teacher for grades 4-6 in each elementar y school, and the Horizons Optional program, a full time program for grades 5-7 for students in the top two per cent currently housed at Highland High School. The integrate d program calls for the Lowell and South High E,quip sites, as well as the Horizons optional program to be moved to Bennion Elementary in central city. The HOP program for seventh and eighth grade will continue at Highland High School. A full time teacher coordinat or has been named to direct the program. Two half time assistant s for curriculm developnent in the part time programs and the full time program respectiv ely have been added. The Internati onal Baccalau reate Program, a rigorous academic program for the last two years of high school culminati ng in examinations and a diploma, which was to have been fully implemented in the four Salt Lake City school district High Schools this fall has been abandoned. In late spring, Superinte ndent John Bennion recorranended that South High School be given the program with a $40,000 allotted to the program. West High School patrons and administr ation protested the proposal at a Board of Education meeting. Superinte ndent Bennion then proposed, and it was passed by the Board of &iucation , that the $40,000 be divided equally among the four high schools to be used either for Advanced Placement and/or Internati onal Baccalaur eate programs. Only West High School has indicated any interest in participa ting in the program. Although the program was not successfully implemented, students and faculty have received benefits. Many teachers have been sent to national workshops on the curriculm , honors classes in grades 7-10 have been increased and the foreign language programs have been strengthe ned. On a more positive note, the Salt Lake City, Granite and Jordan School districts have cooperate d to fund a half time teaching position with responsi bility for Interdist rict programs. Bonnie· Peterson, SL League member, will coordinat e three competiti ve programs, Future Problem Solving, Olympics of the Mind and Debate at pre-high school levels. She will be involved with teacher training and program modeling as well. Salt Late Voter IS September 1986 |
