Gifted Resource Cluster Model
Gifted Cluster Model
All elementary schools in VBCPS use the Resource-Cluster model. This is where identified gifted students are clustered in a group and placed together in a classroom with a teacher who is trained in gifted education and who works closely with the gifted resource teacher. At Thoroughgood we typically place eight to twelve identified gifted students in the cluster classes. The Resource-Cluster model applies in grades two-five. If your student is not currently identified gifted and you are interested in having him or her tested for gifted services, you may do so at any point in his or her educational career in VBCPS. Please see the dates and deadlines tab for testing dates. Students from any classroom can be tested. The Resource-Cluster Model as described by the Gifted Department in VBCPS: "Cluster grouping is an administrative procedure in which identified gifted students on a grade level are assigned to one classroom with a teacher who has received special training to teach gifted students" (Schuler 1997, p.1). The practice of cluster grouping places a group of six to eight identified students of similar ability in a heterogeneous classroom. Gifted students receive the majority of their instruction within the cluster classroom from the cluster teacher who collaborates with the gifted resource teacher to plan thematic, interdisciplinary, differentiated lessons and units. Cluster grouping provides an opportunity for cluster teachers to plan and deliver specialized instruction to small groups of gifted learners, who benefit from the interaction with their intellectual peers. "when teachers try to meet the diverse learning needs of ALL students, it becomes extremely difficult to provide adequately for everyone" (Winebrenner and Devlin 1999, p. 5). Cluster groupings helps classroom teachers meet an individual gifted student's needs more efficiently and more adequately. The elementary gifted resource-cluster model provides an on-site gifted resource teacher who offers services to students, teachers, administrators, and parents in elementary schools. |