LibGuides: Exceptional Learner Programs: Home

CNG MISSION STATEMENT

CNG is a learning community committed to serving a diverse student population and preparing responsible global citizens through an accredited United States/Colombian college- preparatory program focused on motivating students to achieve their fullest individual potential for excellence.

EXCEPTIONAL LEARNER PROGRAMS PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT

We are committed to meeting the needs of our exceptional learners to become engaged, motivated, and reflective students who strive to achieve their highest potential. We accomplish this through collaborative and responsive teaching to provide each student with the level of challenge and support they need and deserve to experience success.

LEARNING CENTER ESSENTIAL AGREEMENTS

Facilitate growth, promote independence, and develop individual potential in order to enhance and support learning opportunities for students with diverse learning profiles
Create engaged, motivated, and reflective students who strive to be the best they can be, contribute positively to their society, and experience a fulfilling, happy life
Help students develop strong foundational skills needed to experience academic success
Use responsive teaching along with evidenced-based interventions and supports to maximize student performance
Work collaboratively with teachers, parents, and administrators in order to promote student social-emotional wellbeing, academic growth, and independence

GIFTED & TALENTED ESSENTIAL AGREEMENTS

Gifted - and - talented students demonstrate unique potential and/ or demonstrated ability to think, learn, and perform at levels that are consistently and signi cantly higher than their age-group peers.
For optimal development of potential, gifted - and - talented students require early and timely identi cation as well as ongoing interventions.
Gifted - and - talented students require access to a rigorous and demanding curriculum that allows them to explore and nurture their
interests and passions.
Students in the Gifted & Talented Program require learning experiences and intellectual challenge that result in continuous academic growth.
Gifted - and - talented students are provided opportunities to deepen understanding, go beyond their course work, and apply their learning to real-life situations.
Gifted and talented students need the time and opportunity to associate with peers of equal ability.
We honor and believe in the existence of exceptional abilities, including those who are twice exceptional, served by the Learning Center and
the Gifted & Talented Program.
The G&T Program provides viable and differentiated services that allow each of our gifted and talented students to reach their unique potential and positively impact the world of today for a better tomorrow.

OUR HISTORY, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

Colegio Nueva Granada is a unique combination of honored tradition and visionary future, and the Learning Center has been a long-standing part of CNG's history. The Learning Center was founded in 1975 and since then it has grown, expanded, and continued to evolve to become the robust and structured department it currently is.

The Learning Center department is at the heart of CNG and our professionals work hand in hand with all school personnel, parents, and students in order to support students’ learning and wellbeing. The Learning Center staff is comprised of highly trained professionals who are passionate about education and are fully-invested in helping all students reach their maximum potential. We believe that all students can grow when they are given systematic, structured, and evidenced-based interventions along with a caring and safe learning environment.

At Colegio Nueva Granada we use a Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework to help guide our instruction and support efforts to improve student learning. At the Primary level, CNG views MTSS as a collaborative and systematic process that includes universal screening of all students in order to carry out early identification of students at risk of learning difficulties. We have developed three tiers of support that target students' individual learning needs. These levels of support include:

Tier I consists of evidence-based curriculum that are delivered by highly trained teachers as well as differentiated instruction to support all learners. There are also
Tier II is made up of targeted interventions offered to students at risk of poor learning outcomes, and
Tier III comprises targeted systematic interventions with evidence- based programs for students who are behind in their learning.

The Learning Center will continue to support students who have diverse learning needs and ways to challenge them to develop their fullest learning capacity. At CNG we are committed to identifying and meeting the needs of students in both ends of the learning continuum.

LEARNING CENTER SERVICE CONTINUUM

In classroom support.
Targeted small group interventions designed to help children develop the foundational skills needed to successfully access the curriculum.
Remedial evidenced based interventions that are designed to bridge the achievement gap in children with specific learning needs.

Our programs:

Co-Teaching and Remedial Interventions - Collaborative educational environment in which a general education teacher and a special education teacher work together to ensure equal access to grade level curriculum.
Resource Room - Small group instruction for students who need modified curriculum in one content area.
Extensive Resource Room - Small group instruction for students who need supplanted curriculum in all academic areas.

GIFTED & TALENTED PROGRAM

Colegio Nueva Granada is committed to an educational program that recognizes the unique value, needs, and talents of each individual student. It recognizes however, that the academically gifted student possesses extraordinary abilities to think creatively and critically, and that his/her cognitive and affective needs can best be met by provision of a differentiated learning environment. Such an environment will allow gifted students regular opportunities to interact with, and be stimulated by, their intellectual peers without being completely isolated from the regular school program. The purpose of CNG ́s Gifted & Talented Program is to recognize, identify, and nurture exceptional abilities of students through a continuum of services K4-12. Students who are twice-exceptional who are receiving support through the Learning Center may also qualify to be part of the Gifted & Talented Program.

CNG's Gifted & Talented Program is based on the NAGC Pre K-Grade 12 Gifted Programming Standards. These standards provide the expectations for learning and development, assessment, curriculum planning and instruction, learning environments, programming, and professional development to ensure a rigorous and robust Gifted & Talented Program.

CNG’s identification process of the gifted and talented uses multiple data points to ensure the best possible decisions about meeting the needs of individual students. These data points include the CogAT ability test, the MAP achievement scores, and Renzulli's survey of teacher perception. Students may enter the Gifted & Talented Program through direct referral when new to CNG and have previously participated in a gifted and talented program at their former school, or through the CogAT universal screening in grades 2, 5, and 8. This screener is part of the admissions process for all incoming students 2-9 grade. When students meet the minimum qualifications in the universal screener, they complete a second stage testing with the full CogAT.

All students enrolled in the Gifted & Talented Program are entitled to an Instructional Learning Plan (ILP). The ILP is a road map where the student ́s learning journey and programming options will be noted. It is a dynamic document that is reviewed through a collaborative process with the student, parents, faculty, and specialists. The ILP will also be used to document the ways in which teachers have met the learning needs of students in the Gifted & Talented Program.

The program provides a viable and differentiated program that allows each of our advanced learners to reach their unique potential and positively impact the world of today for a better tomorrow. CNG recognizes that an enriched and/or accelerated curriculum are essential, and part of the basic education of gifted-and-talented students in order to meet their personal life-long goals.