Gifted Programs

Gifted education services are available for Prince William County students in kindergarten through grade 12. Students identified as potentially gifted in kindergarten receive services in the regular classroom. Students identified as potentially gifted in an academic area in grades one through three are provided with appropriate instruction in each elementary school.

Porter has a site-based gifted education program.  This program offers a variety of educational opportunities that provide enrichment, extension, and acceleration of the classroom curriculum.

START (Strategies for Teaching and Reaching for Talents) is the Prince William County Public Schools Gifted Education Program for grades K-3.  Students at this level are identified as potentially gifted. This suggests they have a strong potential to achieve in the verbal or quantitative academic area.

Children (grades K-3) who are placed in the Porter START program for gifted education have a variety of opportunities to excel in all areas of the curriculum. They are encouraged to solve problems and develop skills while thinking creatively and critically.  They participate in classes once a week with the gifted education teacher. The amount of time spent per week depends on the grade level of the student.

These identified children in kindergarten, first, second, and third grades are taken out of the regular classroom to work with the gifted education resource teacher in a small group setting once a week.  Times vary with the grade level.  The gifted resource teacher and the classroom teacher work together to meet the needs of the identified children by offering differentiated curriculum in regards to content, process, and products.

At the end of third grade, students are formally identified in the category of intellectual aptitude and specific academic aptitude. Such students receive additional services during both fourth and fifth grades in a school-based program or in a gifted education center.

SIGNET (Schools Involved In Gifted Needs In Education Today) is the Prince William County Public Schools Gifted Education Program for grades 4-5.  The program provides service to students identified in the categories of general intellectual ability and specific academic aptitude.  These students receive additional services during both fourth and fifth grades in a school based program or in a gifted education center.

Fourth and fifth grade students who are placed in the Porter SIGNET program for gifted education are offered a variety of opportunities to excel in all areas of the curriculum, participate in independent studies, and actively engage in cooperative learning and problem solving.  They participate in classes once a week with the gifted education teacher.

In the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, identified students receive appropriate instruction in each of the middle schools in Prince William County.  Students have the option to take classes in extended mathematics and extended language arts.

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