• Advanced Learning Opportunities in K-5

    School District 622 offers opportunities for all students to engage in advanced learning at levels that meet their needs. 

    All students have access to rigorous challenges within the core curriculum:

    • Our reading and writing curriculum, the Units of Study from Teacher's College, allows students to progress through reading levels at their own pace while learning comprehension strategies that they can apply in their own texts.
    • Our mathematics curriculum, Math Expressions, embeds differentiation within each unit.
    • Students get access to enrichment activities during the school day as a part of each school's What I Need (WIN) time. Contact your building's advanced academics staff member for more on these activities.

    Many students take advantage of enrichment opportunities outside the classroom that is open to all students:

    • All of our elementary schools have a Math Masters team where grade 5 students (and sometimes younger) spend extra time learning to solve difficult problems as a team and on their own.
    • Other opportunities differ by site; contact your building's advanced academics staff member for more opportunities.

    Some students are identified as having needs that cannot be met in the core curriculum and participate in special programs:

    • Grade 1 and grade 2 students can be nominated to participate in enrichment units by their classroom teacher. 
    • SAIL (Students Accelerated in Learning) is a gifted program for students in grades 3-5. Students are identified for participation based on their need for greater rigor (learn more here). 
    • Students from groups that are historically underrepresented in gifted programming are eligible to participate in Young Scholars (YS). 

    A few students need to advance a grade in order to access the appropriate rigor:

    • Accelerating a student at a grade level or in a single subject is the most extreme intervention you can do for a student; it is the right fit for a small number of students.
    • If you think your student is a candidate for acceleration, contact your classroom teacher or your building's advanced academics staff member to learn about the acceleration process.