About the Gifted Program and STEM

At Pine Grove Middle School we have the exciting opportunity of offering two different STEM programs to our gifted students. It is often that STEM and gifted best-practices go hand-in-hand, and at PGM we offer a variety of courses to best meet the needs of your gifted student.

6th Grade

On average, over half of the identified gifted students are eligible to enter the Accelerated STEM program in 6th grade. These students are placed in Accelerated Math which teaches the 6th grade curriculum during the first half of the year and half of the 7th grade curriculum during the last half of the year. These students also receive gifted services in Earth Science with a highly-qualified, gifted certified teacher.

Gifted eligible students not in the Accelerated STEM program receive traditional 6th grade math courses and join the Accelerated Math students for gifted Earth Science. These students are also eligible to participate in the interest-based STEM Cohort.

7th Grade

In 7th grade, the Accelerated STEM students continue in Accelerated Math and Life Science. The Accelerated cohort will learn the second half of the 7th grade math curriculum as well as 8th grade math. The advanced Life Science class moves at an accelerated pace and participates in many STEM challenges and hands-on learning opportunities.

All gifted eligible students in 7th grade receive gifted services in ELA. Students not in the accelerated cohort have the opportunity to participate in an interest-based cohort in Life Science.

8th Grade

8th grade Accelerated STEM students continue their academic journey by taking 9th grade Pre-AP Algebra and 9th grade Pre-AP Physical Science. These students will receive high school credit for these courses at the end of the academic year providing they pass the End of Course Tests for each subject.

All gifted eligible students in 8th grade receive gifted services in English/Language Arts and 9th grade Pre-AP Physical Science. Students not in the accelerated cohort have the opportunity to participate in an interest-based cohort in Physical Science.

As Pine Grove Middle School is a Georgia Public School, the gifted program adheres to the State of Georgia guidelines for gifted education. These guidelines can be found on the State of Georgia's Gifted Education page.

Things you will see in the gifted class:

Group Discussions
Collaborative Pairs
Web quests, primary documents, student-created presentations
Teacher review of the material
Written components to tests
Active learning activities (projects)

Eligibility

To be eligible for the gifted program in the state of Georgia, students must meet 3 out of 4 criteria on a battery of nationally normed tests. The three criteria are as follows: score in the 96th percentile on a mental abilities (I.Q.) test, score in the 90th percentile on Math or Reading on an achievement test, score in the 90th percentile on a creativity test or index, and score in the 90th percentile on a motivation index or have an average of 90 or more in academic classes for the past two years. Again, students must meet three out of the four criteria in order to be eligible for gifted services. In some cases, students transferring in may use existing test scores as long as they are less than two years old and are from a nationally normed test. Students may be referred to the gifted teacher for testing by parents of the student, teachers, counselors, peers, or the student himself. Referral to the gifted teacher does not always result in testing.

Please contact Dr. Dyess if you have any questions about PGM's gifted program.