Gifted Education Program
S.T.A.R.T.
Strategies for Teaching and Reaching for Talent
Grades K-3
Services and Curriculum
Students in kindergarten through grade three receive services once each week in their base school. The time per class varies according to grade level from 45 to 90 minutes. The goals of the START program are to promote critical and creative thinking, problem solving skills, and independent learning skills. Students engage in cooperative group learning in START units. These units extend the grade level content in Math, Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies as well as addressing thinking and learning skills. Identified students also receive enrichment and extension daily in the regular classroom during content instruction.
Newsletters are sent home quarterly informing parents of units currently being studied as well as general information about the program. Supplemental newsletters may also be sent as needed. Student progress reports are sent home at the end of each semester.
Identification
Students participating in the START program are identified as potentially gifted. This identification, once established, lasts through the end of third grade. At that time, children are screened again for placement in the SIGNET program for the upper grades.
They may be identified for services based on potential academic ability in the verbal area, the quantitative area, or both.
Prince William County has established a multiple criteria screening process which takes into account several aspects of a child’s performance, including aptitude testing, parent and teacher narratives, grades, and classroom work samples. No single area either includes or excludes a child from placement in the gifted program.
A student may be nominated by a teacher or a parent, as well as other school staff or individuals in the community. Referral forms are available on the Prince William County Schools website under gifted education or in the START mailbox in the school office.
Contact Information
The START teacher assigned to West Gate Elementary is Betsy Wilco. Mrs. Wilco can be reached at 703.754.9061, by email at wilcobt@pwcs.edu. Phone calls are welcome, and will be returned as soon as possible. (START teachers are assigned to more than one school, and may not receive your message on the day it is left.) Conferences may also be scheduled at any time during the school year.
