RUSD uses a universal screening program for all students to ensure access to the program is equitable and not only available to students whose guardians may be more “in the know.”
Identifying Gifted and Advanced Students
Students may be identified as gifted and advanced in one or more categories: general intellectual, specific academic area, leadership, creativity and fine arts. While some schools and school districts solely rely on teacher or parent referrals for testing and placement in these areas, RUSD’s program is more inclusive. In addition to referrals, the District also does universal screenings to identify students as gifted and advanced in any one of those categories. These screenings take place at the beginning of the year for fifth graders and mid-year for second graders.
Gifted and Advanced Offerings (Elementary and Middle)
Once students are identified as gifted and advanced, they each receive a differentiation plan that is as unique as they are. Some students may receive early access to kindergarten, single-subject acceleration or even grade acceleration, while other students receive additional enrichments.
RUSD offers gifted and advanced students access to different programs like Empower, which is a leadership program, extended lessons like those offered through the National Geographic Explorer Classroom Program with virtual scientist visits and the ability to work on passion projects. In addition, students participate in other beneficial experiences like escape rooms to boost problem-solving skills, summer camps tailored to their interests and opportunities like science fairs and leadership conferences that they learn about from a newsletter they receive regularly. They also have access to programs across the state and region through the Wisconsin Association for Talented & Gifted and CESA 1 Partners for the Advancement of Gifted Education.
Additional Opportunities for High School Students
At the high school level, there are even greater challenges and opportunities available to students who demonstrate advanced academic abilities. There are opportunities for students to earn college credits while attending high school through UW-Parkside, Gateway Technical College, the International Baccalaureate Programme and Advanced Placement (AP). The UW-Parkside Access to College Credit (PACC) program is open to students at Case, Horlick, Park and Walden, all R.E.A.L. school students take college level engineering courses through Gateway Technical College at SC Johnson iMET Center, Case students can take part in the International Baccalaureate Programme and AP courses are open to all RUSD high school students.
In person AP courses are offered at Horlick, Park and Walden III. Students from Case and R.E.A.L. may take AP courses at any of those schools, however, all students also have the ability to take virtual AP courses. In total the District is offering more than 50 advanced placement classes for the 2023-24 school year. Courses include 3D Studio Art, Computer Science, English Language and Composition, Research, Seminar, Calculus, Statistics, Environmental Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, World History, Microeconomics, Psychology, Spanish Language and Culture and many more.
All AP courses are designed to give students more academically challenging courses that move at a faster pace and require additional studying and work outside of class, but all that work can pay off. Not only does the pace of the work help students develop effective study habits to help them transition to a higher education setting, students can stand out to college admissions departments by demonstrating an ability to handle college-level coursework and save time and money on college by testing out of lower-level college courses through AP exams. An added bonus is that RUSD covers two-thirds of the cost of AP exams for all students and 100 percent of the cost for students who qualify for free and reduced lunch.