Mission Statement
The mission of the Anacortes School District’s Highly Capable program is to identify and serve the specific academic and social-emotional needs of a diverse community of learners.
Vision Statement
Our vision is to empower students to take charge of their own learning, becoming problem-solvers and creators who contribute to their local and global communities through collaboration, critical thinking, and empathy.
We provide a continuum of services for the most highly capable students in grades K-12. Highly capable students are students who perform or show potential for performing at significantly advanced academic levels when compared with others of their age, experiences, or environments. Outstanding abilities are seen in students' general intellectual aptitudes, specific academic abilities, and creative productivity within a specific domain. Students selected for this program typically rank in the top one to five percent of students as measured on standardized assessments. Students who are highly capable may possess but are not limited to, these learning characteristics:
- Capacity to learn with unusual depth of understanding, to retain what has been learned, and to transfer learning to new situations;
- Capacity and willingness to deal with increasing levels of abstraction and complexity earlier than their chronological peers;
- Creative ability to make unusual connections among ideas and concepts;
- Ability to learn quickly in their area(s) of intellectual strength; and
- Capacity for intense concentration and/or focus
A multidisciplinary selection committee meets to select the most highly capable students in the district. The district uses multiple objective criteria for the identification of students. We develop a matrix of the multiple objectives for the identification process. During the identification process, we do not use student names.
Referrals
The Fall Highly Capable referral period has closed. Testing results will be shared after the Thanksgiving Holiday.
Please check back here in February for updated information on Spring Testing.
Referrals can be made by any adult familiar with the child using this Highly Capable Referral Form. Parents who refer their own children will receive an email letting them know when their children will be tested.
For students who were referred for testing by another adult, parents will receive an email requesting their permission to test their child.
As soon as a testing schedule has been set up, it will be communicated to schools.
Once testing is complete, the Multidisciplinary Committee will meet and make a decision. Parents will receive written notification of their student's test scores and the decision of the committee after Thanksgiving Break. Students who choose to enter the Highly Capable program mid-year will do so at the semester break (end of January).
Goals
- Meet the unique social, emotional, and academic needs of the most highly capable students within the Anacortes School District.
- Encourage the development of enriched and extended learning opportunities for qualifying students within the Anacortes School District.
Contact
Dr. Becky Clifford, Assistant Superintendent, 360-503-1214 rclifford@asd103.org
Anne Berard, Administrative Assistant, 360-503-1212 aberard@asd103.org
Additional Resources
OSPI: Highly Capable Program: https://www.k12.wa.us/student-success/learning-alternatives/highly-capable-program