MANSFIELD — About one of every 10 students in the Mansfield City school system has been identified as gifted.
It’s the job of Veronica Williams to ensure they still receive an education that challenges them.
Students can be identified as gifted in specific subjects like reading, science, math, social studies and/or visual and performing arts. Students can also be identified as gifted in creative thinking or cognitive skills.
Williams said Ohio law requires districts to identify students, but doesn’t actually mandate schools they receive special services.
But in her view, supporting gifted students isn’t optional. It’s essential.
“Our students who are gifted are entitled to instruction that goes beyond the grade level they are in,” said Williams, the district’s gifted coordinator.
At a school board meeting Tuesday, Williams said the district currently serves 270 gifted students. She manages most of this work, but also has two colleagues who work for the gifted department part-time (about one day a week) through the North Central Ohio Educational Service Center.
Williams said the district tests all enrolled students for giftedness in cognitive ability, reading and math in the second and sixth grade. Students can also be identified at other times in their academic journey through teacher referrals or based on their scores on iReady, PSAT, ACT and SAT exams.
Williams and her colleagues work to develop special plans academic plans for gifted students. Younger students are often placed in small groups with peers of similar giftings to complete advanced tasks. Older students are referred to advanced placement, honors and college-level courses.
The department also works to equip teachers with the tools they need to serve gifted students by collaborating on teaching strategies and providing resources, support and training.
“There are plenty of ways that you can accelerate a student and we do just about all of them,” Williams said.
Williams told board members that without advanced learning opportunities, gifted students may become bored, disengaged or even dropout.
The gifted department also works to provide students with social and emotional support.
“ Although these students feel like and think like adults, emotionally, they’re still 6 or 12 or whatever,” Williams explained. “Having that kind of conflict within them can cause anxiety, perfectionism, and they need those supports for that kind of thing.”
District nearly doubled the number of gifted students it serves since 2018
Since 2018, the district has increased the percentage of gifted students it serves, from 48 percent to 90.7 percent last school year.
“There are over 600 school districts in the state of Ohio. Mansfield City Schools is one of 18 districts in Ohio to earn the gifted indicator three years in a row,” Williams told board members, referencing a metric from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s School Report Cards.
Meanwhile, the district’s gifted student population has made strides, increasing their performance index on state assessments by ten percent since 2020-2021, Payne said.
Gifted students earned a 92.2 percent performance index on state assessments last school year.
Board member Jen Kime called the work of Williams and her colleagues “phenomenal.”
“ I’ve been a part of it. I know the kind of work you guys do,” Kime said. “People don’t realize how many gifted kids we have and how personalized and how great our gifted education is.”
The school board also heard from high school art teacher Julia Laux, recognized six Mansfield Senior High students with art featured in this year’s Ohio Statehouse and Riffe Center Gallery Exhibition.
The show is presented by the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, the Ohio Arts Council and the Ohio Art Education Association.
The exhibition will rotate between two locations — the Ohio Statehouse and the Ohio Arts Council Riffe Lobby.
Featured artists from Mansfield Senior High include freshmen Skyla Brosig, Emily Ute and Leovanni Gonzalez, junior Tyler Hubbard and seniors Charity McNamara and Gavin Camak.
In other news, the school board:
- Voted to change the school district calendar, changing two staff in-service days to regular school days to make up for snow days. Students will now attend school on March 13 and April 27.
- Approved the payment of membership dues to the Ohio High School Athletic Association for participating in tournaments ($50 per high school sport)
- Approved a services contract for a student enrolled in the LEAP Program
- Approved routine personnel actions as recommended by the superintendent.