Gifted & Talented

Gifted & Talented Procedures for Screening

All Gifted & Talented evaluations are conducted by the Department of Special Education's Pupil Appraisal Teams. For more information on Gifted & Talented evaluations click here.

The Lafayette Parish Schools’ Talented Program fosters the development of the artistic talents of kindergarten through 12th grade students identified by the Louisiana State Department of Education as having extraordinary talent in Music, Theatre or Visual Art.

Students who have met the state criteria may receive instruction in a specialized enrichment class taught by artist teachers who have special certification based on their expertise in their field.

Their instruction is not a duplication of the regular curriculum in these areas, but an acceleration and enrichment of the subject through the guidance and mentorship of professionally experienced artists as a preparation for a lifelong involvement in the arts.

Students are referred for gifted and talented screening. They may be referred by a teacher, counselor, administrator, or parent. All students go through the SBLC process to determine eligibility for evaluation. Students who meet screening criteria then are offered an evaluation. Parent signs permission and the evaluation process begins. Timelines adhere to Louisiana Department of Education Bulletin 1508 requirements.

The Lafayette Parish Gifted and Talented Programs offer services to over 1400 students in grades K-12 who have been identified as having special learning needs due to exceptionally high academic abilities or an exceptionality in art, music, and/or theatre.

Gifted & Talented Programming

Gifted Program

Once a child has been identified by meeting the Louisiana State Department’s criteria, parents meet with the gifted program staff to discuss the individual child’s needs and how they might be best met through a variety of program options. At this meeting, called an I.E.P. conference, an Individual Educational Program is designed. Services are implemented by teachers of the gifted.

The gifted program offers two types of services - enrichment and academics.

Gifted Academic Program

The academics program offers accelerated and compacted curriculum in all content areas, utilizing gifted strategies to differentiate instruction and provide enrichment with targeted gifted skills being incorporated in academic instruction.  Our academic program begins in the first grade as pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students may receive enrichment services. 

Our middle and high school programs take on a magnet school type structure, where students who qualify can take courses in language, math, science, and social studies while taking electives through the regular education curriculum. The high school academics program  also offers several advanced placement and college preparatory opportunities. 

Gifted Academic Sites

Gifted Enrichment Program

Students may receive gifted enrichment services while remaining at their neighborhood schools  from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.  In this scenario, students can receive services from a gifted enrichment teacher from four to six hours per week. Lessons in enrichment classes supplement the regular classroom with higher level thinking skills. Activities requiring  critical and creative thinking might take the form of creative writing, art, research, leadership, logic, problem solving, literature analysis, or cultural exposure. 

Students from grades pre-kindergarten through fifth grade are taught at their home zone schools while students in sixth through eighth grades attend an enrichment site one day per week at Edgar Martin Middle School.

Talented Program

The Lafayette Parish Schools’ Talented Program fosters the development of the artistic talents of kindergarten through 12th grade students identified by the Louisiana State Department of Education as having extraordinary talent in Music, Theatre or Visual Art.

Once a child has been identified by meeting the Louisiana State Department’s criteria, parents meet with the talented program staff to discuss the individual child’s needs. At this meeting, called an I.E.P. conference, an Individual Educational Program is designed.  Services are implemented by teachers of the talented.

Students may receive instruction in a specialized enrichment class with teachers who are professionally trained artists that provide guidance and mentorship based on their expertise in their field. 

Talented instruction is centered around the specific needs of the student through enrichment of the subject as a preparation for a lifelong involvement in the arts. 

Twice Exceptional Students

GT students who have a disability under IDEA are offered the same services listed under the Gifted Program and the Talented Program options.  Students with a disability receive any accommodations and modifications that each may need to receive a free and appropriate public education in the gifted and/or talented class settings.  Students who are dually identified as gifted and talented receive their gifted services as indicated on their IEPs. They also receive their talented services as indicated on their IEPs. All talented services for any dually identified student are provided through a pull-out service usually being pulled out of an elective class for one period each week.

Dr. Samantha Simmons Webre
Gifted & Talented Program Supervisor
337-521-7227
sswebre@lpssonline.com