The New Jersey Department of Education requires that each school district provide services to meet the needs of students who have been identified as gifted and talented. These students require modification to their educational program if they are to achieve in accordance with their capabilities (N.J.A.C. 6A:8-3.1). In accordance with state guidelines, our district has established a process to identify students as gifted and talented using multiple measures.

National programming standards assist school districts like Nutley in examining the quality of their programs and services for gifted learners.

• Learn more about the gifted programming standards.
• Download the programming standards.

Nutley Public Schools  recognizes its responsibility to provide a program to meet the diverse abilities, needs, and interests of its students. Nutley TALENT, the district's gifted and talented services, focuses on enrichment for students through high levels of engagement and the use of challenging learning experiences that are constructed around students' interests, learning styles, and preferred modes of expression. It also provides advanced follow-up opportunities for young people based on their identified strengths and interests.

Nutley TALENT programming design keeps the Partnership for 21st Century Skills Learning and Innovation Skills Framework and Michael Fullan’s New Pedagogy for Deeper Learning at its core. The program, therefore, incorporates 6 C’s:

• Collaboration
• Creativity
• Critical Thinking
• Communication
• Citizenship
• Character

Goals:

• To foster a curiosity and lifelong learning skills
• To nurture creative problem-solving and decision-making abilities.
• To plan and develop a product using a variety of organization and planning tools
• To encourage independent learning.

Nutley Public Schools meets the needs of the all students by:

• Providing meaningful hands-on activities to foster divergent and convergent thinking.
• Encouraging intellectual risk-taking, curiosity, and intrinsic motivation
•  Identifying individual interests and provide opportunities for in-depth learning.
• Allowing students opportunities to develop increased self-awareness, self-esteem, emotional maturity, and constructive peer relationships.
•  Encourage students' independence to initiate, create and evaluate during the learning process.

The gifted education program is made up of 2 components: 

TEACHER CONSULTATION: K-12

The district's gifted and talented teacher consults with classroom teachers and CST members to ensure students' individual needs are being met.

PROJECT­-BASED LEARNING: ­ GRADES 4-­6

Project-based  learning is designed to permit students to make individual decisions to enter and  leave the program and to move among various courses according to their needs  and interests.  Project-­based learning provides opportunities for students to explore topics of  personal interest and to learn and apply important skills and strategies. The program also provides the opportunity for participants to interact with intellectual  peers from schools in the district and in off site activities involving other districts  and agencies. 

Nutley TALENT Scope and Sequence of Units

Nutley TALENT Identification Matrix

If you have questions about gifted and talented services, please contact Margot Vreeland, the district's Gifted and Talented Teacher,  at mvreeland@nutleyschools.org.