HAMBLETON – Tucker County Schools are once again innovators in the state with their gifted program.
Although not the first or only school to run their gifted program this way, they are however, one of the few who do a “pull-out” program. Instead of the more traditional gifted programs widely practiced in West Virginia schools, Tucker County does a day a week where they take students out of their general classes and transport them to the High School for specialized classes.
The gifted program is for students who have been identified through testing to be exceptional or “gifted” based on their academic scores. They have to be recommended for testing by their teachers and the whole process takes time and is an expense to the county school system. They are tested in areas such as reading, language arts, math, etc. and categories within those subjects such as speed, depth of understanding, etc. The program’s teacher Roseann Barlow said she’s also aware that there is giftedness in areas of arts but said those can be harder to measure and that we, as a state, haven’t defined what “gifted” is in that area yet. Since there were already AP (advanced placement), honors, and virtual college level classes at the high school, the school system decide to focus the gifted program on its younger students hoping to engage and encourage them early on.
Currently there are 37 students in the program. Mondays are third and fourth graders, Tuesdays fifth and sixth, while Wednesdays are seventh graders and Thursdays are for the eighth graders while Fridays, Barlow has a planning day, works on IEP’s and does some work at the Board of Education office.
A lot of credit for the momentum of this program should go to its instructor, Ros eann Barlow. A teacher with 39 years of experience, she is a native of Ohio and has been in Tucker County for three years. She retired after 36 years in Ohio teaching subjects like AP Calculus and math. Barlow was recently chosen as Tucker County School’s Teacher of the Year for her work with mathematics.
“It’s really an amazing program they’ve started here and I’m really blessed to have been here”, said Barlow.
Barlow says the classes she teaches all run two to three grade levels higher than their peers. Math, vocabulary, and geography are stressed with some science projects and an on-line Spanish program. She’s very proud of her students and pointed out that all of them, even the third and fourth graders, are doing twelfth grade vocabulary.
“These kids want to learn, they come to school ready to learn. They’re never a discipline problem. They’re great kids!” said Barlow.
Early in the program some parents expressed concern that their young children would be at the high school but the school system has very effectively addressed these concerns. The youngsters do ride to Tucker County High from their home schools with the high school students, but, this is no different than the daily home bus rides. Upon getting to the high school they have their own entrance, and Barlow is always at the door to her room waiting for them. They have their own special time for lunch and their own bathrooms. The students don’t even change classes at the same time as the high school.
When asked what some of the challenges have been, Barlow said: “Meeting each individual kid’s needs. Each one is gifted individually, it’s an ongoing process.”
One of the ways she has kept them engaged is through creative projects such as studies on flags, etiquette, the mechanical age, etc.
“It stretches their creativity,” she said.
Like the whole school system, the gifted program only has funds for bare necessities. When I asked Barlow if she had a wish list for her classroom, she said the one thing she would really love would be a storage unit for her teaching supplies. Perhaps some “gifted” philanthropist will read this and make an exceptional teacher’s simple wish come true.
