The District's Five-Year Plan charges Advanced Learning to:

"Increase racial/ethnic diversity in Advanced Learning by developing and implementing a more equitable and improved process to increase access to Advanced Learning programs and services at all grade levels"
(Five Year Plan, Goal 3, Systemic Barriers).

Advanced Learning is working aggressively to address the issue of underpresentation of students of color and of poverty, and students who are bilingual in the Accelerated Progress Program and the Spectrum program through outreach, changes in testing practices, and the development of an early intervention program, Spectrum Young Scholars, for students grades 1 and 2.

Advanced Learning is working to increase the participation of traditionally underrepresented student groups in the Advanced Learning Opportunities (ALO) programs and the International Baccalaureate programs as well.

To date, the following actions have been taken:

In Recruitment for the 2005-2006 testing cycle:

• 4,500 piece mailing to families with students, grades kindergarten through second grade, who qualify for free/reduced lunch and/or are bilingual providing them information about our programs and the application process

• 2,000 district-initiated nominates mailing to families who had children who scored at eligibility levels in reading and writing on the Developmental Reading Assessment, WASL, or ITBS. Click here to read more about the diversity of this district-initiated nomination pool.

• Providing follow-up calls to bilingual families who received a district-nominated letter to inquire if they had any questions about the referral process or the program options available to students

• Translating applications in our 10 primary languages

• Translating application information on the website in our 10 primary languages, with full information presented in Vietnamese, Chinese, and Spanish

• Distributing informational fliers and nomination forms at community meetings

• E-mailing Education Directors, principals, and individual teachers concerning the nomination/referral process that included a link to teacher input and parent permission documents

• Distributing last year referral numbers by school, and based on the goal of schools referring between 5 and 10% of their student, identifying referral targets for each elementary and middle school

• E-mailing teachers Spring and Fall encouraging them to nominate students

• Meeting with bilingual teachers and paraprofessionals to inform them about the process and encourage them to nominate students

• Disseminating nomination process information via the District newsletter and Key Communicators

• Providing information packets to each elementary and middle school

• Mailing information packets to private schools

In Testing:

• Students qualified for free/reduced lunch and/or are bilingual are provided additional testing opportunities, as appropriate.

• The nonverbal component of the Cognitive Abilities Test is now administered to all students, not just to those identified in the system as having bilingual status.

• The nonverbal component of the Cognitive Abilities Test is given equal consideration as the verbal and quantitative components of the test, with students found eligible who meet threshold in 2 out of these three areas.

• The achievement threshold for eligibility as academically highly gifted has been revised to the 95th percentile and represents greater alignment with national practices.

• Middle school eligibility for Spectrum allows students to become eligible for services as a student who is academically gifted in reading, academically gifted in math, or academically gifted in both areas.

In Program

• Spectrum Young Scholars program will be initiated starting the 2006-2007 school year. This program will serve as an early intervention program and is available for students who demonstrate strong cognitive ability. Students no longer need to demonstrate strong skills in reading and mathematics in order to be found eligible to participate in the program.