Radford City Public Schools
Local Gifted Advisory Committee
Annual Report to the School Board
2016-17
Part One—Recommendations
- Approval of local advisory committee’s proposed slate of members (2017-18)
Ellen Denny, Supervisor of Gifted Education (Permanent)
Becky Dangerfield, Gifted Coordinator (Permanent)
Tara Grant, Principal (2015-2018)
Deborah Kennedy, Community Member (2015-2018)
Kim Coulson, Teacher (2017-2020)
Nikki Greco, Teacher (2017-2020)
Frank Leighton, Teacher (2015-2018)
Stephanie Harvey, Parent (2015-2018)
Deborah Combs, Parent (2017-2020)
Margaret Sproule, Parent (2015-2018)
Kathleen Reuwer, Student (2017-2019)
Part Two—Assurances
- The committee met at least three times (9-27-16, 1-24-17, 3-7-17).
- The committee had online access to the local plan and received gifted service updates at each meeting.
- Screening, identification, placement, and notification procedures exist and are followed. Parents are notified of their rights of appeal.
- TheRadford City Local Plan for the Education of Gifted Students 2012-2017,is available under Academics/Gifted at Written copies are available upon request from the gifted coordinator. The 2017-2022 version of the document is being revised for board approval.
- Teachers providing differentiation receive local in-service training throughout the year (fall in-service meetings with teachers providing differentiated services and electronic and in person consultations throughout the year). In-service meetings covered our identification and screening process, characteristics of gifted learners, and identifying at-risk populations. Previous in-services are available at (under Academics/Gifted) for teachers to review at any time.
- Teachers providing services report student goals on the Differentiated Educational Plan form and report student progress on an end-of-semester progress report. Forms are available to teachers on the district Website (under Academics/Gifted).
- Services are provided through differentiation provided by the classroom teacher (K-8 in English/language arts; K-pre-algebrain math).Services available grades 1-2 include in-class differentiation; services 3-6 include differentiation, morning academic clubs organized by the principal, and some spring computer lab activities provided by the IT instructor; services available 7-8 include accelerated Algebra I and Geometry, in-class differentiation, PSAT 8/9 testing, and an exploratory course in Critical Thinking; services available 9-12 include Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment courses, Virtual A.P. courses, advanced courses, academic-year Governor’s School, Summer Residential Governor’s Schools. One-on-one academic counseling is available at the high school.
- The coordinator is accessible to students and parents through telephone (731-3649, ext. 3883), email (bdangerfield@rcps), the gifted services Web page ( and look under Academics, then Gifted). A copy of the local plan is available at this site.
- Records are handled in accordance with state law.
Part Three—Report on Activities of the Gifted Coordinator
- Book studies with identified students at Belle Heth.
- PSAT 8/9—at Dalton (grade 8) and a screening following the receipt of results
- Advanced Placement examinations—at RHS
- Nominations to Summer Residential Governor’s Schools—at RHS
- Nominations to Southwest Virginia Governor’s Schools—at RHS; sophomore tour of SWVGS
- Revision of local gifted education plan
- Critical Thinking—at Dalton (Egg Toss, Invention Fair)
- In-services 3-12; individual meetings teachers, as necessary
- Collection and filing of Differentiated Education Plans
- Conferences with students and parents
- Announcements regarding upcoming school-year and summer enrichment and academic opportunities
- Ongoing screening, identification, and notification
- Communication with area coordinators, participation in Region VII Consortium of Gifted Coordinators, and attendance at the fall Consortium for Gifted Administrators in Charlottesville
- Completion of DOE demographic and gifted reports
- Reports to the local advisory committee
- Meetings and collaboration with Guidance Counselors
- Gifted pages section under Academics on the district Website (
- One-on-one counseling with gifted students (with special emphasis on contacting gifted members of GAP groups)
- Communication with parents and students through announcements, Power announcements, phone, email, and meetings.
Breakdown of Coordinator’s Time Allotted to Tasks
- (20%) Testing/Identification/Notification (including paperwork, identification meetings, testing and scoring, entering information in PowerSchool and on the program roster, notification and mailings to parents; preparation of gifted records and filing of them in student permanent records)
- (20%) State-required record-keeping, documentation, writing of the local plan, preparation for local advisory committee; management of secondary budget (ordering testing inventory, teacher materials); maintaining familiarity with state gifted regulations and topics in gifted education, as well as research into summer enrichment camps and writing individual letters of recommendation, serving on Region VII Consortium of Gifted Coordinators
- (20%) Services at RHS: AP registration, AP audit, AP testing; Summer Residential Governor’s Schools; SWVGS
- (15%) Services at Dalton: Critical Thinking class/preparation; DEPs
- (15%) Services at Belle Heth and McHarg: novel study groups, DEPs, individual conferences with parents, teachers, students
- (10%) Individual meetings with students (7-12), parent meetings/calls/emails, gifted pages at rcps.org,
Posting of Critical Thinking class assignments and activities, media contacts
Part Four—Reported Data: Academics
Radford High School
Students enrolled in academic-year Governor’s School (16-17) / 6Students invited to attend 2017 Summer Residential Governor’s Schools / 2
Students taking AP courses (16-17) / 89 students fill 159 course slots
Students taking one or more AP examinations / 54 students taking 86 exams
Students enrolled in Dual Enrollment courses through NRCC (excluding SWVGS courses) / 110
AP Scores (15-16)
Radford High School Totals
(41 students took 62 exams in 2016)
Score / EuroHistory
Virtual / Eng. Lit Comp / Psyc
Virtual / US Gov Pol / US Hist / Calc AB / Chem / Env. Sci
Virtual / Total Exams / % of Total Exams
5 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 4 / 2 / 9 / 14.5%
4 / 3 / 1 / 5 / 5 / 4 / 18 / 29.0%
3 / 5 / 8 / 3 / 2 / 1 / 19 / 30.6%
2 / 1 / 1 / 8 / 3 / 1 / 14 / 22.6%
1 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 3.2%
Total / 2 / 4 / 2 / 15 / 24 / 10 / 4 / 1 / 62 / 100%
- 74.1% of Radford High School’s scores were within the passing range (3 or higher) for the state
- 41 students sat for 62 exams
- Of 41 students, one black student, one student of two or more races, and 29 white students passed all exams taken;two white students passed some exams taken; 15 white students and one student of two or more races passed no exams taken.
- Of 41students tested, one self-reported as black; two self-reported as two or more races; 38self-reported as white.
RHS Five-Year Pass Rate Comparisonto State and Global Pass Rates(score of 3 or higher)
Test Year / Local Pass Rate / Virginia Pass Rate / Global Pass Rate2012 / 79% / 64% / 61%
2013 / 79% / 64% / 61%
2014 / 73% / 65% / 61%
2015 / 74% / 66% / 61%
2016 / 75% / 66% / 60%
Eighth Grade PSAT 8/9 Testing (2016)
This testing is funded by the Board for eighth grade students. A student meeting was conducted by Mrs. Dangerfield and Mrs. Saunderswith students and parentsto distribute and interpret score reports. Mrs. Saunders also covered College Board online services available for college and career planning.
Sections Percentage of Students Meeting College Board Benchmark for College Readiness
Dalton / 31% met both benchmarks; 59% met reading/writing benchmark; 37% met math benchmarkNationally / 31% of students nation-wide met both benchmarks
Part Five—Reported Data: Demographics
Data from VDOE, Power School, College Board, Advanced Placement (AP Central), and Coordinator’s records
Referrals Permission granted Eligible Ineligible Still Under Review
32 / 30 / 16 / 8 / 5Placement Rate by Students in GAP Groups
Referrals Permission granted Eligible Ineligible Still Under Review
6 / 6 / 2 / 2 / 2Referrals by Year
2012-13 2013-14 2014-152015-162016-17
45 / 64 / 43 / 36 / 32Students Tested for SWVGS Admissions Process
9Ethnicity by Student Population and by Minority Population
Enrollment
School Black White Other
McHarg / 15% / 76% / 9%Belle Heth / 15% / 78% / 7%
Dalton / 12% / 84% / 4%
RHS / 12% / 83% / 5%
Referrals
School Black WhiteOther
McHarg / 10% / 80% / 10%Belle Heth / 0% / 93% / 7%
Dalton / 0% / 100% / 0%
RHS / 0% / 100% / 0%
Part Six--
Certification from Local Advisory Committee
The committee certifies that gifted services provided by Radford City Public Schools during the 2016-17 academic year have been in compliance with the RCPS Local Plan for the Education of Gifted Students and Virginia Regulations for the Education of Gifted Students.
Ellen Denny, Supervisor of Gifted Education (Permanent)
Becky Dangerfield, Gifted Coordinator (Permanent)
Tara Grant, Principal (2015-2018)
Deborah Kennedy, Community Member (2015-2018)
Ranglette Dobson, Teacher (2014-2017)
Jodie Moody, Teacher (2014-2017)
Frank Leighton, Teacher (2015-2018)
Stephanie Harvey, Parent (2015-2018)
Alicia Prioleau, Parent (2014-2017)
Margaret Sproule, Parent (2015-2018)
Carly Porter, Student (2015-2017