PEAK Gifted & Talented Program
Program Coordinator: Justine Alberts (406) 324-2037, jalberts@helenaschools.org
UPCOMING EVENT
PEAK Community and Family Night – Cake Walk!
Helena Schools Mission Statement
The mission of the Helena Public Schools is to challenge and empower each student to maximize individual potential and become a competent, productive, responsible, caring citizen.
Montana Gifted & Talented Definition
“Gifted and talented children” means children of outstanding abilities who are capable of high performance and require differentiated educational programs beyond those normally offered in public schools in order to fully achieve their potential contribution to self and society. The children so identified include those with demonstrated achievement or potential ability in a variety of worthwhile human endeavors. (Montana Code Ann. § 20-7-901)
Types of Gifted Students
A common misconception is that gifted ability equates to high achievement, which is not always the case. There are different types of gifted learners, many of whom are neurodivergent. Students are often advanced in certain areas while having deficits in other areas, such as social skills. In fact, many gifted students are actually at risk. Between 18 and 25% of GT students drop out of school by the age of 16(1), and 20-25% of gifted children have social or emotional difficulties (2x the normal number)(2).
- 1 – Statistics from research on the US Department of Justice website. Renzulli, J. S., & Park, S. (2016). Gifted Dropouts: The Who and the Why. Gifted Child Quarterly, 44(4), 261-271. https://doi.org/10.1177/001698620004400407 (Original work published 2000)
- 2 – Gifted students: Recommendations for teachers. (n.d.). https://www.education.udel.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/GiftedStudents.pdf
NAGC: Myths About Gifted Children
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