AA

PINE GROVE MIDDLE SCHOOL strives to provide an education for our students that is rigorous and challenging at a level that is appropriate for each child.

Advanced Academics/GT education serves students who, when compared to others of their age, experience, or environment, demonstrate high levels of potential or performance. Such students require learning experiences that differ qualitatively from the standard curriculum.

Pine Grove Middle's Advanced Academics Review and Referral Team facilitates the collection of various data such as learning characteristics, class performance, work samples, test scores, grades, and other information in order to build a profile of a student's academic progress. Based on the Student Profile, our team makes instructional recommendations.

Application to move to an Advanced Academic class can be made by a parent or teacher several times during the school year. If you are interested in submitting a request for a review of your child's Student Profile, please submit the forms listed at the bottom of this page to one of the committee chairpersons, Stacey Coffman or Betsy Cummings .

BCPS Guidelines for Advanced Academics Language Arts

Advanced Academics Language Arts is designed to provide inquisitive and communicative students a learning experience which integrates challenging subject matter and dynamic instruction. Participation in Advanced Academics Language Arts consistently requires students to demonstrate:

  • Enthusiasm for reading and writing
  • Interest in exploring topics beyond age level
  • The ability to interpret text beyond grade-level expectations and make unique connections
  • The ability to read with careful judgment
  • The ability to use reasoning in speaking and/or writing to come up with ideas and present arguments in order to convince others of opinions
  • The ability to see issues in literature from multiple points of view and analyze character motivation

BCPS Guidelines for Advanced Academics Social Studies

Advanced Academics Social Studies is designed to provide inquisitive and communicative students a learning experience which integrates challenging subject matter and dynamic instruction. Participation in Advanced Academics Social Studies consistently requires students to demonstrate:

  • Interest in studying history, geography, economics, sociology, and politics.
  • The ability to read complex texts independently.
  • The ability to communicate complex information verbally and in writing.
  • Creativity and perseverance with challenging tasks.
  • Interest in collaborating with peers.

BCPS Guidelines for Advanced Academics Math

Advanced Academics Math is designed to provide inquisitive and communicative students a learning experience which integrates challenging subject matter and dynamic instruction. Participation in Gifted and Talented Math consistently requires students to demonstrate exceptional abilities in the following areas:

  • Persistence: shows enthusiasm about mathematical challenges; continues working until a solution is determined
  • Inquisitiveness: asks a variety of questions about mathematical concepts as they relate to the real world
  • Communicative/Expressive (verbally or non-verbally): able to clearly explain or demonstrate their mathematical thinking to others
  • Insightful/ Creative: discovers unique methods for solving mathematical problems
  • Resourceful: considers available mathematical tools and decides which tool will be most useful in solving a problem
  • Problem Solving: Fluent with math computations; applies ideas from one mathematical problem to another; develops multiple strategies to solve mathematical problems
  • Consistently able to learn mathematics concepts taught without the need for additional support and completes homework independently.

For students interested in Advanced Academics Mathematics, please see Math Pathways provided by the Office of Mathematics.

GT Math in grade 7 is Algebra. Refer to the Math Pathways on the Office of Mathematics website.  Moving into GT Math grade 7 or 8 in the middle of the year is very rare. Algebra is a graduation requirement in Maryland. Algebra cannot be skipped or tested out of. Students may have the option of doubling up on math classes in high school in order to get into GT classes. 

BCPS Guidelines for Advanced Academics Science 6

Advanced Academics Science is designed to provide inquisitive and communicative students a learning experience which integrates challenging subject matter and dynamic instruction. Participation in Gifted and Talented Science 6 consistently requires students to demonstrate exceptional abilities in the following areas:

  • Adding, Subtracting, Multiplying, and Dividing Decimals 
  • Multiplying and Dividing Fractions

These mathematical skills will be taught and applied:

  • Use proportional reasoning and ratio concepts to solve problems
  • Describe, represent, and interpret data including central tendency and variability
  • Algebraic reasoning: mathematical expressions and variables to represent and solve problems, relationships between independent and dependent variables, etc.

APPLICATION PROCESS STEPS Please proceed in the order as listed below.

Step 1. Parent - Teacher conference required with the content teacher(s). This conference should occur before any student will be considered for placement. Contact may be made through email, phone, or in person.

Step 2. Parent or teacher may submit the “Request for Gifted and Talented (GT)/Advanced Academics Reviewto the Review and Referral Team. 

 Step 3. Parent will be notified upon receipt of the application by the Advanced Academics Review and Referral Team.

Step 4. The student's teacher(s) will be contacted by the Advanced Academics Review and Referral Team in order to begin the collection of information for the student's portfolio.

Step 5. The Advanced Academics Review and Referral Team will meet to review the student's portfolio.

Step 6. Parents will be notified of the committee's decision.

All parent forms must be fully completed and turned in to the committee to complete the application. Incomplete applications cannot be reviewed by the committee.

There are three possible outcomes to the committee's review of the application.
1. The student is placed in an Advanced Academic / GT class.
2. The student is given a Diagnostic Placement. This means the student will be placed in an Advanced Academic / GT class temporarily. After several weeks in the class, the committee will gather input from the teacher to determine if the student should remain in the class. At that time, the student would either be permanently scheduled into the Advanced Academic / GT section or return to their academic class. 
3. The student will remain in his/her present class. The student can submit another application to the committee at a future date. The Review and Referral team will revisit placement within one quarter. 

Visit the BCPS Office of Advanced Academics  web page. updated 11/22


Appeals related to middle school or high school recommendations must be received in the Office of Advanced Academics no later than May 15 to be processed for August placement.

Request for Appeal Form updated 11/22


Exiting an Advanced Academic / GT course

Request to Exit Form updated 11/22