• EXCEL - a Program for Intellectually Gifted Students!

     

    WELCOME to the gifted education program – EXCEL – in the Yazoo County School District. Serving eligible students in grades two through six, The Gifted Education Program provides multiple and varied opportunities for students to investigate and integrate process skills into their lives. Gifted education students are encouraged and supported in a risk-free learning environment to realize and maximize their unique potentials. The teachers deliver a differentiated instructional approach to address students’ needs and achievement.  

    Instruction in the EXCEL program is enrichment based and has an extensive instructional management plan and covers four broad instructional areas: thinking skills, creativity, personal development and research. Students are also challenged to use technology, writing for a purpose, civic responsibility and reflection about their own actions and learning. Venture teachers use many different instructional strategies such as workshops, independent study, problem-solving exercises, mentorships, small group projects, brainstorming and using technology.

     

  • Mission Statement and Philosophy of the Yazoo County Gifted Excel Program

    The Mississippi Gifted Education Act of 1989, amended in 1993, mandates that each public school district within the state provide gifted education programs for intellectually gifted students in grades two through six. Services are provided by a properly endorsed teacher for a minimum of 240 minutes per week.

    Intellectually gifted children are those who are found to have an exceptionally high degree of intelligence as documented through the gifted identification process.

    It is the belief of the Yazoo County School District that intellectually gifted students need more challenges than are provided in the general education classroom atmosphere. YCSD believes intellectually gifted students' potential must be enhanced through creative and differentiated avenues of exploration.

    After an individual determination of each child's strengths, needs, and interests, instructional activities and units are created, designed, and implemented to motivate and empower each student to achieve his/her maximum academic potential.

    Strategic instruction is carried out so that the student's independent study skills and academic knowledge base will serve him/her in every aspect of life. The Yazoo County School District is dedicated to the guidance and motivation of gifted students through a student-centered, quality education.

  • Program Goals for the YCSD Gifted Program -- EXCEL

    Students in the EXCEL Program meet goals through participation in the:

    • Development of leadership and decision making skills.
    • Inclination to ask and answer challenging questions.
    • Using alternative routes to solve problems through the use of imagination.
    • Expansion of specific strengths and interests.
    • Verbal, written and dramatic expression.
    • Implementation of effective study and research skills.
    • Appreciation of different thoughts, environments, and cultures.
    • Developing a sense of responsibility toward the betterment of society.