During the fall semester, all kindergarten students have opportunities to demonstrate the need for above-level services. Assessment, testing, and formal identification occur during the second semester. Once identified for the PACE program, kindergarten students receive differentiated instruction from their kindergarten teacher or another teacher on the kindergarten team.

The pull-out program begins in first grade. Formal identification of gifted and talented students occurs in January.

The elementary gifted program consists of two educational environments: (1) identified students receive enriched instruction several hours each week with the gifted specialist, and (2) students placed in the PACE program receive differentiated instruction in their general education classroom.

The gifted specialist fulfills two instructional roles: developing units of study that correlate to and extend the organizing ideas of the general education curriculum and developing and implementing opportunities for study beyond the general education curriculum.  The latter includes: frequent divergent instruction; extension of prior learning; advanced critical thinking skills; problem-solving; creative interpretation and expression; advanced oral, written and visual presentation skills; and self-directed study. PACE units of study are an integral part of the challenge gifted and talented students receive and are neither "more nor extra"  work.

PACE classroom teachers are responsible for adapting and differentiating the general education curriculum which may include: acceleration to move students through materials at a faster rate, rewriting activities to emphasize depth and complexity of content, honoring individual student interest when appropriate,  and/or adjusting the students’ schedules. 

The focus of the middle school gifted program is the PACE humanities class, which meets daily.   Depending upon campus, humanities is based either in the English or the social studies class.  Humanities compacts and differentiates the general education curriculum and adds special units drawn from a study of the humanities as well as: frequent divergent instruction; extension of prior learning; advanced critical thinking skills; problem-solving; creative interpretation and expression; advanced oral, written and visual presentation skills; and self-directed study.

The focus of the high school gifted program is the PACE humanities class, which meets within the  block scheduling framework. Humanities is an honors course focusing on the connections between world art, music, and literature.  Students compact the world history curriculum with an in-depth study of a history of the fine arts.  Students experience frequent divergent instruction; extension of prior learning; advanced critical thinking skills; problem-solving; creative interpretation and expression; advanced oral, written and visual presentation skills; self-directed study; and advanced research and advanced expository writing skills.