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Pace

Robolab

PACE (Plano’s Academic and Creative Education) is for academically gifted students. The mission of PACE is to provide a challenging learning environment that nurtures the unique potential of gifted and talented students so that as citizens they can contribute ethically and productively in ways commensurate with their abilities. Students may be referred for the program by teachers, parents, or students may refer themselves. Children who exhibit a need for the PACE program  meet with the campus gifted specialist in a pull-out classroom each week. Class times and amounts of pull out time vary for each grade level.Each grade level also has a trained PACE teacher who supports the PACEprogram in grade level curriculum and projects.  You may contact the Hedgcoxe Gifted Specialist, Margot Anderson, at margot.anderson@pisd.edu with questions or to request a referral packet for your son or daughter.  Additionally, you may request a referral packet from your child's teacher.

Wondering if your child may be gifted?

Individuals often demonstrate their gifts and talents in many ways; one individual may possess exceptional academic talents and another may be an exceptional artist, musician, athlete, or performer. Plano Academic and Creative Education (PACE) is designed for the student who demonstrates the need for advanced academic challenges and for opportunities to develop his/her creative thinking. PACE may not meet the needs of students whose gifts and talents are in areas other than advanced academics. Accordingly, PISD is proud to offer high quality, challenging courses at the secondary level in the fields of visual arts, performing arts, and/or athletics. Participation in PACE is not a prerequisite for these courses.

Demonstrating academic gifts and talents often is developmental, so not all gifted and talented students exhibit the need for advanced academic challenges at the same point in their education. Furthermore, some gifted and talented students excel in one area yet require grade level instruction in other areas. The younger the student, the greater the possibility that his/her skills are developing at different rates in different subject areas. As the child ages, these differences often are minimized through instruction, life experiences, and/or maturity. It is possible that a young student does not develop the skills needed for success in the PACE program until later in his/her school experience, a relatively common occurrence among kindergarten and first graders. For these students, the issue may not necessarily be one of giftedness, but may be an issue of timing given general classroom performance and/or the expectations of the PACE program. Consequently, PISD allows students to be assessed for PACE at any grade level. Parents considering having their child assessed for PACE should reflect on their child’s overall educational needs, intellectual curiosity, degree of self-motivation, task commitment, willingness to work independently, awareness that tasks sometimes have more than one correct solution, and comfort with connections between language arts, history, science, and math.

Consider the following characteristics when making a referral for PACE assessments for your child:

  • Curiosity: How? Why?Robolab
  • Rapid Learner: Quick mastery and retention
  • Sustained Involvement: Persistent, Goal- directed
  • Socially Aware: Intuitive, empathetic
  • Enjoys Reading: Wide range and advanced
  • Verbally Proficient: Advanced vocabulary
  • Responsible: Works independently
  • Critical Thinking: Analyzes and is logical
  • Creative: Flexible and imaginative
  • Generalizer: Abstract, makes assumptions
  • Resourceful: Outstanding results with limited resources
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Please click here to view the PISD PACE Assessment Calendar.

Want to learn more? Click on the PISD PACE link below.

Plano ISD PACE Website

.Referral packets need to be completed and returned to the gifted specialist at your child's school by the appropriate deadline:
Elementary Referral Deadlines for 2009-2010

Kindergarten (assessed in January) October 21, 2009
Grades 1-5 (assessed in March/April) February 19, 2010

Dates may be subject to change.


                                                                 

   Questions or Comments?  Please contact the webmaster at kristi.graham@pisd.edu
Hedgcoxe Elementary      7701 Prescott Dr.     Plano, TX  75025
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