Press Release

POLARIS PROGRAM FOR GIFTED STUDENTS ANNOUNCES OPEN HOUSES

THE POLARIS PROGRAM ANNOUNCES OPEN HOUSES

Two open houses have been announced for prospective parents and students who are interested in The Polaris Program, a new school for highly gifted and high achieving students at Crofton Elementary School.

The open houses will be held Tuesday, May 16 and Tuesday, June 6. Both open houses will run from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the school, located at 2409 Arapahoe Street.

Diana Howard, who was recently named principal of Crofton, will share her plans and visions for this exciting new school.

The opening of The Polaris Program represents the first time that a program dedicated to meeting the needs of highly gifted and high achieving students has operated in an independent site in the Denver Public Schools. The program will open with the 2000-2001 school year with an enrollment of about 75 students.

The school will first serve identified highly gifted students from northeast Denver. Transportation will be provided for these students. Highly gifted students from outside northeast Denver are encouraged to apply for any available spaces. Transportation for these students, who will have second priority to attend the school, is not provided.

High achieving students in northeast Denver will also be eligible to apply. They will have third priority and receive transportation to Crofton. Any vacancies not filled by qualified northeast Denver students are open to students meeting the same eligibility requirements who live outside northeast Denver.

Highly gifted students are nominated (by parents, teachers, or administrators) in the fall and are tested for placement for the following year. Further information on the nomination process is available from the Gifted Education Office, 303-405-8271.

To qualify as high achieving, students must be in the 90th percentile or above in Total Reading and/or Total Math on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills or have received an "Advanced" on the reading and/or math portion of the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP).