Think for a minute about Michael Phelps. He is one of the most successful and decorated Olympians of all time with a total of 28 medals. Setting record upon record, he could very well go down in history as the best American athlete of all-time.

Michael Phelps was born with unique characteristics that give him an advantage in competitive swimming. Many attribute his success to four main characteristics: exceptional lung capacity, a large wingspan, relatively short legs, and a long torso.

He has a natural capacity to be an exceptional swimmer because of the way his body is built. However, he also had great coaches who pushed him to perfect his swimming technique.

This is similar to identified gifted/talented students. They may have the ability to learn faster or deeper, but they need a "coach" to help them reach their full potential.

Consider if you had the same coach as Michael Phelps? Would you have Olympic gold medals? Most of us do not have his capacity or ability. Having the same coach wouldn't guarantee we would become Olympic swimmers.

This analogy can be applied to the high-achieving students we have in our schools who do not qualify for gifted/talented services. While they may excel academically, they do not have a demonstrated need for specialized support.

Sometimes that means adding more complexity or rigor to the core curriculum, like enriching a lesson or specific unit of study.

It might also mean that a student spends time throughout the week working on a variety of activities, including understanding who they are as gifted learners, conducting research, developing executive functioning skills, and fostering critical & creative thinking.

High-achieving students are often noticed for their on-time, neat, well-developed, and correct learning products. Adults comment on these students' consistent high grades and note how well they acclimate to class procedures and discussions. Some may assume these students are gifted because their school-appropriate behaviors and products surface above the typical responses of grade-level students.

While high achievers are valuable participants whose high-level modeling is welcomed in classes, they learn differently from gifted learners. In situations in which they are respected and encouraged, gifted students' thinking is more complex with abstract inferences and more diverse perceptions than is typical of high achievers.

Gifted learners demonstrate certain attributes (advanced language, analytical thinking, perspective, meaning motivation, sensitivity, sense of humor, and accelerated learning) more often than their same age peers.

Students in K-8 may test to move ahead one grade level through Credit by Acceleration.

High school students may earn credit in a course that they have not taken or under certain circumstances may earn credit for a course which they took but for which they did not receive credit.

Students must be enrolled in Lewisville ISD to be eligible for assessment.

All Credit by Acceleration testing is coordinated by the LISD's Counseling Department.