Defined Services and Target Area 

The Center for Rural Gifted Education is designed to serve the following populations:

·        High achieving/talented/gifted students in rural school districts as well as the schools and families educating and guiding these children.  Rural is defined as it has been by the Pennsylvania Department of Education for purposes of their own grant seeking: 

*A population density of less than 400 persons per square mile

*Student populations of less than 2,000, plus four rural county school systems that cover exceptionally large geographic areas and have student populations slightly greater that 2,000 with an overall population per square mile under 200 persons

*30% or more of the students eligible for the free or reduced lunch program

*No immediate proximity to a metropolitan area

(From PA Department of Education Project REAL Jacob Javits grant application, Sutter & Thrush, 2002) 

High achieving/talented/gifted is defined as: 

*A student identified by the school district as gifted under state regulations

*A student identified as high achieving in an academic area through a score at the 95th percentile or higher on a standardized achievement test

*A student identified as talented in the visual or performing arts by a University faculty member, a teacher certified to teach in the area, or a standardized assessment of talent in the field 

·        A student identified as highly gifted through assessment on an individual test of intellectual ability (full score of 145 or higher) administered by a certified school psychologist, as well as the school and family educating and guiding the child, regardless of where that student resides