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Does anyone know anything about the LEAP program in Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools? I am considering moving to Chapel Hill and am most worried about school options for gifted kids. I'm deciding between a location without any kind of pull-out program like the LEAP (which looks great on paper) and Chapel Hill. Is the LEAP program as good as it looks? Any other information about gifted education in Chapel Hill?
Hi Jill,
I live in Chapel Hill but my children are too young for this issue to apply right now. I'll tell you what I've heard however:
There are 2 levels of "gifted" programming in Chapel Hill. With the first one, the kids stay in their regular school and get pulled out of their class to meet with a special teacher who gives them extra attention (they do this both for gifted and struggling...basically just not the middle group of kids). LEAP is for those students who are truly high-performing and score extremely high on testing, etc. If your child qualifies, you can send him to a school which has LEAP (not all do). A bus would be provided from your assigned school to a LEAP school (for example, Glenwood is a leap school. If you are at Ephesus, they would bus you to Glenwood from Ephesus).
Now...there are some kids who qualify for LEAP whose parents choose not to send them, so there are still very high performing students in the base schools. There are a number of reasons parents might choose to keep their child at the base school, rather than go to the LEAP school. For one, they would have to change schools (unless your base school happens to be a LEAP school). For another thing, there is already a lot of competition in Chapel Hill schools and it is FAR more in the LEAP program. Some parents don't like that. Also, the LEAP kids are told quite frequently how gifted they are, and some parents don't want their children walking around high and mighty like that and would rather have them receive a (still excellent) education at their base school with occasional pull-outs. Also, and for me this is horrible, there are parents whose children are in LEAP who will not let their children even have playdates with children who are not in LEAP. So it's kind of an odd "culture", although yes, the education is supposed to be very good.
So...there are a number of factors to consider when deciding how to proceed if your child is admitted to the program...
What happens to children who are struggling then? My 6 year old son has Dyslexia and I'd hope that he would receive additional support to give him different learning strategies.
I think there's been some back & forth (and lots of advocacy on the part of parents), but the LEAP program at one point was for kids who tested highly, but might not be high-performing, the idea being they would perform better in a completely separate location. Last I checked, it was for kids who tested in the 98th+ percentile.
I am not sure exactly what happens w/kids who need extra help, but what I have heard is that support is there for both academically gifted and for struggling students (and I imagine for dyslexic students as well if that is affecting performance). The kids who are in the middle--your "average" student is the student getting the least amount of personalized attention.
Does anyone know anything about the LEAP program in Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools? I am considering moving to Chapel Hill and am most worried about school options for gifted kids. I'm deciding between a location without any kind of pull-out program like the LEAP (which looks great on paper) and Chapel Hill. Is the LEAP program as good as it looks? Any other information about gifted education in Chapel Hill?
Thanks,
Jill
Maimounakande has done a very good job of outlining the pros and cons of LEAP in Chapel Hill. Keep in mind that. for the most part, "the average Chapel Hill student" would likely be classified as AG in another school district.
LEAP is for the truly exceptional students, a child has to test at or above the 98th percentile on EOG's or equivalent to get into the program.
Chapel Hill schools practice "differentiation in the classroom" with varying amounts of success. There are AG teachers at each school that also do "pull outs" with students identified as AG, but maybe not on a daily basis.
If your child is academically gifted, he/she will be well served in the CHCS system whether in their neighborhood school or LEAP.
Personally, if my children had tested into LEAP, we wouldn't have even considered sending them there, enough academic pressure in the school already thank you.
I'd recommend following that Yahoo group. Chapel Hill public schools are facing a $4 million shortfall for the upcoming year. The new budget proposes eliminating almost all gifted pull out services. The requirement for LEAP has been tightened to only accept students placing in the 99th percentile. It doesn't start until 4th grade and the student has to be in a regular Chapel Hill school for a year before they can be eligible for the LEAP program.
I actually attended a lot of the AG classes when I was going to shool in Chapel Hill back in the day, and they were actually a lot of fun. We disected fetal pigs in the 6th grade, and also did other things like build a hot air ballon, etc. I think I attended from like 4th-7th. I don't think they ahd the LEAP program back then, but basically we were pulled from regular classes to go to AG.
I'll say while I remember it being enjoyable, there was also a lot of pressure associated with it. Actually, there was a lot of pressure in Chapel Hill schools period.
I appreciate the responses - lots of things to think about. I've checked out the yahoo group. I had no idea that the district was considering dropping the LEAP program and having it available was a strong consideration for us in thinking about relocating there.
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
Jill
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Thanks for the info
