The Advancement of Learning & Performance for Higher Achievement (ALPHA) Gifted program is a 1st-12th grade program within every Grady County school that allows our gifted/accelerated students who exhibit high achievement in academics to be engaged in advanced content instruction.  Our goal is to provide for the extension of learning opportunities, the development of individual potential, the enhancement of the student’s self-concept, and the advancement toward becoming an independent learner through differentiated curricula beyond the opportunities and experiences of the regular classroom. The mission of gifted education is to maximize the potential of the gifted learner by providing programs and services that accommodate these differences, including curriculum responsive to individual learning styles, rigor, depth, and complexity. Identification and eligibility procedures are established through guidance from the Georgia Department of Education. ALPHA offers resource-gifted services to our 1st-5th grade elementary students. The ALPHA program addresses the gifted standards suggested by the GaDOE (Georgia Department of Education) by offering cognitive, learning, research/reference, communication, and metacognitive skills to develop and practice creative/critical thinking, problem-solving, logic and reasoning, research, technology/coding, and presentation skills. To meet the student achievement needs, teachers of the gifted and talented may utilize one or more of the following gifted service delivery models by way of direct services such as Resource Class (1st-5th grade), Advanced Content (6-12th grade), Advanced Placement (AP) courses, and Cluster Grouping (K-12th grade), and indirect services may be Collaborative Teaching (K-12th grade) and Internship/Mentorship (9th-12th grade).

The SPARK (Sharpening Potential to Advance and Refine our Kindergartners) program is a talent development program in which select kindergartners are exposed to critical thinking and creativity skills for 30 minutes a week. Students are selected for this program based on MAP Assessment scores and other assessment data. This program will provide additional learning opportunities to challenge our kindergarteners with critical thinking skills/activities, creativity lessons, and problem-solving manipulatives/activities.

For more information, contact Mrs. Danielle Jones at da.jones@grady.k12.ga.us or (229) 307-1710.

Important Gifted Program Documents:

Gifted Referral Form 2024-2025

ALPHA/Gifted Manual 2024-2025

ALPHA/Gifted (K-12) Facebook group online (for parents and stakeholders):

ALPHA /SPARK - Grady County Schools