Special Programs

"Title I" refers to Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Schools Act. The name of the title is: Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged. The purpose is defined as, "The purpose of this title is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments." It is designed to provide additional financial resources to meet the needs of children who attend schools where the poverty level is greater than the poverty level in the district as a whole. Two schools in the district have programs that are supported by Title I funds: Adamsville Primary and John F. Kennedy Primary. Other schools are eligible for Title I funds, but are supported with equivalent district funds: Hillside Intermediate and Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School. 
 

This program uses a multi-criteria system which identifies students who would benefit from additional instruction from Intervention Specialists (certified teachers) in the areas of mathematics and/or language arts due to skill gaps that cause them to perform below grade level. A broad spectrum of strategies is employed for diagnosing learning areas of strength and specific skills gaps, prescribing specific learning interaction, and monitoring and sustaining student academic performance. Interventions may include planned differentiation by classroom teachers as well as focused direct instruction in push-in/pull-out, small group/individualized instruction.

The goal of the RTI program is to intervene regarding student learning concerns, resolve those concerns, build success, and release the student gradually toward independence. The RTI program does not track students into alternate ability-level groupings; instead, it endeavors to identify and address the specific learning and neuodevelopmental strengths and weaknesses as well as the experiential knowledge gaps in the profiles of individual students. In turn, instruction is scaffolded into guided, independent, and applied practice, and assessment of skill acquisition and content application is ongoing. As such, RTI maximizes student understanding and academic potential.

Note that the High School RTI program does not replace Language and Literature English courses or Mathematics courses; instead, it supplants an elective.

According to state administrative code (N.J.A.C. 6:8-4.5(a)4i), “The district shall make provisions for identifying students with gifted and talented abilities and for providing them with an educational program and services.” Those students who possess or demonstrate high levels of ability, in one or more content areas, when compared to their chronological peers in the local district and who require modification of their educational program if they are to achieve in accordance with their capabilities. The BRRSD offers a range of programs to meet the needs of these students. Some of the programs involve ability-grouping or homogenous classes. Please click on the links to the left for more information on each of these programs.

Gifted and Talented Programs

• Small Group Instruction and Differentiation
  • K-4, In Class
• Small Group Investigations
  • K-4  Pull Out Program

  • Primary Home School

• Cluster Grouping

  • Grade 3 and 4 Mathematics, In Class 

  • Primary Home School

• Academically Independent (AI) Classes 

  • Grades 2-5

  • Hamilton School, Eisenhower or Hillside

• Enrichment (E) Classes: Grades 5-8

  •  Eisenhower, Hillside or Middle School

• Honors and Advanced Placement Classes

  • Grades 9-12

  • High School

District Policy 2464 - Gifted and Talented Students (M)
 

Small Group Investigations

Small Group Investigations were a recommendation that came out of the Gifted and Talented program evaluation in 2022-2023. Dr. Lenore Cortina, gifted education consultant explains, "During Small Group Investigations, students choose a topic they’d like to research, formulate research questions, conduct research, analyze the results and create a meaningful  product that informs or entertains an audience. Teachers will explicitly teach the research process and facilitate student research.  

Sometimes called ‘passion projects,’ students may work on a group theme or have a choice in their research topic and the product they create to share what they’ve learned. By bringing students together in small groups, advanced learners engage regularly with academic peers so they might develop both intellectual and affective skills. Research in a self-selected area of interest fosters the development of specific talents, positive learning habits and attitudes, and research, critical and creative thinking skills. Students create  products that are meaningful to them, and perhaps serve a greater purpose for the community.  

Throughout this process, teachers encourage, support and provide the skill instruction necessary for students to engage in the research methods that are used by professionals who study their topic. For example, historians examine primary documents or hold interviews, scientists engage in experimental  research, and sociologists investigate through observation, interviews and primary documents. Therefore, these research projects will not resemble a traditional school report." 

Students who are matched to this service will participate in a pull out program to explore topics beyond the curricula, in their home school. This pull out enrichment will be held one time per week.  Services will be provided for grades 2-4 beginning in the fall. Services for grades K and 1 will begin later in the year.

Cluster Grouping for Mathematics

Cluster grouping is the practice of purposefully grouping identified gifted learners together in a  general education classroom. Students will be grouped with like-ability peers for enrichment and acceleration in mathematics, in their home school.  For 2024-2025, this service is being offered in third and fourth grade.

The AI program was developed to challenge the intellectually advanced student through a multi-dimensional teaching approach involving special curricula, enrichment activities, and accelerated course content.

The program provides the students with the following opportunities:

• To acquire the skills as outlined in district curriculum guides.
• To achieve the objectives of the differentiated curriculum in reading, language arts, science, and social studies through independent learning, individual instruction, small group instruction, and whole class instruction.
• To apply higher-level critical thinking skills in all subject areas, emphasizing convergent, divergent, and abstract thinking.
• To enhance elements of creative thinking: fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and originality.
• To interact productively with peers, both classmates and school mates, on social and intellectual levels.
• To develop independence in learning.
• To use complex multidisciplinary resources and materials for self-directed, open-ended exploration of real life issues.
• To attain advanced levels of skills and concepts in the content areas.
• To evaluate his/her own progress based on self-knowledge of needs and interests.
• To pursue individual topics of interest in greater depth.

Beginning in fifth grade, students with specific ability in either mathematics or language arts literacy can be assigned to ability-grouped sections. The identification of students for these sections begins in the fourth grade. Beginning in sixth grade, students with specific ability science and/or social studies can be assigned to ability-grouped sections in these content areas. Universal screening takes place every year for all students. Students currently in E classes, in good academic standing, will continue in the program. The district utilizes multiple criteria in the identification process.

High School Advanced Placement and Honors courses are designed to meet the needs of students whose abilities and achievements in the subject area indicate ability to succeed in academically challenging environments. Advanced Placement and Honors courses, offered in English, mathematics, science, social studies, world languages, business, and fine and performing arts provide enrichment both in scope of material presented and in depth of exploration.

Students are placed in Advanced Placement and Honors courses by demonstration of ability through marking period grades.

For specific courses and eligibility criteria, see High School Program of Studies, available on the High School website or in the High School Counselors’ Office.