Three new options mark the latest growth for SESP's Center for Talent Development (CTD), which serves gifted children and their families. The Summer Program has a new site at Quest Academy in Palatine, a gifted school. CTD will offer its Leapfrog program there for students completing preK through grade three, in addition to sites in Evanston, Glen Ellyn and Wilmette. Leapfrog has grown to serve more than 1,300 students.
In addition, the Saturday Enrichment Program for preK through high school is now offering the Accelerated Weekend Experience (AWE), an option to take classes over a single weekend instead of weekly throughout the school year. CTD is collaborating with several school districts to offer this program to their students.
"AWE was developed to accommodate students who are involved in other Saturday activities and are unable to commit to six or eight Saturdays in our Saturday Enrichment Program. It is also a model that we will be able to offer to schools that are geographically distant from our current sites," says CTD director Paula Olszewski-Kubilius.
Similarly, the Civic Education Project, which provides service learning experiences for students in grades 7 to 12, is developing a new option for middle school students. In addition to its one- and three-week programs, CTD is piloting a weekend experience, to take place in May, in collaboration with schools in Chicago's western suburbs. The weekend includes hands-on service learning experiences and is based at University of Illinois-Chicago.
"CTD programs offer engaging, interactive activities designed to help gifted young people acquire and practice new concepts in challenging and interesting ways," says Susan Corwith, CTD associate director.
The Center for Talent Development (CTD), housed at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy, is an accredited learning center and research facility that identifies, educates and supports gifted students and their families and serves as a leader in gifted education. CTD, which began in 1982, serves approximately 37,000 families annually.
Last Modified: 11/19/09