Program Description: The CIMA program identifies students who are gifted/talented in general intellectual ability and creative productive thinking. The program design includes cluster groups of identified students in classrooms where trained teachers offers acceleration and enrichment in various content areas. Classroom instructional strategies center around Bloom's Taxonomy, creative and productive thinking, sketching, journal writing, decision making, planning/organization, guided research and independent study, forecasting, logic, and critical/analytical thinking. Enrichment programs for students include the Odyssey of the Mind, Junior Great Books, Future Problem Solving and Latin for fifth and sixth graders.

A gifted/talented elementary demonstration teacher lends assistance to classroom teachers by providing model lessons in the classroom that highlight higher order thinking skills and emphasize the use of challenging curriculum materials.

Program Goals: The goals of the CIMA program are (1) to identify gifted/talented students, (2) to provide a program to meet the needs of these students, (3) to train teachers in the use of higher level thinking skills, and (4) to provide enrichment materials.

Students: Parents and teachers may nominate students for the CIMA Program. Students are identified based on five criteria: product and performance, the Renzulli Motivational Scale, achievement tests, Torrance Creativity Test, and an intelligence test. Assessment data is placed on a Student Summary Profile card. The student must have four strengths beyond the district line. The district line is (1) product and performance, 5/8 criterion; (2) Renzulli Motivational Scale, 25 points; (3) achievement tests, 96 national percentile; (4) Torrance Creativity Test, 127 creativity index, and (5) intelligence test, 127 full scale score.

Staffing: Teachers responsible for gifted and talented students have received extensive training through staff development. Most teachers in the CIMA schools have taken the CIMA workshops.

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