Welcome to our Exceptional Learners Page
St. John the Baptist Catholic School is proud to support excetional learning needs at a wide variety of levels. Our exceptional learning program focuses on the needs of students who need something different than their peers or the general education classroom.
High Ability
St. John the Baptist Catholic School has many unique programs for our students making it an amazing, Christ-centered place to learn! Most notably, in August 2013, we began a groundbreaking program that not only set us apart from all other schools, but also changed our school’s entire climate of learning.
At that time, we began our High Ability program, Diocese of Evansville Enrichment Program, to meet the needs of our high ability (gifted and talented) students in intentional ways. The success of this program lies in our school’s embracing of a culture of differentiation where teachers create environments where all students can thrive. In our school, high ability students are those who perform in the top 2-4% nationally on a valid measure of achievement and/or ability. These students are often at a mismatch with the general education curriculum because of their unique cognitive characteristics including problem-solving abilities, abstract reasoning, in-depth interests, natural curiosity, and high capacity memory. On seeing our great need for this program in grades K-8, we quickly expanded to adding a full-time teacher dedicated to high ability math along with our full-time teacher for high ability language arts and program coordination.
To read our school's high ability plan, click HERE
Students who are identified as high ability have their needs met through a variety of methods including differentiation by the classroom teacher, cluster grouping, working with the high ability teacher as a resource, self-contained classes with a high ability teacher, and subject-skipping (working on curriculum from a grade level or two above). SJB is committed to providing enrichment and acceleration in a nurturing environment to help these students reach their cognitive potential as well as develop skills in academic risk-taking, self-discipline, and self-motivation that are essential for lifetime success. Our ultimate goal is for all students to develop their God-given talents to the best of their abilities.
St. John the Baptist Catholic School employs two full time High Ability teachers, a part-time high ability teacher. The staff works closely with the classroom teacher and parents to find the path to success for each student.
Resource
St. John the Baptist School embraces students with learning differences in a Christ-centered environment. Students are given the accommodations and differentiated learning strategies needed to be successful in the general education classroom. When students need extra support, the resource room offers individual and small group instruction to meet the needs of the individual student.
Please click on this link to view our St. John the Baptist Resource Program Guidelines.
The staff at St. John the Baptist incorporates multi-sensory learning strategies, movement breaks, and adaptive seating options. These are just a few of the techniques used to help students find success! 
The Resource Team has monthly RTI (Response to Intervention) meetings with grade level teachers and administration. During RTI meetings, topics such as student intervention, strategies for struggling learners, and support for general education faculty members are discussed and recorded. Monthly meetings allow for all faculty members to collaborate and work together to closely keep an eye on students who may need extra support.
St. John the Baptist Catholic School employs two full time Resource teachers, a part-time resource teacher, and three program assistants. The staff works closely with the classroom teacher and parents to find the path to success for each student.
For more information about our High Ability program, click HERE.
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