Litchfield CUSD #12 believes all children have special gifts and talents regardless of race and economic status.  Students identified for the gifted program in Litchfield are those that demonstrate outstanding talent or show the potential for exceptionally high levels of accomplishments when compared with others of the same age.  These children exhibit high performance capacity in at least one or more of the following areas:

Intellect

Creativity

Leadership

Specific academic fields

The gifted program has undergone some changes over the course of several years. Initially, one person oversaw the entire gifted program, and it was limited to grades 2-5 through a semi-monthly pull-out program.  More recently, the district created grade level coordinators for grades 2-8.  The coordinators met with the students one day a month for approximately 90 minutes during the school day.  While this extended the gifted program to include the middle grades and provided many wonderful opportunities for our gifted students, it didn't address the daily needs within each classroom.  

Litchfield has now taken another step in our gifted program development.   Working from the belief that our children are ‘gifted everyday, not just one day a month', our focus is on providing challenging opportunities both during and outside of the school day.