Cape Accelerated Program (CAP)

In April 2014, a task force was created to determine how best to meet the needs of the District's gifted and talented elementary students. The task force was made up of the Supervisor of Elementary Education, DOE Education Associate for Gifted Education, parents, teachers, and principals who met once a month. The Accelerated Learner Task force presented a plan to the Cape Henlopen School Board of Education in December 2014. With their approval, the District put together a plan for implementing the Cape Accelerated Program (CAP) in elementary schools for the fall of 2015. Stakeholder input has been on-going and fluid as the District's mission for Equity, Excellence, and Responsiveness: Every Student, Every Classroom, Every Day evolves and grows. Monthly School Improvement Team meetings, parent meetings, and PLC meetings have facilitated the necessary change in the District's plan for gifted and talented instruction. It should be mentioned that stakeholder input became even more crucial when the District's dual language immersion program and CAP program married in the fourth grade. Cape Henlopen School District is proud to offer Immersion and CAP, without having children or parents choose one program at the expense of another. Overall, the District's CAP program has evolved with input from parents, teachers, School Improvement Teams, and the Board of Education. 

Students in grades K-3 are enriched by extensions and project-based learning opportunities that are created through collaboration with the CAP teacher and each student's homeroom teacher. Enrichment through the Multi Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) will be expected in every classroom. CAP students in grades 4-8 receive services through their CAP teacher and takes place during their regular ELA and/or Math (and Social Studies in elementary) instruction each day. The CAP teacher is responsible for reporting grades for ELA and/or Math. Elementary CAP teachers will also be responsible for grades in Social Studies. 

The Cape Accelerated Program is committed to meeting the academic, social, and emotional needs of highly-abled learners. Through the use of differentiation, students will participate in learning opportunities that require them to utilize creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking skills. Students will develop habits, attitudes, and the inspiration needed to become self-directed, independent life-long learners and leaders. 

Please reach out to your child's principal, who will be able to provide more information on their school's identification process.

Any 4-6th grade student who registers in the Cape Henlopen School District after the end of the identification process may be considered for CAP. If a student was in a gifted program at their former school, CHSD staff will make contact with the previous school and ascertain if their program aligns with the CHSD CAP program. If the programs are a match, then the student will be qualified for placement in CAP.

If a CHSD student is currently enrolled in CAP and transfers to another school within the District, the student will continue in CAP in their new school. If the student  is not enrolled in CAP prior to transferring to a new school, they will not be considered for CAP until the next school year. 

A student may be withdrawn from CAP if it is mutually agreed upon by the parent/guardian, principal and CAP teacher

The CHSD has a teacher for each of the elementary schools and middle schools who have completed the necessary requirements to be certified in gifted education.

The program evaluation is an ongoing process through monthly meetings with the CAP teachers and administrators to review student progress. All stakeholders are included in the improvement of the program through parent conferences, Professional Learning Communities, and meetings with the Supervisor of Elementary Education. In order to ascertain that we are meeting the goals of CAP, we systematically review student portfolios, report card grades, and other progress monitoring tools, as well as behavior data. Regulation 902: Gifted or Talented Education Plan, Feedback Rubric is the evaluation tool to be used across all schools to ensure fidelity of implementation of the program. 

All CAP students will take the PSAT 8/9 and apply for the Academic Challenge program at DelTech. At this point in their academic career, all CAP students will be subject to the evaluation procedures established for acceptance in the Academic Challenge Program. The evaluation process includes an evaluation of student aptitude in English language arts and mathematics as indicated by the PSAT scores, academic achievement as indicated by grades in school, screening of motivation and commitment to learning, and input provided by a teacher inventory and a guidance counselor inventory. We anticipate that all students in CAP will meet the admission requirements for Academic Challenge. From that point forward, students will have the option of attending Academic Challenge and/or enrolling in AP coursework. For our CAP students, we anticipate creating a plan where enrollment in AP coursework would begin earlier than usual. The option of creating a CAP pathway that leads to early graduation at the end of Junior year is currently being discussed.