LAUNCH students blast off to new heights

Students in the Kennett School District's LAUNCH Program are soaring to new heights, participating in various creativity-based studies.

LAUNCH-- Learners Achieving Under Necessarily Challenging Horizons-- is the Kennett School District's gifted program for students in third through eighth-grade. The program focuses on academic enrichment, according to program director Rayanna Dalton.

"The activities structured for LAUNCH students usually involve a lot of creative thinking and are project based," Dalton said. "[LAUNCH students] do a lot of creative problem solving activities."

Dalton said the students in the program meet for a half day, one day per week.

Recently, the students have been involved with forensic studies, doing fingerprints and facial recognition exercises.

Although the projects the students participate in might not be directly related to their current grade-level studies, Dalton says the skills they learn now will apply to future studies, adding that "most of it will relate back to the curriculum."

Students in the program also participate in field trips. Dalton said the district tries to host at least one trip per year.

In 2007, LAUNCH students attended a space camp. In 2008, the eighth-grade LAUNCH students went to the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, Mo., as part of a study on historical sites.

The program, which follows state guidelines and screening guidelines, is locally funded. Dalton said to be eligible for the program, the students go through a screening process that begins with the Missouri Assessment Program test and/or Terra Nova test, depending on the age group.

"We look at their math and communication arts scores," Dalton said. "They have to be at or above the 90th percentile."

If they have a high score in one area and have a teacher recommendation, they can also be screened, she said

The screening process consists of the achievement assessment, the IQ test, and the creativity scale. Dalton said all testing is done through the district's Diagnostics Center, under the direction of Melissa Turner.

After the students are tested in the three areas, the results are presented to the Gifted Placement Committee. Dalton said random numbers are assigned to represent students so that no committee member will know which student is which. The Gifted Placement Committee consists of Dalton, Launch Instructor Sheila Marchbanks, Superintendent Jerry Noble, South Elementary Principal Kim Lowry, Middle School Principal Ward Billings, campus counselors, and teacher representatives.

Dalton said there are some situations where additional students who did not meet the specific criteria for placement may be considered for placement, including:

* A student may have scored inordinately high on the I.Q. test, but failed to make the qualifying score on the achievement test;

* A student may have scored inordinately high on the achievement test, but failed to make the qualifying score on the I.Q. test, or;

* Students from underrepresented groups who failed to meet the specific eligibility criteria for identification.

According to Launch Instructor Sheila Marchbanks, students in the program are encouraged to be creative.

"They do fun and interesting things but look at all the things they are going to learn," Marchbanks said.

Marchbanks said her goal as the LAUNCH instructor is to "help [the students] realize their strengths."