What are the primary benefits of the ASPIRE program?
GCISD's ASPIRE program endeavors to provide academic learning experiences that meet the needs of highly gifted students. ASPIRE students also have the opportunity to participate in school-wide extracurricular courses, including but not limited to choir, theatre, engineering, band, athletics (7th-8th), and other fine arts and career and technology courses.

How is ASPIRE different from the Discoveries and accelerated math and science classes that the other GT kids take?
Humanities students read and study a variety of college-level texts, and students are encouraged to question, critique, challenge, and expand upon the ideas presented in those texts. As middle-schoolers, ASPIRE students grapple with content and concepts that other learners will not encounter until they enter AP classes or college courses. Additionally, English and social studies are not taught as separate subjects, but rather in a fully integrated fashion that focuses on broad cultural themes and driving questions while also building fundamental TEKS-based skills as they pertain to world cultures, Texas history, or American history. Using the Parallel Curriculum Model as a framework, ASPIRE allows students opportunities for deeper explorations of content. Due to the compacted nature of social studies TEKS, students also cover more breadth of material, relating people and events referenced in the TEKS to people and events from different eras of history and different geographic regions. On-grade-level history textbooks are not used in ASPIRE Humanities, and there is no standard ELA text. Content is curated as needed from above-grade-level sources as deemed appropriate by the teacher.

How much homework is there in ASPIRE?
We try our best to limit homework when possible. Generally the level of homework required in ASPIRE is consistent with the rest of the campus and is comprised mainly of work that was not finished during the allotted class or Wolf Time. Teachers attempt to coordinate project timing as much as possible so that students are not swamped. When large projects are assigned, students have multiple class days to work on them before it becomes necessary to take them home. We do regularly emphasize the wise and efficient use of class time with our students as well as skills for organizing and planning for the timely completion of work. It is important to remember that some at-home assignments (such as membean) are district-mandated.

How does ASPIRE provide challenges for students beyond what they would get elsewhere?
The depth and complexity to which their content is taught allows students to go deeply into the content and concepts to which they are exposed, while covering the breadth of what is required.

What are the special things that kids get to do in the ASPIRE program (speakers, field trips, etc.)?
A number of guest speakers from different fields visit every year for special talks. The topics are as varied as criminal law, fighter plane physics, and infectious disease, and they change from year to year. ASPIRE students also take multiple local field trips to museums and other cultural sites in the DFW area, and eighth-grade students complete an overnight field trip that includes a college visit.

What sort of preparation for high school is provided? Is there recognition that for highly gifted students that preparation needs to happen as early as 6th grade?
Research, writing, and text analysis skills that form the core of AP English and AP social studies classes in high school are taught and regularly practiced in ASPIRE Middle School Humanities. In addition, students begin preparing for the PSAT in 7th grade. Personalized Learning Plans and a College & Career PBL are also part of the preparation that ASPIRE students receive.

What is the best way to truly understand high school credits, 4 year plans, and GPA implications for our students?
Your child’s counselor is the best source of information. Our counseling staff offers several group sessions as well as one-on-one meetings with 8th graders to help them prepare for high school.

ASPIRE students leave middle school with the following HS credits:

Biology
IPC (Integrated Physics and Chemistry)
Algebra I (*There are math tracks that will allow a student to leave with more advanced math credits depending on their math level once they begin middle school.)
Check the middle school section of GCISD Course Selection Guide for a list of high school credit opportunities afforded to middle school students in GCISD.