Hazelton was one of 11 teachers statewide honored this month by the California Association for the Gifted, a statewide advocacy group for gifted students and teachers.
Every child has the right to learn something new every day, no matter where their test scores fall.
State standardized tests like the Stanford Achievement Test-Ninth Edition, which the state uses to rank every public school in California, are based on a set of minimum standards to be mastered by students in each grade level. It doesn't mean you can't do additional things, you just have to be inventive. In Oceanside, gifted students are usually placed in groups that study the same concepts as the rest of the students, but often go into more depth. Right now, Hazelton's class is studying the Western movement into the Americas. They'll talk about things like the fears and challenges of humans going into space and compare them to those of the Western movement.