Mason City Schools strives to provide a continuum of services for cognitively identified gifted students in grades 1-6 that emphasizes enriching, extending, and building upon Ohio’s learning standards, the National Association of Gifted Children standards, and may also include the development of the following:

• critical and creative thinking skills, including the ability to use critical/reflective thinking focused on deciding what to do or believe. This includes supporting ideas with facts and/or logic, explaining relationships, information processing skills, and specifically the ability to gather, organize, analyze, and apply information

• communication skills, specifically the ability to plan, create, and present verbal, visual, and written information in order to effectively share thoughts and ideas with others

• self discipline and responsibility, specifically the ability to work productivity and independently as an individual, to be a positive and productive group member, and to demonstrate effective leadership skills.