Highly Capable Program

The Lynden School District has a long history of serving high-performing students using a variety of strategies.  Building on that history we offer a continuum of K-12 services to students identified through a formal process in accordance with state law.  Once a student is identified as having unique learning needs, our department will match the student to one or more district services which best meet the student’s needs.

Identifying Highly Capable Students

Highly capable students are students who perform or show potential for performing at significantly advanced academic levels when compared with others of their age, experiences, or environments. Outstanding abilities are seen within students’ general intellectual aptitudes, specific academic abilities, and/or creative productivities within a specific domain. These students are present not only in the general populace, but are present within all protected classes.

Highly Capable student learner characteristics include, but are not limited to: 

1. The capacity and willingness to deal with increasing levels of abstraction and complexity earlier than their chronological peers.
2. The capacity to learn with unusual depth of understanding, to retain what has been learned, and to transfer learning to new situations.
3. The ability to learn quickly in their area(s) of intellectual strength; and the capacity for intense concentration and/or focus.

Students must go through the district’s referral assessment process in order to be considered for the Highly Capable program. Each fall, the district opens up a referral window for students in grades K-12 who are newly enrolled in the Lynden School District with testing typically taking place in October. Additionally, a second referral window is open in the spring of each year for all students in all grade levels. Referrals may be submitted by staff, parents, and community members. In an effort to provide equitable access to qualify for Highly Capable identification, Lynden School District screens all second grade students- referrals for second grade students are not necessary.

For questions regarding eligibility or the referral/assessment process, please contact Program Coordinator Lynne Barrios or the Department of Teaching & Learning. For questions regarding what services each school provides, please contact the following:

• Bernice Vossbeck Elementary School – Lynne Barrios
• Fisher Elementary School – Lynne Barrios
• Isom Elementary School – Lynne Barrios
• Lynden Middle School – Lynne Barrios
• Lynden High School – Megan Dickson
• Lynden Academy – Lea Kope