Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

Jewish Academy of Orlando announced that it is providing gifted training for the entire faculty.

"From the coding and robotics teacher to the Hebrew language teachers, all faculty are participating in the training," Alan Rusonik, head of school, stated.

Teachers began gifted endorsement training in March 2018 and will complete their endorsements by June of 2019. Bryan Demeritte from Suncoast Education Center and an author of the Standards for Gifted Curriculum in the state of Florida conducts the training each month.  Mr. Demeritte teaches both graduate and undergraduate-level teacher education courses, and served a district-level administrator in gifted education.

"We are fortunate to have such a renowned leader in gifted education guiding our school," Rusonik said. "The faculty is excited to learn and apply the techniques in the the classrooms."

Nikki Buyna, director of Academics, shared that "gifted training for our faculty will inevitably strengthen all instruction. The fundamental core of Jewish Academy of Orlando's academic foundation is differentiated instruction. Attending to the needs of each learner, our teachers begin differentiating content, process, and product in Kindergarten and continue across all core subjects areas throughout students' time here. Our process ensures that students are taught in a way that encourages them to reach their full potential."

Rusonik stated, "We believe adding the gifted endorsements are another way Jewish Academy of Orlando continues striving for excellence.  Our academic standards have always been high. Comparatively, our students score grade levels ahead of their peers nationally. This new certification adds another layer to provide high-quality differentiated education to our student body."

To learn more about Jewish Academy of Orlando, please visit: https://www.jewishacademyorlando.org or follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/JewishAcademyOrlando.