Educators and Parents

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GSI School Level Responsibilities - Final state submission date is March 31, 2022

The school counselor is often the person in charge of coordinating the selection for GSI. At first it seems daunting, but counselors who familiarize themselves with the following steps find that the process works well.

1. Ensure student participation in the Governor's STEM Institute.
2. Coordinate and dove-tail due dates with county coordinator.
3. Because they are dealing with middle-school students, counselors may have to take an active part in encouraging qualified students to apply for GSI.
4. Counselors or others designated by the principal should notify students who meet the qualifications and go over the information on the web site. One effective way would be to meet with the potential candidates in the computer lab and navigate the web site with the entire group. At that time, the students could also download the application.
5. Post information about the web site in all 7th-and-8th-grade science and math classrooms.
6. Arrange to have someone type applications for students who cannot type their own.
7. Send information about GSI home in the school newsletter.
8. Set a date that applications are to be turned in by the students and inform students of the date.
9. Each school shall convene a selection committee that consists of the counselor, a science teacher, a math teacher and, when possible a teacher of gifted students.
10. Plan your selection meeting early enough so that if school is cancelled you will still have time to reschedule and meet the deadline.
11. The school selection committee shall send in rank order by grade the names and applications of no more than 14 students to the county superintendent’s office;
12. Submit school nominees and applications to the county coordinator using the School Recommendation Form.
13. Staple each application in the upper left-hand corner. Do not use paper clips or binders.
14. The recommendation form can be completed on a typewriter (do they still exist?) but may also be completed by hand.

GSI County Coordinator Responsibilities

The county coordinator for GSI is the person appointed by the superintendent to serve as a liaison between the district's schools and the director of Governor's Schools.

1. The first thing the county coordinator should do is read through the entire website, looking for appropriate forms and making note of important information. For example, the link to the Superintendent's Selection form is near the bottom of this list.
2. County coordinators should contact each school with 7th and 8th graders to let the counselor or principal know when the applications are due in the central office. This includes both public and private schools.
3. Each county has the privilege of nominating students in the 7th and 8th grades to attend the GSI.
4. The county selection team shall consist of one teacher of math or science from each represented school in the district, a counselor, a teacher of gifted students, and others as deemed appropriate by the superintendent or his/her designee.
5. When selecting students, try to be equitable across schools unless there is a serious breach in the quality of applicants.
6. Using the apportionment guidelines printed on the Superintendent's Selection Form, submit the appropriate number of nominees for each grade.
7. Mail  the Superintendent's Selection Form and applications by the date set by state director.
8. Check to see that the pages are stapled and ordered numerically, with the essay and transcript/test record at the end.
9. Staple the complete application. Do not fasten with paper clips, do not send photographs, and do not put each application in a separate folder. Mail to:

Ray Lowther, Coordinator of Governor's Schools
West Virginia Department of Education
Building 6, Room 221
1900 Kanawha Boulevard East
Charleston, WV 25305