At the middle school level, gifted education teachers teach gifted education through English Language Arts courses for identified 6th-7th- 8th grade gifted students. A āShelby County Middle School Gifted Education Curriculum Guideā was developed by a team of gifted ed. teachers to assure comparability in programming. The course is designed to meet and exceed the standards contained in the Alabama Course of Study through appropriate differentiation for gifted learners and modification of the depth and complexity of the curriculum. Best Practices in Gifted Education are used to incorporate abstract and complex thinking; higher level processes and product development; and interdisciplinary concepts, issues, and themes. Units are designed using Concept-based Learning and the Parallel Curriculum Model. Also, studentsā interest and the learning needs of gifted learners are addressed by the Gifted Case Managers at each school as part of the identified gifted studentsā GEP/IEP (Gifted Education Plan/Individualized Education Plan)