THE GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL
The Virginia Governor’s School Program began in 1973. Virginia Governor’s Schools provide some of the state’s most able students academically and artistically challenging programs beyond those offered in their home schools.
In conjunction with localities, the Virginia Department of Education sponsors regional Academic-Year Governor’s Schools that serve gifted high school students during the academic year. The Southwest Virginia Governor’s School (SWVGS), located on the campus of Pulaski County High School, is one such facility.
Students attending SWVGS spend a portion of their day at the Governor’s Schools but rely on their high schools to provide other programming required for graduation. The Academic-Year Governor’s Schools are established as “joint schools” by Virginia school law. As such, they are typically managed by a regional governing board comprised of representatives from the school boards of each participating division. The regional governing board is charged with developing policies for the school, including the school’s admission process. While these processes differ from school to school, all applicants are assessed using multiple criteria by trained evaluators who have experience in gifted education and the focus area of the specific Academic-Year Governor’s School. For more information, go to http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Instruction/Govschools/.
The Governor’s School governing board sets the tuition fee for each student attending the school. The local school board determines how many juniors and seniors may attend based on funding available to the local school division for that year.
Students interested in applying for admission to SWVGS need to make plans and take advanced courses as early as possible. A number of factors are used to determine candidates for SWVGS. Due to the nature of the advanced academic program at SWVGS, not all students are able to handle the workload involved with being a Governor’s School student.
Guidance counselors at the middle schools and high school can assist students and parents with questions about the Governor’s School.
Listed below are the requirements for admission into the Southwest Virginia Governor’s School for Pulaski County High School students, contained in Board Policy IGBI-R. You will also find the policy at the following web address on the division’s website: http://www.pcva.us/Policy/Table%20of%20Contents.htm. Below, you will also find a timeline for students as well as actual application forms in PDF format. The Candidate Rating scale is also provided as a reference for the items a student is evaluated on for admission.
DOCUMENTS AND RESOURCES
