Valley Park School District
Gifted Education Program
Identification Process
The identification
process for the Gifted Education Program in the Elementary School and
Middle School is a systematic and cyclical process. The identification
process begins when a parent or staff member refers a student to the
Gifted Education Specialist for screening.
Kindergarten Identification Process
Kindergarten teachers
will refer Kindergarten students in September to spend 150 minutes per week
during first semester with the Gifted Education Specialist, participating
in and completing creativity activities, which will be assessed as part of
the identification process.
After participating in
and completing a variety of assessed creativity activities, which will be
completed by late November or early December, and after other necessary
paperwork is completed, parents will be notified as to whether or not
their child will be eligible for further evaluation in the form of an
individualized intelligence test.
If a Kindergartener is
eligible for further evaluation, parents will receive a letter and
permission form from the Gifted Education Specialist to administer an
individualized intelligence test sometime in December. After all
intelligence testing is complete, those children who meet minimum
requirements of the identification process will be eligible for placement
in the Gifted Education Program during second semester.
The Gifted Education
Specialist screens the following criteria for each referred child as part
of the identification process.
First Three
Criteria:
Criterion 1: a
completed Referral Form for Gifted Program Screening
the Checklist of Student Behaviors for gifted Program Screening completed
by a parent or staff member that exhibits a high frequency of gifted
behaviors
Criterion 2: a Student
Portfolio, which must meet at least 4 out of 10 criteria on the Portfolio
Evaluation
Criterion 3: a 96th percentile
on six different Kingore Observational Inventory activities.
Kindergarteners who meet minimum
expectations on at least two out of three of the first three criteria are
eligible to have the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test- Individual
Administration (NNAT-I) administered. Letters granting permission to
administer the IQ test are mailed to parents in December. Kindergarteners
who do not meet minimum expectations on at least two out of three of the
first criteria are not eligible for further screening.
Final Criteria:
Criterion 4: Naglieri Nonverbal Ability
Test- Individual Administration (NNAT-I), minimum Nonverbal Ability Index
(NAI) score of 128
In order for a student
to qualify for the Gifted Education Program he or she must meet at least
two criteria out of Criterion 1-3 and must also meet Criterion 4.
Grades 1-8 Identification Process
Beginning in the month
of January of each school year the referral process begins. Staff
members are given a packet of information so they can begin the
identification process for students they wish to refer. A
notification of how to request information to refer a student for the
Gifted Education Program is communicated to parents. Staff members as well as parents who request
information from the Gifted Education Specialist will receive a packet of
information that consists of the following:
-
an outline of the Gifted
Education Program Identification Process
-
Referral Form for Gifted
Program Screening
-
Checklist of Student Behaviors
for Gifted Program Screening
-
Student Portfolio Guidelines
for Gifted Program Screening
-
a chart of the characteristics
of a bright child compared to a gifted learner
With the provided
information, staff members and parents have what is needed to begin the
identification process for a child. Staff members and parents must turn
in all of the following by the last day of April in order for the
student to be considered for screening.
-
a completed Referral Form for
Gifted Program Screening
-
a completed Checklist of
Student Behaviors for Gifted Program Screening
-
a Portfolio of the student’s
work containing at least 8-10 artifacts from at least 3 different subject
areas (Referrals will not be accepted after the last day of June)
After the necessary
paperwork is completed, turned in, and assessed, parents will be notified
as to whether or not their child will be eligible for further evaluation
in the form of an individualized intelligence test.
If a student is
eligible for further evaluation, parents will receive a letter and
permission form from the Gifted Education Specialist to administer an
individualized intelligence test sometime in May. After all
intelligence testing is complete, those children who meet minimum
requirements of the identification process will be eligible for placement
in the Gifted Education Program for the following school year.
The Gifted Education
Specialist screens the following criteria for each referred child as part
of the identification process.
First Three
Criteria:
Criterion 1: a
completed Referral Form for Gifted Program Screening
the Checklist of Student Behaviors for gifted Program Screening completed
by a parent or staff member that exhibits a high frequency of gifted
behaviors
Criterion 2: a Student
Portfolio, which must meet at least 4 out of 10 criteria on the Portfolio Evaluation for
grades 1-3, or 7 out of 10 criteria on the Portfolio Evaluation for grades
4-8
Criterion 3: a 95% or higher on at least
five monthly Tungsten Tests in the areas of Mathematics and Communication
Arts
Students who meet minimum expectations on
at least two out of three of the first three criteria are eligible to have
the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 4th Edition,
administered. Letters granting permission to administer the IQ test are
mailed to parents in April. Parents must turn in a completed IQ testing
permission form prior to the scheduled testing dates. Students who do not meet
minimum expectations on at least two out of three of the first criteria
are not eligible for further screening.
Final Criteria:
Criterion 4: Wechsler Intelligence Scale
for Children, 4th Ed., minimum Full-Scale Score of 128
In order for a student
to qualify for the Gifted Education Program he or she must meet at least
two criteria out of Criterion 1-3 and must also meet Criterion 4.
Private Testing Guidelines
The Valley Park School
District Gifted Education Program will accept individual intelligence and
other similar tests or screening assessments administered by private
practitioners as long as approved guidelines are followed and the tester
is a certified psychological examiner, school psychologist, licensed
psychologist, or psychiatrist. Only one criterion of the identification
process will be accepted through private testing. For example, if
intelligence test results on the WISC-IV are submitted through a private
tester, the district’s creativity assessment scores will be used. If
creativity assessment scores are submitted through a private tester,
results from the district’s IQ test, the WISC-IV, will be used.
Transfer Student Identification
Process
Students new to the
school district at any time during the school year who were not previously
in a Gifted Education Program may have the opportunity to be referred for
screening since they did not have the opportunity to be referred for
screening during the designated time frame.
Students new to the
school district at any time during the school year who were in a Gifted
Education Program at their previous school may automatically qualify for
the Valley Park School District Gifted Education Program provided the
students meet the minimum criteria in the identification process. If the
criteria used to identify the student at the previous school does not meet
the minimum requirements then students must be screened using the
identification process in order to determine if the students qualify for
the Valley Park School District Gifted Education Program.
English Language Learners
Identification Process
Students who are
English Language Learners may have individual circumstances that could
interfere with demonstrating their academic potential on the WISC-IV.
Therefore, students who have received past services in the English
Language Learning Program or who are currently receiving services in the
English Language Learning Program are eligible to have an alternative IQ
test administered in place of the WISC-IV. These students will be
screened according to the same procedures in the identification process.
Students who meet minimum expectations on identification process criteria
are then eligible to have the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test- Individual
Administration (NNAT-I) administered. Students must receive a minimum
Nonverbal Ability Index (NAI) score of 128 in addition to meeting the
minimum expectations on the Screening criteria in order to qualify for the
Gifted Education Program.
Guidelines for Intelligence
Testing
The Wechsler Intelligence
Scale for Children – 4th Edition (WISC-IV) and the Naglieri Nonverbal
Ability Test- Individual Administration (NNAT-I),
are the only IQ
tests accepted for screening for the Gifted Education Program. There must
be at least one calendar year between administrations of the same
IQ test and between different editions of the same IQ test. Only the Full
Scale IQ score from the WISC-IV must be calculated from the child's
performance on all ten of the core subtests. Prorated scores are not
accepted. Any of the supplementary subtests may be included in the
test battery (for private testing only), but none of them may be
substituted for any of the core subtests. Only the Nonverbal Ability
Index score from the NNAT-I must be calculated from the child's
performance on the entire test. Every effort will be made to administer
the entire intelligence test in a single session. If, for some reason, a
single testing session is not possible, then two sessions will be allowed.
The Valley Park
School District Gifted Education Program identification criteria and
process is approved annually by the Missouri Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education, Office of State Assisted Gifted Programs.
 
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