Criteria for Gifted Services in Public School

[AggieMama]

I was just wondering what everyone's criteria for entrance into gifted programming was in their area. I am having my DD tested for services. She scored in the 99th percentile in math on her last MAP test, one criteria for entrance. She will score in the 97th percentile in reading this time. Last year in kinder, she scored in the 90th percentile on CogAT. She has ADHD and OCD tendencies. My DH and I see all the GT characteristics there.

I just wanted to know what the the criteria for admission was in your area.

[Guest]

No gifted program, it is considered elitist.

 

Nearby districts have accelerated programs. If the student has the pre-reqs, he can accelerate...doesnt matter what the iq is. If they cant keep up, they drop down a level. If they want to catch up, they must do so on their own.

[EKS]

First students must score at the 92nd percentile on the CogAT Screening Form.  Then those who qualify are invited to take the full CogAT.  The cutoff score (on at least two sections of the full CogAT and either reading or math achievement) to be "considered" by the committee is the 95th percentile.  They do not indicate whether they use national or local norms, but I suspect local as it is a high performing district.  Since the state only provides funding for gifted services for 2.314% of the student body, I strongly suspect that many kids (at least half if using local norms and way more than that if using national norms) who are "considered" by the committee are ultimately rejected.

 

I should also mention that the "program" is a bit of differentiation in the regular classroom, a bit of pull out enrichment, and access to math acceleration starting in 5th grade.

Edited December 8, 2016 by EKS

[Runningmom80]

In My area it's top 5%. She would get in easily here!

[Dmmetler]

5% here (state test as screener, plus COGAT or school psych administered IQ test), plus teacher recommendation. In practice, it's just a pull-out. There are a few optional programs which are mostly parents who are willing to wait in line and have well behaved kids with decent state test scores, which are standard curriculum, but add a bit to it-one school might have extra fine arts, or extra hands on science, or a good tech lab.

[Mike in SA]

Get good grades; teacher likes the child's behavior; top 10% cogat.

 

Really.

[JennSnow]

Get good grades; teacher likes the child's behavior; top 10% cogat.

 

Really.

Yup, basically the same here minus the tip 10% cogat...I don't think they even administer an iq test for our local "gifted magnet" or weekly pull out programs.  The kids who get in here are the kids who the teachers like..who sit still and keep their folders organized and raise their hands often..who score well on tests (and whose parents insist they need to be in the program, lol).  Not surprisingly the majority of students accepted into these programs are girls, lol.

[EndOfOrdinary]

No gifted program. We live in a conservative, rural area. They don't even grade accellerate.There is a reason we homeschool.

 

The district where Dh teaches has PreAP in middle school. Ds would just be default dumped into these classes, even if he has aleardy taken the AP test the class it is a prereq for. If we hollered about that, they would either put him in the STEM magnet (even though he is not a STEM kid) or dump him in the project based learning magnet (the catch all for creative thinkers who do not fit anywhere else). He would be expected to just be in a stack of extracurriculars like band, lego robotics, and a sport. Here most gifted programs have been eliminated for just diversified magnets. No gifted instruction or perr group, just a different way the information is presented.

 

As a result, most just start college between 14-16 and take a mountain of AP courses. It is simpler to fast track than to be a high achiever.

[lewber]

WISC- IV? Over 130, or if borderline, a much higher score in one or two sections will get you in. They test any year based on teacher recommendations starting in 1st grade.

But program is pull out enrichment based only. An hour or two per week until 4th grade, most of one school day 4-5 grade, an elective class 6-8, and nothing in high school.

No acceleration. They've gone back and forth on this and DS did get to skip 6th grade math, but his middle school was the only one in county to do it. There are currently 7 kids in our entire county on this path. Crazy.

[wapiti]

Here, I think it is 98th percentile for ability and for achievement, according to testing.  The CogAT is administered but individual IQ tests are also accepted.  A student can have an advanced learning plan for math but not for language arts or vice-versa.  An all-around gifted student can apply to the full-time gifted program.  Supposedly, the gifted criteria include a "body of evidence" (including teacher recommendations, parent report, etc.) though my sense is that it's pretty tough to get gifted services without the scores.

 

I'm not a CogAT fan because I think it misses lots of kids.  One of my kids had mediocre CogAT scores in 3rd grade but recently scored high enough in 5th... my older kids weren't retested in 5th.

[Cake and Pi]

Ours is the same as wapiti's. 

[SarahW]

When my kid was in PS in K, he was tested with the KBIT. Averaged score had to be above 130 to qualify.

 

I don't like the KBIT, and there's been studies that show in ADHD kids it depresses the verbal reasoning score. But, it's quick and easy for schools to administer, so there you go.

[SanDiegoMom]

In CA the kids took an OLSAT test, if they screened gifted (top 10 percent I think) supposedly they were put in clusters in classes and given extra or different work. It depended on the teacher and in reality was pretty useless. Program had no money.

 

Here it in semi-rural VA it's a 45 min pull out once a week but I don't know what they use to screen. We started homeschooling here.

[Lecka]

In my kids' school, what I think is: there would be pull-out with the gifted teacher, but I don't think a lot, I think once a week or so, plus some special projects here and there. Then, they will accelerate some way for math and reading. This could be a reading group or math group that is made up of kids in about the same grade (the same grade and maybe one above or below) if there are 4-6 kids in the grade at that level.

 

If there are not or the teachers/parents think it would be a better fit, they will move kids up to a higher grade classroom for reading and math. The school has math and reading block at the same time across the school to allow this.

 

For math the start bussing to the middle school (which is 7th and up) for 5th graders (as far as I know).

 

For reading I think for 4th and up, the 6th grade teacher does some cool stuff with the more advanced kids and helps them do independent projects.

 

I think here it would depend on if the child does fit in with those 4-5 kids who are advanced in the whole grade (which is about 100 kids) and who form their on little group to some extent. Or, if the child is more advanced than those 4-5 kids. For that child all they really have is acceleration by subject.

 

My son had a girl in his reading group last year who was 3 years younger than he was, and he thought it was cool and that it worked out as far as he could tell. I am not aware of any kids in his own grade doing that, I think they just had their own reading group during reading block.

 

I thought it was a little odd that they would put her with older kids instead of the advanced kids her same age, but since it worked out they must have had a good reason I think. My son is a nice kid and a good reader, but he is not advanced. But if this girl was mature for her age and had older interests, I could see her liking the same books as my son.

Edited December 9, 2016 by Lecka

[TerriM]

Right now, 80% or above on the test for the magnet school in my city (used to be 90% they've had lower enrollment, so they are forced by the city to fill the classrooms with whoever applies).  You need to apply for 3rd grade, after that you get on a waiting list, and good luck getting in as it fills up fast when people realize their kid needs to be moved as they get older.

[RootAnn]

My state has certain criteria, but each school district can tweak it. Kids in our school district don't get identified until 3rd and services are strictly camps during breaks and summer time. Once you are a 'high ability learner', you are always in.

 

"To be given consideration, students must earn a percentile rank of 90 or greater in a major area of a standardized achievement test, have an ability score of 120 or above on the Cognitive Abilities Test (or other IQ test) or be nominated by a teacher. Once a student has been identified, their name is placed on a screening list and information is collected in the areas of achievement, ability, task commitment, creativity, and grades. Weighted scores are assigned to each area and a total score is calculated for each student. Those students who have a final score at or above the cut score are then identified as High Ability Learners."

 

In practice, I don't know how it actually works because 1) my kids probably wouldn't qualify and 2) the camps aren't all that interesting.

[nature girl]

Here, similar to EKS, they need to be recommended by their teacher (i.e., teachers think they'll be able to handle the rigor of harder work) and hit 92nd% on a CogAT screening in order to even be considered. The cutoff on the full CogAT varies between 95% and 97% in the six schools in our district.

 

My understanding is that they use CogAT because it's supposedly more indicative of fluid reasoning, how well they can solve new problems rather than skills they've been specifically taught. Our district is around 70% white collar families, who tend to teach their kids reading/math at a more advanced level than the school typically does. (Most kids enter K being able to read fluently, and in my daughter's 1st grade class I'd guess at least half the class is reading at Magic Treehouse level and above.) So I guess they consider CogAT better able to weed out the kids who will be able to do the advanced work the gifted classes here require. (I'm not sure if this is true, I haven't done much research, but read it on one of our district's links after the school psych suggested she be screened for next year.)

 

(We're not going to do the testing, though. For my daugher's personality, although she's well behaved, paying attention through a regular class is enough of a challenge. Also the class will also require more homework as well as afterschooling, and she's just too beat by the end of the day.)

Edited December 10, 2016 by nature girl

[luuknam]

It's only a few hours of pull out a week, I think, starting in 3rd grade, but anyhow (the page also mentions Renzulli's Venn diagram):

 

Students join our gifted program through the recommendation of a teacher, parent and/or instructional support team. The following indicators of giftedness are reviewed:

 

Observation of Student: Characteristics of Gifted Students

• Communication- Highly expressive and effective use of words, numbers, and symbols.
• Motivation- Evidence of desire to learn.
• Humor- Conveys and picks up on humor.
• Inquiry- Questions, experiments, explores.
• Insight- Quickly grasps new concepts and makes connections, senses deeper meanings.
• Interests- Intense (sometimes unusual) interests
• Problem-Solving- Effective, often inventive, strategies for recognizing and solving problems.
• Memory- Large storehouse of information on school or non-school topics.
• Reasoning- Logical approaches to figuring out solutions.
• Imagination/Creativity- Produces many ideas. (Highly original)

 

Student Performance

Indicator of a student's demonstrated mastery may be shown through work samples, portfolios, grades or other authentic assessment strategies. In some cases, performance may be demonstrated outside the school area.

 

Student Achievement

Indicators of students’ knowledge may be shown through their performance on New York State Assessments or district assessments.

[GeoKitty]

IQ test, such as the WISC, with a score of 130+.  Plus, of course, teacher recommendation, and some other hoops to jump through.

 

Full time self-contained program.  In Elementary.

 

In middle school, nothing.  They go to the top level classes with everyone else.  In high school, they can take AP or DE.

 

We pulled DD out of elementary gifted after 4th grade.  It was a closer fit for her than the regular classroom.  However, they only accelerated one year.  And her third grade teacher refused to accelerate at all….. so what they did in second grade was repeated in third.  Idiotic.  In fourth, they zoomed  through 4th grade work, and did fifth grade most of the year.  Needless to say, this was not enough.

[kiwik]

Here it is considered not only elitist but not in the best interest of the child. Ds9 was in the problem solving programme for 2 years and in the maths extension last year. They were an hour a week and an hour alternate weeks respectively. The maths concentrated on speed drill using bigger numbers that in class. They used to also send a group of about 10 to a gifted seminar but last year they just took anyone who could come up with the fee (about 70). The gifted seminar has now become less challenging I think.

[slackermom]

We don't have "gifted" programming in our district, but there has been an "advanced" curriculum available for grades 4-6, in which they mostly do a compacted curriculum in math and language arts, and they have a foreign language class once a week. Only a few schools offer it, and entrance to that program has changed over the years. When dd was that age, entry was based only on a score on the Terra Nova, with roughly the top 15 percent qualifying. Prior to that, teacher recommendation was also allowed, with principals deciding who attended. At the moment, people have been trying to make the program available to all, so as part of a pilot program, a few more schools are using the advanced curriculum for the entire class instead of testing anyone.

 

We have exam schools starting in grade 7 and 9. Admission is by lottery, based on a number combining ISEE score and grades in math and ELA. There is no other option for getting in, in response to lawsuits.

 

eta; dd tried it in grade 4, and it really wasn't a program for gifted students. After giving it a try, we switched to homeschooling.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2016 by slackermom

[slackermom]

 

We pulled DD out of elementary gifted after 4th grade.  It was a closer fit for her than the regular classroom.  However, they only accelerated one year.  And her third grade teacher refused to accelerate at all….. so what they did in second grade was repeated in third.  Idiotic.  In fourth, they zoomed  through 4th grade work, and did fifth grade most of the year.  Needless to say, this was not enough.

 

This sounds like dd's story! 

 

In grade 2, dd's teacher allowed differentiation, so she was allowed to work ahead a couple of years within the regular classroom. In grade 3, no differentiation was allowed, so dd had to go from doing 5th grade math to doing 3rd grade math.

 

It seemed pretty clear that the no differentiation rule in grade 3 was based on the fact that the kids had to start standardized testing that year, and the schools and teachers were ranked on how kids did. 

 

In her "advanced" 4th grade, they were doing grade 4 plus the first half of grade 5, and the following year they were going to do the second half of grade 5, plus grade 6. The goal was to do 3 years of material in 2 years. Because of the increased workload, it meant the teachers had even less time to try to offer differentiation to those who needed it.

 

edited for spelling

Edited December 11, 2016 by slackermom

[Lucy the Valiant]

Oh, how I *WISH* we had criteria for a gifted program in our public school!

 

(Don't get me started on the allocation of $ for "special needs" that does NOT include accelerated or gifted kiddos. :(  )

[RoundAbout]

For the full-time program my son was in before we went back to homeschooling the threshold was top 2% on CogAT and 5% in both reading and math achievement. Teacher recommendations and behavior were not taken into consideration. It was straight testing and they did allow private test results for those who could afford it (and which has caused a lot of grief for the program in being labeled elitist).

[purpleowl]

Since we've homeschooled from the start, I don't know all the guidelines here. But it must include some sort of IQ test, because a friend reported that her son "missed the cutoff by 8 points--he scored 122." (To which another person, whom I had just met, replied, "Well, really, that's good--you don't want your kids to be TOO smart, because then they're just weird!"  :glare:)

 

I know that one friend has two daughters who are both in a gifted program at their elementary school, which is a pull-out program, and they are VERY pleased with it and with the teacher for the gifted program. Not sure whether that's representative of all the schools around here or not.

[GeoKitty]

Slackermom - Yes, the third grade testing had a lot to do with it.  As it turned out, DD had perfect scores on the big third grade tests.  Looking back, we should have started homeschooling her either right after second, or even better - when at 3 she taught herself to read.  You would think that would have clued us in that the public school wouldn't be  a good fit.

 

Lucy the Valiant - Yes, we did like having actual IQ cut off scores.  The kids in the classes belonged there.  Though it still wasn't even for highly or profoundly gifted, it was still better to have the top 2 % rather than 5, 10, 15 %, etc.  

[arliemaria]

I think this is standard for public schools in our district - 125 on WISC. We also have a regional pg program which requires a 140 WISC.

 

Edited to add:  There are other requirements besides the 125 WISC for the regular public school gifted program.  Also have to achieve 95% on majority of sections on MAP and also score high on a Creativity Test.

Edited January 20, 2017 by arliemaria

[SKL]

We are in a Lutheran school, but IIRC the criterion is either 128 IQ or 95%ile on achievement tests for 2 years in a row.  If you don't get in based on the standardized tests (cognitive is only given in 2nd and 7th), you can go for private testing to prove you have the required IQ.  I think teacher recommendation also plays a part somehow.

[ondreeuh]

"Students may gain access into the [district] Talented and Gifted Program based on the following criteria:

 

A. A minimum percentile rank of 91 when Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) testing scores are averaged together (Mathematics, Reading, and Language Usage); and

 

B. A standard score of 120 or the 91st percentile rank on the IQ Composite Score from the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test, Second Edition (KBIT2) administered by a [district] Diagnostician."

 

So basically a student has to be in the 91st percentile in both a skills test and IQ test.