Gifted & Talented

District procedures have been established to conform with state criteria and to follow a multiple assessment approach. This means that many sources of information are reviewed over a period of time before formally identifying a student as gifted in one or more areas. This evidence must include, at minimum, assessment results from multiple types of measures that demonstrate exceptional ability or potential when compared to peers of similar age, environment and experience. This might include qualitative data, quantitative data, cognitive ability, achievement data, performance, teacher input, parent input, and behavior scales.

Decisions are made collaboratively based on sound reasoning and data interpretation by the district gifted identification team that includes at least one person trained or endorsed in gifted identification and programming per Exceptional Children’s Educational Act rule. Outcomes could include, but are not limited to:

• Gifted identification
• Identify for talent pool/development
• Identify additional tools needed to collect more data
• Determine that the data does not support gifted identification at this time
• Determine a need for a Special Education evaluation in addition to a gifted identification (twice exceptional students)

Students who demonstrate certain markers, but do not meet the full criteria, will be monitored through the building talent pool system. They may receive intervention services and support as available, but will not be formally identified unless a robust body of evidence is established.

Portability means that a student’s identification in one or more categories of giftedness transfers to any district in Colorado. Gifted programming will continue according to the receiving district’s programming options. If the sending district chooses to identify students not using state criteria, the student’s identification is not portable. Weld RE-5J determines if the identification meets Colorado’s requirements. The transfer process may include secure electronic file transfers or mailing of the student’s record to the new district/school.

If the student moves out-of-state, the identification is not portable. If a student moves to Colorado with an identification from a previous state, Weld RE-5J makes a determination if the student’s body of evidence meets the criteria for a gifted determination in Colorado. Criteria for gifted identification varies from state to state.

Weld RE-5J acknowledges the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. The Compact states:

As long as the program is offered by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA, acting as the receiving Local Education Agency (LEA), it will honor placement of the child in educational programs based on current educational assessments and placement in like programs in the sending State. Such programs include, but are not limited to, gifted and talented programs and English language learners. The receiving State school may perform subsequent evaluations to ensure the child’s appropriate educational program placement. Continuing the child’s academic program from the previous school and promoting placement in academically and career challenging courses shall be a primary consideration when DoDEA considers the placement of a transferring child.

Weld RE-5J administers the complete Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) to all second grade students in the fall of each school year and the CogAT screener to all sixth graders. Universal screening is the administration of an aptitude assessment in order to identify students with exceptional ability or potential. The screening, achievement data, and nominations yield a list of students, from which building GT Coaches will begin gathering a body of evidence. Readministering CogAT requires a two-year wait between testing in order to preserve the integrity of the testing instrument. It is the protocol of the Gifted Services Department that students are typically not administered a full battery of cognitive assessments more than twice during their academic career in the district. The CogAT measures learned reasoning skills, which are gained through experiences in and out of school, and which develop throughout a person’s lifetime.

These reasoning abilities are good predictors of a student’s potential to succeed in school. The CogAT does not measure factors such as effort, attention, motivation, and work habits, which also contribute to school achievement. The CogAT measures reasoning skills in three different areas: verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal.

Parents, teachers, counselors, community members and students are invited to submit the names of students they view as potentially gifted or talented using characteristic sheets available. They are asked to indicate what they believe to be the student’s particular strength area(s). Giftedness exists within all sub-groups of the population, and continuous attempts to refine the process in the Weld RE-5J School District will be made so that children identified as gifted reflect the diversity of the local community in terms of gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The goal is for every parent and teacher to have opportunities to nominate students for GT services if they see the need.

Assessment means methods, tools, and data collected as a body of evidence (BOE) for use in identification and programming. While some of the data in a body of evidence will be used to meet the criteria for gifted identification, other data or information may be used to build a learner profile for the purpose of developing appropriate programming options defined in the Advanced Learning Plan (ALP). Criteria are the rules for evaluating a level of exceptionality for identification.

Using only one data point, even at the 95th percentile, is not sufficient to determine the need for gifted identification and does not meet ECEA rules. A robust body of evidence with at least one qualifying data point is required.

Weld RE-5J commonly uses the following assessments to support gifted identification.

The CDE has other approved assessments that may also be used.

• Achievement assessment: MAP, CMAS, ACCESS for Multilingual Learners
• Aptitude assessments: CogAT, KBIT, WISC for twice exceptional students
• Behavioral Observation Scales: SIGS School Rating Scales, SIGS Home Rating Scales

In order to qualify as gifted in a content area or a talent area such as art, music, dance, psychomotor, creativity or leadership, a robust body of evidence will include an evaluation of performance. In the areas of specific talent aptitudes, qualifying scores follow the same as Specific Academic Aptitude or General Intellectual Ability, but rely heavily on performance assessment ratings. This can include juried performances, contests/competitions, portfolios and interviews. It’s important to note that students developing these areas may need years of talent development before a robust body of evidence can be collected to determine an identification