After putting three children through the elementary gifted program, I still don't know exactly how the criteria works. There are all these documents that lay out what to look for and there is suppose to be a file on each child from K until the official program begans in 3rd grade, but the bottom line is that it is kind of fuzzy. All three of my children were in the unofficial stand-alone gifted class in first and second grade based on teacher observations and various testing. Interestingly, you don't have to have the GT label to be in the gifted program. My oldest, who had the IQ score and an almost perfect national standardized achievement test score in 2nd grade, did not get the designated GT label in 3rd grade but he was always placed in the stand-alone GT class for 3rd through 5th grade. The issue was that he was 2E and while he demonstrated the GT ability, he didn't demonstrate the GT achievement in the classroom.
Honestly, with the perspective of years, I can't say that it is completely wrong. The actual performance does matter and high performers deserve the opportunity to apply themselves while test scores are just numbers on a given day. Interestingly, at one point, I tried to pull my oldest 2E DS from the GT program, but was persuaded by the assistant principal that he would be worse off in the regular classroom.
