3rd grade is too late to identify. By that time, students who could have used the services in the younger grades may have already started to tune out and develop poor attitudes towards school. By third grade, some of these students may be underachieving because they did not get services at a younger age when they needed them.
Out of the mouth of my younger DYS (who is not "old enough" yet to test for gifted services): "Why do I have to go to school? I don't learn anything!" Not the attitude for school I was hoping for, but the grade-age school DOES seem to be a huge mismatch for him (sigh). Socially, he is very happy (gets along well with older and same-age children...quite the chameleon). Academically, it is a mess.
I completely agree that the number of slots should change every year to meet the number of students who need services. Actually, to our schools' credit - they do it this way.
I also agree with multiple entry points. I do think, however, that once a student is deemed eligible for services, the bias should be that this child will need services for the entire time they are in school (I can envision exceptions to this, but not many). Part of my bias here, though, is that services in our schools require jumping through QUITE a number of hoops and I have a hard time envisioning a student who successfully jumps through all of these hoops ever not needing gifted services.
