Our school district uses the RIAS for cognitive, and the OLSAT for achievement in language arts and math. The state leaves the choice of assessment tools to the individual school districts, but it does declare how those assessments are to be used to qualify students for gifted services. These three scores are fed into a matrix as follows:
1.0 - <1.5 SD: 1 point
1.5 - <2.0 SD: 2 points
2.0+ SD: 3 points
ANY of these results will qualify your child for services (1st - 12th grade):
1) 3 points on the RIAS
2) 7 points total combined RIAS/OLSAT Reading/OLSAT Math
3) 6 points as above with further evaluation, to include info from tester on child's attitude related to performance during testing, parental interviews, child interviews, teacher input.
Either way, the services offered are not a one-size variety. They have a program for "cognitively gifted" which amounts to short pull-outs twice a week for enrichment purposes. There are also longer, daily pull-outs for "gifted achievement" in language arts and math.
These services are offered beginning in 1st grade. My DD was also offered some enrichment in K. We opted not to screen her in K, on account of this is what the requirements look like for pre-K to K, and if your child doesn't make the cut, they can't test again for an entire calendar year:
ALL of the below are required:
1) 4 points on the RIAS (2.5+ SDs)
2) 3 points each on math/reading
3) 10 points total
