Hey!
I have a couple of kids in US public school and are ID’d gifted. So, I’m speaking from that perspective:
* my experience with state standardized tests is that the school sees them as a necessary hurdle to cross but they don’t read into them any further or use them to inform instruction. I think only if a kid couldn’t pass these would the school make any changes to support the child.
* in class assessments also sort of work the same. The teachers are working at getting the group to learn certain skills in a grade. If your kid is an outlier on the strong end, the teachers are just glad they have those skills.
* WISC-V our school doesn’t use this test. But I would expect this to have major weight in determining gifted identification. I would expect that score to be a IQ, not a percentile.
* the screener for G&T… I suspect this has survey questions for teachers about your kid. Sadly not all teachers will get your kid or have a good frame work for how gifted kids present in the classroom. My experience with teacher surveys is that they depend completely on how the teacher perceives your kid.
One of my kids didn’t turn up to be gifted with regular screening procedures… but, I know him & what he knows, so I did pursue further. Here’s what I’d do based on my experiences:
* look on the school’s website and see if you can find a gifted handbook. Read that thoroughly, it should explain how they identify in detail & what services are available. Decide if you think your kid meets or is close to meeting the criteria.
* figure out who is the leader in gifted services. In our school district they are called a “gifted coordinator”. This person is in charge of identification.
* reach out to the gifted coordinator with your concerns. Use the gifted handbook to make your case. For example, our gifted handbook had a list of gifted traits, my kid has many of them.
Our gifted coordinator is very black and white with what qualifies. But she also knows a lot about actual gifted kids, and how they present in classrooms. Initially what she did for my son was offered a retest with a different type of test. Because he was the only kid being tested this way, it was in a quiet room by himself. He met the criteria & was ID’d gifted. Since then he has picked up 3 other types of gifted IDs that our school tests/acknowledges.
The gifted coordinator has helped represent my son and ensure he has access to gifted and advanced instruction since then. My kid is intelligent and has a couple disabilities, she has gone in the classroom to observe him when school was not going well, and she sits in on every 504 meeting confirming over and over again that he will not be denied access to gifted services.
Think about this person as a potential advocate for your child… be honest and respectful in how you communicate them from the very beginning. Think of it as building a bridge.
