Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments GT Program Criteria is "Confidential"

There can also be issues with the slide rule moving from year to year. It's not always that if you meet X criteria you're in the program. Depending on the district and school, they may only allow Y number of students in a program, so meeting X criteria this year doesn't necessarily mean next year the criteria won't be X+10. So they may tell you what the assessments used are, just not what the cut-off point is as it may vary from class to class, year to year.

I just recently noticed that districts that had their criteria available only 5 years ago mostly no longer do, which I found odd and disappointing. Our district also posts no particular criteria and avoids answering questions about exactly what gets you into the hicap program. They administer the CoGAT and an achivement test, and there are bahavior checklists (to be completed by the kid, parent, AND teacher, because why not go totally overboard?), and some other requirements. But they just pick the top X many kids to fill up however many slots they have available, so it changes from year to year. They seem to strongly favor older kids.

in WA State the code requires a clearly defined and written assessment process. You should always be able to get a copy of that procedure. I believe all procedures and policies must also be public and published but if not a freedom of information req. would also do.

WAC 392-170-055 Assessment process for selection as highly capable student — must use multiple objective criteria
(1) Students nominated for selection as a highly capable student, unless eliminated through screening as
provided in WAC 392-170-045, shall be assessed by qualified district personnel;
(2) Districts shall use multiple objective criteria for identification of students who are among the most highly
capable. There is no single prescribed method for identification of students among the most highly capable;
and
(3) Districts shall have a clearly defined and written assessment process.

What is the cutoff cumulative number of points needed for acceptance?

The rubric seems biased to me in favour of teacher pleasers and the non-2e in that the rubric is weighted 2:1 against the standardized test.

If I had a boisterous (normal energy level) gifted boy as a child I would be particularly interested in seeing the minimum number of points required.

Having said that, given that their assessment seems weighted towards performance and not potential it may be just be an enrichment program anyway. With that being the case I would know straight off the bat that it would be unlikely to suit my hypothetically potential>performance child and not be too broken up if my child was not selected.

Oh, believe me, I know. Some other parents have been using FOIA this year and we've collected a good bunch of other data. The nature of the entrance requirements is waaaay down on our list of issues to tackle, though. Waaaay down there.