Advanced Academics & Gifted Services

Advanced Academics & Gifted Services

Handbook for Gifted Education

Growth for All Students

Table of Contents

GT Coordinator Responsibilities Page 3

Important Dates Page 4

AAGS Dates by Category Page 5

Advanced Learning Plans Pages 6-7

Identification/Areas of Strength Page 8-12

GT Testing Request Form Page 13

GT Identification Process Page 14-17

Early Access (Kindergarten/First Grade) Page 18-19

Characteristics by GT Area Page 20-22

GT Program Planning Page 23-25

Program Plan Worksheet Page 26-28

End of Year Report Page 29-31

Gifted & Talented Building Coordinators’ Responsibilities

·  Attend four (4) district meetings

·  Support district directives

·  Serve as a liaison between district personnel and building staff

ü  share information

ü  act as a resource

·  Oversee budget

·  Set goals - submit Program Plan

·  Submit End-of-Year report

·  Coordinate the building’s Advanced Learning Plans (ALPs) for identified gifted students, and assist in the creation and implementation of the ALPs, where appropriate

·  Participate in professional development

·  Coordinate the identification of students for Gifted & Talented status

ü  Gather data and paperwork on students when requested

ü  Receive training to administer cognitive assessments (if desired) or facilitate building-level assessments (make arrangements for district tester)

·  Facilitate parent communication

·  Support cluster/flexible grouping structures (as appropriate) and facilitate differentiation

·  Arrange for enrichment/extension opportunities within the school

·  Keep track of:

ü  testing materials

ü  professional library

ü  student lists and records

Important 2014-15 Dates – Advanced Academic & Gifted Services:

All Dates Chronological:

·  Fri, August 22: GT Coordinator name(s) to Cathy Jordan

·  Mon, Aug 25: HS GT Coordinator meeting

·  Wed, Aug 27: MS GT Coordinator meeting

·  Thurs, Aug 28: Elementary GT Coordinator meeting

·  Mon, Sept 8: ALPs open

·  Wed, Sept 10: begin email notifications to teachers: begin ALP process

·  Thurs, Sept 11: GT Parent Group meeting (6:00-7:30)

·  Fri, Sept 12: Submit Testing Date Request

·  Wed, Sept 17: Jim Delisle, “Learning to Exhale”, AD12 Training Center

·  Wed, Sept 17: New GT Coordinator meeting

·  Fri, Oct 3: ALP drafts due for all currently identified students

·  Oct 7: notify parents that ALP draft is available

·  Oct 15-16: CO Gifted Education Review visiting team from CDE

·  Oct 20-21: Colorado Association of Gifted & Talented (CAGT) conference (optional)

·  Thurs, Oct 30: GT Coordinator meeting (All, K-12)

·  Thurs, Oct 30: GT Parent Group meeting (6:00-7:30)

·  Fri, Oct 31: ALP finalized with parent signature (copy in cum file, Monitor tab on EWS)

·  Fri, Nov 7: Program Plans due to Cathy Jordan

o  [2nd 40% of budget allocated within 1 week of receipt of Program Plan]

·  Saturday, Nov 8: Super Saturday (K-5, tentatively scheduled for STEM Lab)

·  Thurs, Jan 29: GT Coordinator meeting (All, K-12)

·  Thurs, Jan 29: GT Parent Group meeting (6:00-7:30)

·  Thurs, Feb 19: GT Legislative Day at the Capitol (tentative)

·  Fri, Feb 20: Beyond Giftedness conference, Arvada Center (tentative)

·  Wed, April 8: Art portfolio & Renzulli scales due

·  Wed April 22: GT Arts ID panel convenes

·  Tues, April 28: HS GT Coordinator Meeting

·  Wed, April 29: MS GT Coordinator Meeting

·  Thurs, April 30: Elementary GT Coordinator Meeting

·  Thurs, April 30: GT Parent Group meeting (6:00-7:30)

·  Saturday, May 2: Super Saturday 2 (tentatively K-8)

·  Mon, May 4: Accountability section opens (email notification to all year-end goals)

·  Fri, May 8: GT End of Year report due to Cathy Jordan (contact us if you have issues with this)

·  Fri, May 22: Accountability section completed (all)

[items in BLUE ITALICS impact all district teachers with GT students on their rosters]

AAGS DATES BY CATEGORY

Advanced Learning Plans

The ALP is a direct link between the student profile created during the identification process and the implementation of programming services matched to the child’s strengths and interests. ALPs are a planning guide for making instructional decisions about materials, programming options and assessments for gifted students based upon strengths, interests, and social-emotional needs. They are critical in the transition of gifted students from one level of schooling to the next and from school to school.ALPs should be created in collaboration with the parent, student & other relevant personnel.

Requirements:

ALPs are required annually for all identified GT students as per CO statute 22-20-103. All ALPs must contain:

·  Learning Goals and strategies to meet those goals

·  Affective Goals and strategies to meet those goals

·  Accountability and monitoring systems

Suggested Process for completing ALPs

·  Collaborate with Parents & student on goals, assessments & strategies

o  Goal setting could be done for all students (resources available on website below)

·  Choose meaningful SMART goal to address student’s strength area(s)

o  Choose way to measure that goal (Assessment tool)

o  Choose Intervention Strategies to help achieve that goal

·  Repeat above process for additional learning goal? (where applicable)

·  Repeat above process for Affective goal

·  Get copy of final ALP to parents and ask them to sign

Resources

A variety of resources for ALPs (training docs, goal setting resources, a link to our Tiered Instructional Support Strategies PD webpages) is available at http://www.adams12.org/myfivestar/gt_alp

Timeline:

·  Mon, Sept 8: ALPs open

·  Fri, Oct 3: ALP drafts due for all currently identified

·  Oct 7: notify parents that ALP draft is available

·  Fri, Oct 31: ALP finalized with parent signature (copy in cum file, Monitor tab on EWS)

·  Mon, May 4: Accountability section opens (email notification to all year-end goals)

·  Fri, May 22: Accountability section completed (all)

Parent notification: schools should consider translation issues and communication for families who do not have internet access (parent portal.)

Sample ALP Parent Letter

IDENTIFICATION

Gifted & Talented Areas of Strength

Identification of gifted students is a systematic, ongoing process that can occur in a variety of areas:

Gifted & Talented (GT) Identification in Adams 12 Schools

Adams 12 Five Star Schools follows Colorado Department of Education (CDE) guidelines in using a holistic approach in identifying students as Gifted and/or Talented (GT). Through the identification process, we gather an entire Body of Evidence (BOE), including both quantitative and qualitative measures of student potential and performance. No single piece of evidence, such as an IQ score or achievement test, qualifies or disqualifies a student for gifted identification, but these are considered along with the rest of the Body of Evidence by the identification team. The Body of Evidence comprises 4 different categories of evidence: Intellectual (Cognitive) Ability, Achievement, Characteristics & Behaviors, and Demonstrated Performance. See the following chart modified from CDE:

Criteria for Identification

In order to be formally identified, a student must have:

·  3 or more pieces of qualifying evidence (generally at the 95th percentile or above)

·  Data from more than one source

·  Data from more than one of the above categories

·  Both quantitative and qualitative data

Identification Process

Students may be referred for gifted identification by teachers, parents, administrators, counselors or by themselves. Normally, one of the above people would complete a GT Identification Recommendation (available for staff at http://www.adams12.org/myfivestar/gt_identification and for parents at http://www.adams12.org/gifted_talented_identification) and return it to the GT Coordinator at the student’s school. We then need to gather evidence from at least 3 of the above 4 categories (Intellectual Ability, Achievement, Characteristics & Behaviors, Demonstrated Performance.)

Cognitive testing will be a part of the evidence gathering process for Intellectual/Academic giftedness. Sometimes a student already has Intellectual Ability testing results from a previous school district or experience, or had testing (like an IQ test) administered by a private professional. Most often, the district administers Intellectual Ability testing as part of the GT Identification Process in the school setting. Coordinators at elementary & middle schools should complete the District Testing Request form (see below) available at http://www.adams12.org/myfivestar/gt/media to request a district tester. Coordinators or other personnel may also administer testing for which they have been trained.

Creative/Productive Thinking identification usually involves administration of a test of creativity (like the Profiles of Creative Abilities), behavioral surveys pertaining to creativity completed by teachers and parents, an artifact of creative ‘outside-the-box’ thinking (like a product, project or invention) and a student reflection about the product/project and the student’s creative process.

Leadership Ability identification usually involves behavioral surveys pertaining to leadership completed by teachers and parents, an artifact of leadership (such as evidence from a student-initiated community service project) and a student reflection about the leadership project and process.

Artistic identification usually involves behavioral surveys pertaining to art completed by teachers (preferably the art teacher) and parents, at least 5 artistic portfolio pieces (some completed in art class, some independently) accompanied by student reflections on each piece. Awards for juried art shows, competitions, etc., may also be included in the body of evidence. A panel of qualified art teachers with expertise in gifted education reviews the body of evidence and makes a determination. A complete student portfolio must be submitted to the ESC/AAGS Department before April 1, 2015.

Once all the pieces for the Body of Evidence are gathered, the student’s file goes before an identification team, which will make a determination based on the evidence available at the time. The identification team tries to make decisions within 30 days of receipt of all of the Body of Evidence. (NOTE: Due to limited resources, the Arts Identification Panel may only be able to meet once a year.) The team may make one of the following decisions:

·  The student is not identified as gifted at the current time (see Code ‘0’ in the chart below). This does not mean the student is not gifted, but that we do not have enough evidence at the time to make a positive identification. A student may be re-nominated at a later school year, though there may be some restrictions based on cognitive testing validity (see the section below on Intellectual Ability Testing.)

·  Pending: (see Code ‘9’ in the chart below) there is some evidence of giftedness, but not currently enough to meet the criteria for identification at the time. We will continue to monitor the student’s performance and gather evidence. In most cases, we are waiting for student achievement or demonstrated performance to emerge.

·  The student is identified as gifted. In this case, the student will be identified in one of the following areas (see earlier section on areas of giftedness) based on the available evidence:

Code / GT Category
0 / Tested, NOT identified GT
1 / Language Arts
2 / Math
3 / BOTH Language Arts & Math
4a / Visual/Spatial
4b / Creative/Productive
4c / Leadership
4d / Visual Arts
9 / Pending

·  Note: a student may be later Reclassified to include other areas of giftedness as more pieces of evidence emerge. For instance, a student may be initially classified as ‘Gifted in Language Arts’, and later achievement evidence may indicate reclassification to ‘Gifted in Both Language Arts and Math’.

When an identification decision is made, a letter is sent to parents informing them of the decision. A parent may also request the results of any testing that may have been performed by the district. If the parent or student are not satisfied with the decision of the team, they may either initiate the identification process at a later school year, or they may appeal the process (see Identification Appeals.) [link above red text to section on Appeals.]

“Wide-net” Screening

In addition to the referral process outlined above, Adams 12 also adopts a ‘wide-net’ screening approach, in which the top 5 % of students in 3rd grade, based on the Reading and Math scores from the previous year’s Measures of Academic Performance (MAP) assessments, will be assessed from each of the following categories:

·  English Language Learners

·  Students from Free & Reduced Lunch programs

·  General education population

In addition, all 3rd grade students may be nominated as for other grade levels.

Universal Screening:

Starting in 2015-16, Adams 12 will be implementing ‘universal screening’ of all students at a particular grade level (most likely 2nd grade). We are currently piloting this process at a few schools.

[Coordinators should complete the following form available at http://www.adams12.org/myfivestar/gt/media to request the District GT Tester]

SAMPLE ID NOTICE TO PARENTS

(English)

Gifted-Talented Identification Testing

Do you suspect that your child may be in need of enriched academic programming? Does it seem like he or she may need additional challenges in their education, and may be gifted or talented? Gifted/Talented (G/T) testing at [insert school] is currently scheduled for [insert date]. If you have a student you would like to nominate for G/T identification and would like to have tested, contact [insert coordinator name and contact information] no later than [select date with sufficient time]. There is required paperwork which must be completed and returned by [select date with sufficient time – paperwork must be submitted to GT office at least 2 weeks prior to testing date.]. You may also go to http://www.adams12.org/gifted_talented_identification for further information and for nomination forms.