SCHOOL DISTRICT OF RIVER FALLS
River Falls, WI 54022
GIFTED AND TALENTED IDENTIFICATION PROCEDURES
342.3-Rule
The School District of River Falls supports each student’s learning experience by providing developmentally appropriate opportunities to learn and demonstrate identified knowledge, skills, and dispositions. The school district believes all students deserve an education commensurate with their personalized, academic needs. While the needs of each child are usually able to be met through the core curriculum through differentiation, some students require access to advanced academic programming, curriculum or grade level acceleration to reach their fullest potential.
While the district recognizes that there are various areas of giftedness including intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership or specific academic areas, the procedures outlined below are intended to identify how the School District of River Falls will screen and qualify students for gifted and talented intellectual/academic identification. At this time, the other areas of giftedness are supported through classroom differentiation and other school-based programming.
Intellectual/Academic Identification Procedures:
1. Students can be recommended for gifted and talented identification by parent(s)/guardian(s), teacher(s), and/or administrators. A Gifted and Talented Recommendation Form should be completed and sent to the Director of Academic Services to initiate the qualification process.
2. Student data will be reviewed by team members (e.g., Parent(s)/Guardian(s), Building Administrator, Director of Academic Services, School Psychologist, School Counselor, Grade-Level Teacher). Data reviewed may include, but is not limited to:
- Classroom Formative and Summative Assessments
- Report Cards; Student Cumulative File Review
- District Assessments (e.g., Benchmark Assessment System (BAS), AIMSweb Plus, Star, PALS)
- State Assessments (e.g., Forward)
- Student Characteristic Inventories form from parents and teachers
The student will demonstrate they exceed grade level expectations on classroom, district, and/or state indicators by at least one grade level or at the “Advanced” level of performance.
a. If the student does meet the spirit of the above criteria, gifted and talented identification procedures will continue.
b. If the student does not meet the spirit of the above criteria, gifted and talented identification procedures will conclude.
3. The District will consider and utilize cognitive ability assessment(s) that are responsive to factors such as, but not limited to, the student’s economic conditions, race, gender, culture, native language, developmental differences, and identified disabilities.
4. The Director of Academic Services or Building Administrator will contact the parent(s)/guardian(s) to confirm receipt and obtain written consent to begin testing. Once consent is received, the trained district identified employee (e.g. Building G/T Liaison, Instructional Coach, School Psychologist, School Staff Member) will administer a cognitive abilities screener which may include the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT), Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT2) or other identified intelligence assessment to determine if the student’s performance is at or above the 89th percentile. If this criteria is met, further cognitive ability testing will be initiated by the School Psychologist.
5. If a student meets the initial criteria outlined in #4, the School Psychologist will obtain parent(s)/guardian(s) consent to administer a district identified cognitive ability assessment (e.g., Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - V Edition, Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children - 2nd Edition).
The School District of River Falls will consider outside testing administered by a licensed psychologist. District staff will review outside assessment results and, if deemed valid, accept results. If the assessment results do not provide definitive results, the administration of additional assessment(s) will be required.
6. The District Multi-Level Systems of Support (MLSS) team will convene to review all student data and ability assessment results to determine gifted and talented identification. Additionally, the student’s principal, teacher(s) and parent(s)/guardian(s) are invited to attend; however, parent/guardian participation is not mandatory. *The District MLSS team consists of Building Administrators, School Psychologists, Instructional Coaches, Director of Academic Services and the Director of Student Services.
Student performance must meet the below criteria identified:
a. The student performed at or above the 89th percentile on a cognitive ability screening assessment (e.g., CogAT, NNAT2)
b. The student performed at or above the 97th percentile on a test of cognitive abilities.
c. The student performed at the “Advanced” level on current state assessment data
d. The student demonstrates that they exceed grade level expectations on district and/or classroom-based indicators by at least one grade level (e.g. BAS, Star)
7. If the student meets the identified criteria for gifted and talented, then the team will establish a Differentiated Educational Plan. Differentiated Educational Plans (DEPs) should be reviewed annually to discuss student progress and needs and if any plan modifications are needed. It is recommended that the review take place in the fall to ensure a seamless plan and transition to the next grade level. All team members should be part of this annual review.
8. If a student does not meet criteria for gifted and talented, the team will consider advanced learning opportunities, as appropriate.
APPROVED: September 23, 2019