RSU14 - Windham Raymond Schools

Gifted and Talented Program

Steps for Initial Identification Process

We follow the steps below in a systematic approach to invite parents, teachers, and staff into the process of identifying students who need educational services beyond the general education program.

1.     January - February:  All grade three students are considered through screening of grade level assessments. Teachers, the GT specialist, and administration consider all the students to determine the students who might be in the top 3-5% and nominate them for consideration. All parents of third graders receive a letter inviting them to nominate their child.

                *  Evidence of student success will be identified in the following ways:

            *  Teachers, using recommendations and Gifted Rating Scales

            *  Parents, using the Parent Letter - Permission to Evaluate and Gifted Rating Scales

            *   i Ready and NWEA Reading and Math and/or other nationally normed tests

2.     FEBRUARY - MARCH:  First round of testing for nominated third grade students

            *   Nominated students are administered the CogAT Test – This is a Cognitive Abilities Test that measures three different cognitive abilities; verbal, quantitative, and non-verbal.  This is different from an achievement test such as the i Ready or NWEA.  The nationally normed assessments test school acquired knowledge while the CogAT tests the student’s reasoning ability.

3.     MARCH:  IDENTIFICATION FOR FURTHER TESTING

            *  Students are eligible for further testing based on results of CogAT Test scores.

                * Students will be administered a writing prompt and/or the TOMAGS which is the Test of Mathematical Abilities for Gifted Students depending on whether a student is being considered for services in math, language arts, or both content areas.

4.         MARCH - APRIL:  REVIEW OF SCORES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

                * The GT Placement Committee meets to determine recommendations; Committee is comprised of district and building administrators, GT teachers, classroom teachers, and a school counselor.

            * Data/information used for identification will include the following components:

o   Teacher Recommendations

o   Parent Nominations

o   Gifted Rating Scales

o   NWEA Reading and Math Scores

o   i Ready Reading and Math Scores

o   CogAT Test Scores

o   Writing Piece

o   TOMAG Scores

5.     APRIL:  IDENTIFICATION AND NOTIFICATION PROCESS

            *  Parents and teachers are notified of identification and program recommendations for fourth grade.  School response program options may include:

            *  REACH - pull out program, to begin in September

            *  Enrichment opportunities

            *  Curriculum differentiation by classroom teachers

            *  Grade acceleration

6.         APPEALS PROCESS

            *Review by Placement Committee of formal parent petition.  

GT Parent Letter Recommendations 2024