The identification process consists of three steps:

1. refer students for the program;
2. evaluation of students using appropriate instruments; and 3) GT Committee shall evaluate each referred student according to the established criteria and shall identify these students for whom placement in the GT program is the most appropriate educational setting.

State guidelines for identification require that students be referred for the program based upon criteria that include both qualitative and quantitative  instruments.  Once identified in BISD, students will not be rescreened in order to remain in the program. Students identified on any BISD campus are eligible for services on any other BISD campus.

 

 

A student may be referred by one or more of the following: teacher, parent or guardian, student (self or peer), psychologist, counselor, librarian, administrator, or community member.  Referrals should be submitted to the GT facilitator.

The principal, counselor, or Coordinator of Advanced Academics shall communicate referral and screening procedures to faculty members.  This communication may be completed through the distribution of appropriate materials, as agenda items for discussion at faculty meetings, in one-on-one meetings with teachers, or through other means deemed appropriate on individual campuses or BISD.

Efforts will be made to secure nominations of students from diverse backgrounds, including economically disadvantaged, those with special needs and historically underrepresented groups.  Examples of efforts to be made by the principal or designee may include individual conferences with parents or guardians of students, training of teachers and others in the methods of identifying gifted minority students, and use of community groups as vehicles for the communication of information about the program

After referrals have been submitted, contact is made with referred students and their parents or guardians to determine interest in the program.  The parents or guardians must be asked to sign a Permission for Assessment form.

 

Evaluation Procedures

A Gifted and Talented (GT) Committee shall evaluate each referred student according to the established criteria and shall select those students for whom gifted program placement is the most appropriate educational setting.  The GT Committee, composed of at least three members, will have a minimum of 30 hours of training with a special emphasis on the nature and needs of gifted students or an administrator with 6 hours of training in the nature and needs of gifted students. (EHBB Local).  

1. Final selection of students shall be made by the full GT Screening Committee which will base its decision on the screening results displayed on the matrix.
2. If the results displayed on the matrix are determined by the full committee to reflect lower abilities than anticipated, the committee may use its discretion in requesting an additional assessment(s) using instruments drawn from the approved list.
3. No students who are otherwise qualified according to the district's cut-off score will be disqualified on the basis of grades, behavior, or other factors extraneous to the matrix  criteria. (Students may, however, be found to be unprepared to benefit from specific GT instructional settings after identification.)

GT Committee decisions are subject to review and may be reversed for reconsideration if procedural errors occur.

 

Identification Criteria

Criterion to identify gifted and talented students in BISD seeks to discover the general intellectual needs of students. Students screened will display an educational need for gifted and talented services based on a range of evidence from the following measures 

• Scores in the Gifted Range on identified measures.
• Display high degrees of gifted characteristics demonstrated on a parent/teacher checklist