1. Gifted and Talented Screening Overview 2019-2020
          
Today we will be going through the G/T screening process, especially focusing on the role of the kindergarten teacher in the equitable identification of kinder students

2. District Parent GT Awareness Sessions
Grades 5-12 January 16, 2020
Katy Advanced Program (KAP)
10AM and 1PM
KISD ESC Rm. 1200s

3. Katy ISD GT Service
Identified students will begin service during the school year.
Most Secondary courses are
Kindergarten service will begin at the beginning of March in the Challenge classroom, per TEA requirements.
Kinder students will leave the regular classroom for 60 minutes per week, March – May.

4. How are students identified?
Districts are required to collect multiple indicators from various sources.
The indicators must include both qualitative data (such as observations and checklists) and quantitative data (such as standardized tests).
Qualitative information describes the student in words.
Quantitative information describes the student in numbers.
Both types are required in Texas.

5. Katy ISD Screening Instruments
Two qualitative measures:
Parent Checklist
Classroom Observation
Up to four quantitative measures:
Ability Test
Reading & Math Achievement Tests (counts as 2)
Intelligence Test (Not given for secondary screening)
5th Graders are also eligible to test for Science.
The 5th grade Reading test is used to qualify students for Social Studies GT services.
All referred students are evaluated on the first three measures. Students who are identified for service will have at least four measures at or above the district target score, with very rare exceptions. No single indicator can keep a child from identification.
Our screening process usually begins when a parent completes a parent checklist and returns it by the advertised deadline.
The process can also begin when a campus staff member submits a student name to the Challenge teacher.
The Challenge teacher scores the parent checklist, arranges proctor administration of standardized tests, and collects the Classroom Observation forms from teachers.
NEW THIS YEAR – the RIST (Reynolds Intellectual Screening Test) will be used as a fifth measure.

6. Absences During Screening Windows
If your child is absent on the day that the proctor gives a screening test, your child will be able to make up the test after he or she has returned to school.

7. Phase 1 Screening – All Referred Students
Parent Checklists
No late checklists accepted.
5th Grade Due: Sept. 19th
Kindergarten Due: Oct. 4th
1st-4th Grades Due: Oct. 30th **This is a big change from the previous years’ deadline in December.
Kindergarten parents will receive a packet of information with a parent checklist attached in take-home folders.
1st-5th grade parents will receive a letter notifying parents that the screening window for your grade level has opened. You may print a parent checklist at:
A score collected on these three indicators for all children referred for screening.

8. Complete the Correct Checklist!
Parents of Kindergarten students should complete the “Kindergarten Parent Checklist”.
Parents of 1st-4th grade students should complete the “Elementary Parent Checklist”.
Parents of 5th grade students should complete the “Secondary Parent Checklist” also referred to as the “5th Grade Checklist”.

9. every item on the checklist!
Give an example for
every item on the checklist!
If a parent ranks a child a “3” or “4” for a trait and does not indicate and example, the GT facilitator must count that trait as a “2”.
I recommend saving a copy of the completed parent checklist. If you choose to rescreen your 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade child the following year, you may use the same checklist-you will just need to re-sign and date the document.
Since the checklists are different for Kindergarten and 5th grade, you will need to complete a new checklist if your child rescreens in 1st or 5th grade; however, you can use the same examples from a previous checklist. You will just need to copy them to the correct checklist.

10. Classroom Observation Nonverbal Ability Test
Phase 1 Screening – All Referred Students Continued
Classroom Observation
Nonverbal Ability Test
Parents will receive a notification from their child’s homeroom teacher of a “testing window” of approximately 2 weeks.
5th Grade: October
Kindergarten October-November
1st-4th Grade: January-February

11. Phase 1 Standardized Test
Ability Testing
A nonverbal measure of ability
Does not require reading ability nor English proficiency
Scored by chronological age
This test administration begins in October for referred students.
Proctors must find space and coordinate with the campus schedule. Be patient with them!

12. Phase I Notification
Students who do not have 2 positive indicators will complete their screening process during phase 1. Letters and screening profiles will be mailed to parents of those students:
Kindergarten letters for students that will not continue on to phase 2 will be mailed in November. All other notification letters will be sent in February.
1st-4th Grade letters for students that will not continue on to phase 2 will be mailed in February. All other notification letters will be mailed at the end of May.

13. 5th Grade Screening is NOT conducted in phases.
All parents of students in 5th grade who are screened, will receive their letters in January.
Parents and students will probably have to complete course selection for junior high prior to receiving results for GT screening.
Students should select “KAP” (Katy Advanced Program) for each subject that he or she is screening for GT services.
ALL students are eligible to enroll in “KAP” courses.
If your student, qualifies for GT services, the GT facilitator and Campus counselor will make the appropriate changes to the junior high schedule.

14. Katy Advanced Program (KAP)
Katy ISD no longer uses the term “Advanced Placement” when referring to it’s advanced courses.
The courses previously designated as “PreAP” and “AP” are now referred to as “KAP” courses.
These courses are offered in 6th – 12th grades and are designed to prepare students to test out of college level courses and/or prepare students for rigorous college courses.

15. Phase 2 Screening
Students who have acquired 2 positive indicators will continue the screening process.
Parents will receive notifications from their child’s homeroom teacher of a “testing window” of approximately 2 weeks.

16. Phase 2 Screening: Achievement Testing
Students with two positive indicators from Phase 1 screening continue to Phase 2
Achievement measured in reading and math.
Scored by grade level
Phase 2 letters are mailed with phase 3 letters on May 24th . Allow 7-10 days for delivery of these letters to your home.
About half of the number of students who are referred for screening continue on to Phase 2 screening.
Parents of students who do not continue to Phase 2 will receive a mailed letter explaining that their child is not identified at this time.

17. Phase 3 : Intelligence Measure
Students with 4 positive indicators from Phases 1 and 2 continue with Phase 3.
Students who have already accrued five positive measures are not tested in Phase 3, since sufficient indicators are already present for identification.
Parents of students who will be screened in phase 3 will receive a notification from their child’s homeroom teacher of a “testing window” of approximately 2 weeks sometime in April or May.
Phase 3 was previously the evaluation of the school and home products .Proctors will administer the RIST in late January and early February.

18. Phase 3: Intelligence Measure
An oral test, administered one-on-one
1st section - vocabulary
2nd section -“Odd Item Out”- students identify the item in a series that doesn’t belong

19. Phase 3 Testing Dates 5th Grade: Does Not Apply
Kindergarten: January/February
1st-4th Grades: April/May
Final Parent notification letters will be mailed:
5th Grade: January
Kindergarten February
1st-4th Grade May 22nd
Please allow 7-10 days for delivery to your home.

20. Recognizing Gifted Potential
Learning Characteristics
Advanced vocabulary
Knows a great deal of information
Recalls facts easily
Continually asks “how” and “why”
Makes connections; sees similarities and differences
Very observant
Reads above grade level
Reasons things out for himself/herself
Provide time for teachers to share some specific examples of the characteristics on this slide and following.
Encourage teachers to begin thinking about students who demonstrate some of these behaviors.
Important – explain that often children from less enriched environments will not exhibit characteristics of giftedness in traditional ways. Talk about the characteristics that are most difficult to recognize in Kindergartners.

21. Motivational Characteristics
Persistent; becomes absorbed in topics or problems
Often bored with routine tasks
Is motived to complete interesting work
Self-critical
Prefers to work independently; needs little direction
Shows interest in adult topics, such as current events
Self-assertive; can be stubborn in beliefs
Likes to organize
Concerned with right/wrong; good/bad

22. Creative-Productive Thinking
Very curious; asks many questions
Comes up with more than one solution
Expresses opinions; sometimes radical and spirited in disagreement
Takes risks; shows sense of adventure
Fantasizes; imagines; shows intellectual playfulness
Keen sense of humor
Shows self-awareness; emotional sensitivity
Notices the beauty of things
Does not fear being different
Criticizes constructively
Continue to elicit specific examples of how these characteristics might be exhibited in a kinder student.

23. References:
Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted/Talented Students, Texas Education Agency
Identification and Assessment G/T Program Guide , Katy ISD
Recognizing Gifted Potential Professional Development Presentation, by Bertie Kingore and Jeffery Kingore, 2007
Procedures described in this presentation are based on the referenced works.

24. Sharon Clark sharonLclark@katyisd.org
Questions ?
Sharon Clark