Q: My child is in advanced classes. Does that mean my child is gifted?
Advanced classes are designed for students exhibiting high achievement, potential, and successful soft skills, such as motivation, determination, and perseverance. Gifted students qualify based on demonstrated achievement, aptitude, performance behavior, and cognitive abilities at or above the 95th percentile. While the increased depth and complexity of content and the fast pace of advanced classes often make an advanced class suitable for gifted students, they are available to a broad range of strong students who are ready for the challenge.
Q: How do schools address the affective needs of gifted students?
Sometimes schools have gifted discussion groups that focus on topics relevant to gifted students. Sometimes it is brought into discussions as themes relevant to students surfaced in literature. Every identified student sets an affective goal and may receive support from content specialists, counselors, or gifted educators. Students may desire to check out “When Gifted Kids Don't Have All the Answers” by James R. Delisle or “The Gifted Kids Survival Guide” by Judy Galbraith. Also, our North Central Region typically offers parent workshops to help support parents as they team with us to address affective concerns.
Q: I’m moving into the Weld RE-4 district. How can I help the transition process, and what should I expect?
When enrolling in the district, please be sure to indicate that your child is identified as gifted. This alerts district staff to examine your child for gifted eligibility. Review The Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children and ECEA Rule for portability ensures that Colorado and military children continue placement in similar programs, as available. Each school submits record requests when students transfer into our district, but we often get limited information or delayed responses. If you have any copies of records or contact information of prior gifted educators, please share these with your school’s gifted specialist. The specialists compile all available data and share it with the gifted identification team to determine which elements of the body of evidence the scores address and what further information to collect. If additional testing is needed, the gifted specialist will reach out. Each state has different criteria for gifted identification, so students may qualify in one state and not another, or may need additional data collection before being formally identified as gifted in Colorado. Transferring eligibility takes time.
Q: I’m moving to another district. Will my child still be identified as gifted at the new school?
Colorado gifted identification has portability within the state, so if you provide permission to release records to the district where you move, they will have the information needed to process a transfer. The Office of Gifted Education uses ECEA Rules for portability to determine whether a student qualifies. Each state has different criteria for gifted identification, so students may qualify in one state and not another, or may need additional data collection before being formally identified as gifted based on state or local rules. There is no guarantee that your child will continue to qualify for gifted programming in another state, so please work with your new district to learn their processes. Several states use similar criteria, though, so please be sure to sign a release of records.
Q: My child is not enrolled in your school but lives within your district’s boundaries. May I request gifted testing?
Gifted identification requires a body of evidence, so one test by itself cannot determine giftedness. The Weld RE-4 School District screens students for gifted education only after they are attending one of our schools. Gifted education is not part of the Child Find process.
Q: My kid earned a 96 on their last STAR math test. Will my child be identified as gifted?
The Weld RE-4 School District requires a body of evidence before identifying a child as gifted. Students take STAR math and reading assessments multiple times each year, so the identification team looks for a trend of scores at or above the 95th percentile. One or two scores at this level may indicate high achievement, but it is insufficient to move directly to gifted identification. More information is needed before determining your child’s educational needs. When schools examine data and spot students scoring in this upper range, they review your child’s data and may request additional information or testing as needed.
Q: My child needs more challenges. What should I do?
Your child’s classroom teacher(s) have experience working with a broad range of skills and may already have some options in place. Your child may also have ideas for extending learning. Ask how your child is doing in class and whether your child is taking advantage of current opportunities for extensions. Discuss your concerns and work cooperatively to provide challenges. There may already be strategies or plans in place, or additional options may be implemented if it’s clear your child is ready and interested. Also, remember that being “bored” could mean a lot of different things. Does your child need more challenge, more engagement, more perseverance, more creativity, more patience, or something else?
If your child is performing at or above the 95th percentile in a gifted area and has not been evaluated for gifted education, consider making a referral. Please email the Gifted Education TOSA via christina.sutter@weldre4.org for more information.
Q: I think my four-year-old is gifted. Do you offer early entrance to kindergarten?
The Weld RE-4 School District does not participate in the Early Access program. Our preschool program uses varied approaches to accommodate a wide range of student needs. In kindergarten, diagnostic and benchmark testing helps inform teachers of student strengths and needs.
Q: I think my kindergarten or 1st-grade child is gifted. What should I know about identification?
It takes time and data to formally identify a student, and identifying a student as gifted during the primary years requires extensive data collection beyond typical classroom activities. We include a variety of measures, such as cognitive, achievement, performance, parental input, and observational data in our collection process. Few students go through this entire process in the first two years of school, as parents often elect to minimize testing early on in their child's school experience. This depends on a variety of factors, of course, such as a student's needs, behavior, and disposition. We conduct a universal cognitive screen in the spring of second grade, at which point we have enough longitudinal data to start identifying more students without administering many extra tests. We follow the Exceptional Children's Educational Act (ECEA) when going through the identification process, using at least three distinct measures and both qualitative and quantitative evidence to support identification. You can review the ECEA website for additional details.
Q: My student was identified as gifted. What now?
An Advanced Learning Plan (ALP) will be written and implemented. The student, parents, and teachers will have opportunities to contribute to the goals, services, and strategies outlined in the learning plan. If your child already receives gifted programming, services may look the same. If your child is not already part of the gifted program, program options will be determined during the ALP process.