Gifted Education

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Early Entrance to Kindergarten

Southwest Local Schools follows a Board-approved acceleration policy for early entrance to Kindergarten. Please refer to this document from the Ohio Department of Education to help you determine if the enrollment of your child would be considered "early entrance" or not, pending the month that he or she will turn age 5. If you feel that your child may be eligible for Gifted identification/early entrance to Kindergarten, please contact the elementary school principal to discuss the evaluation process for your child.

Gifted Testing

All referral testing for students (K-12) will take place each year, in the Fall and the Spring. District-wide gifted screening for Superior Cognitive and Creative Thinking will take place in grades 2 and 5 in November. The InView assessment is used for this. Screening for the Specific Academic Content areas in Reading and Math will occur three times per year (Fall, Winter, and Spring) through the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment in grades 1-8.

Reminder to parents, if you would like to request that your child be tested for possible gifted identification, you need to let your principal know by October 1 - for fall testing and by April 1 - for Spring testing. The district will test all students in grades 2 and 5, but any other gifted identification testing is only possible through parent or teacher request. Students take the state approved tests during the school day (tests take 3-5 hours).

If you would like to request that your child be tested, please fill out the forms here and submit the completed forms to your child’s principal.

For further reading on Gifted Education, please refer to the Southwest Local Schools Handbook for Gifted and Talented Education, and the Ohio Department of Education's website at education.ohio.gov.

If you have any questions, please contact your building principal or Corinne Hayes, Assistant Superintendent.

State Requirements

State Requirements for the Identification of Gifted Students

In accordance with Ohio Revised Code section 3324.04 (Ohio Administrative Code 3301-51-15), all schools will identify as “gifted”students in Kindergarten through Grade 12 who meet specific Ohio Department of Education criteria. Students who meet these criteria are to be identified as gifted in one or more of four areas: superior cognitive ability, specific academic ability, creative thinking, and visual and /or performing arts.

While Ohio requires school districts to identify gifted students and report those identifications annually, it is not required by law for school districts to provide service for gifted students. The law also requires that schools notify parents when their children have met the State criteria for gifted identification.

The State of Ohio defines a gifted student as “one who performs or shows potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared to others of their age, experience, or environment” and who meet specific criteria as outlined in this text.

For a student to be identified as gifted in superior cognitive ability according to State criteria, the student must score two standard deviations above the mean, minus the standard error of measurement, on an approved individual or group intelligence test (on the InView Test this score is 128) OR perform at or above the ninety-fifth percentile on an approved individual or group standardized basic or composite battery on a nationally normed achievement test.

A student is identified as gifted in a specific academic area (mathematics, science, social studies and/or reading) according to State criteria if they perform at or above the ninety-fifth percentile total score at the national level on an approved individual or group standardized achievement test, such as the Stanford Achievement Test or Terra Nova.

A student is identified as gifted in creative thinking according to State criteria if they score one standard deviation above the mean, minus the standard error of measurement, on an individual or group test (on the InView Test this score would be 112) AND attain a sufficient score, as established by the Ohio Department of Education, on an approved individual, group test, or checklist of creative ability or behaviors. In the area of visual and performing arts, a student is identified as gifted according to State criteria if they demonstrate to a trained individual, through a display of work, an audition, or other performance or exhibition, superior ability in a visual or performing arts area AND exhibit to a trained individual sufficient performance, as established by the Ohio Department of Education, on an approved checklist of behaviors related to a specific arts area.

In addition, HB 282 also gives parents the opportunity to have their child re-tested if the child scores within a screening range established by the district (for the InView Test this score would be 127 and for the Stanford Test or Terra Nova, the score would be the ninety-fourth percentile).

It is important for teachers to know which of their students have been identified as gifted according to State criteria. Teachers will use this information, in conjunction with all other relevant data regarding their students, to plan and implement appropriate instruction for their students. This information will be included in the student’s WEP.

For the 2019-20 school year, SLSD will serve gifted students in elementary grades in the general education classroom and students in grades 6-8 in general education classrooms and/or the TAG classroom. All students in grades K-12 will still have the opportunity twice per year (in Fall and Spring) to be tested for gifted identification.

SLSD has two certified Gifted Intervention Specialists - One who serves each of the four elementary buildings as an Instructional Coach and one who serves the junior school TAG students. Gifted students are scheduled into advanced classes during their junior high and high school careers and may choose to take, or not take, some or all Advanced Placement classes offered at the high school.

Students who qualify for our services will have a WEP (Written Education Plan) on file. This plan will be written at the beginning of the school year and will be updated throughout the year.

This plan will be prepared and monitored by the general education teachers in grades 1-8 and the Gifted Intervention Specialist at the Junior School, with input from the parents, students and regular education teachers.