Elementary PAT Identification Process
According to the Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted/Talented Students revised in May 2000, Texas school districts are required to identify and serve gifted students. The plan was designed to provide program guidance and to assure that all students have the opportunity to be fairly and accurately assessed for advanced services.
State guidelines also require the use of both quantitative and qualitative measures to assess student’s ability (Section 1.5.4A). A district must use both existing and new information to serve students most effectively. Multiple sources and procedures exist for collecting new information from quantitative (objective or formal) and qualitative (subjective or informal) measures.
Quantitative measures typically are standardized instruments that enable us to assign numbers to behaviors and that also have either national or local norms. These measures provide direct observation of student performance under standardized conditions. Quantitative measures often are described as objective or norm-referenced measures. Various types of standardized quantitative instruments include measures of:
Achievement (such as)
CAT---California Achievement Test
ITBS---Iowa Test of Basic Skills
MAT---Metropolitan Achievement Test
SAT---Stanford Achievement Test
SABE---Spanish Assessment of Basic Education
Aptitude/Intelligence (such as)
CogAT---Cognitive Abilities Test
OL---Otis Lennon School Abilities Test
WISC-R---Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale for Children
NNAT—Nagileri Nonverbal Abilities Test
TONI-2---Test of Nonverbal Intelligence
Temperament (such as)
SOI—Structure of Intellect—when used to identify learning/problem solving abilities
SOI Creativity
Williams Creativity Test
Torrence Test of Creative Thinking
Qualitative measures also enable us to collect observations of student behaviors. These measures, when used in schools, often focus on strategies that students use during the learning process. Qualitative measures typically refer to data collection instruments that are less formal and less standardized. They often rely upon judgments by professionals, parents, peers and/or self may include:
informal achievement inventories (for example, reading)
questionnaires
checklists
structured reports (from self, parent, teachers, peers)
portfolios of student work
GPA (at the secondary level)
In GCISD parents, teachers, students, or current test scores may nominate students for consideration for the PAT Program. Current test scores are evaluated and/or group tests are administered by the Gifted Specialist. Four criteria determine placement in the PAT program.
Achievement: the minimum score required on an achievement test is 95th percentile in Reading Total, Math Total or Composite.
Aptitude: the minimum score required on an aptitude test is 125 in Verbal, Nonverbal, Quantitative or Total
Learning Ability: required performance on the SOI is to score in the Gifted range on 7 of the 12 subtests that make up this test.
Subjective Data: students must meet the minimum score on one of the following instruments - Parent Inventory, Teacher Checklist or Student Portfolio
Once the data is collected by the Gifted Specialist, the campus PAT Selection Committee, composed of teachers and administrators trained in gifted education, will meet to review the data and make placement recommendations.
Identified Gifted - student met all of the criteria for placement in the program.
Trial Placement - student met 3 of 4 criteria for placement in the program.
Trial Placement is designed to provide educators with more time and greater opportunities to assess student potential and also give students more time and greater opportunities to display their abilities. In grades 1-5 trial placements are utilized as a method of gathering data and assessing and serving students with potential for exceptional ability. These students are not considered identified and must meet identification criteria before proceeding to the next grade level.
Students transferring into the district will adhere to the identification process and standards outlined previously. If a student has participated in a gifted program in another school district, he/she must provide a letter verifying participation in a gifted program from their previous school.
Appeals:
It is the purpose of the PAT Campus Review Committee to hear appeals of decisions by the Campus PAT Selection Committee. The Campus Review Committee may allow deviation for the written criteria for program entry. The Campus Review Committee is composed of an administrator, teachers and gifted specialists. The Campus review decision may be appealed to a district level review committee. The District Review Committee is composed of the assistant superintendent for Instruction, director for Advanced Academics and the campus administrator.
Submit an appeal letter no later than 15 school days after the committee has notified the parents of the selection decision.
The committee will review their decision and will respond to the person making the appeal no later than 15 school days after receipt of the letter of appeal.
The committee may request additional testing or data collection and may interview the student or parents.
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