"All students should be included in the identification process. And all people who have information about the child being considered for the gifted program should be involved in the screening procedure.

The entire identification process must be repeated every year. A child who is growing up gifted is constantly stretching and changing in different directions. A gifted child who is missed one year might be discovered the next year if identification is repeated."

The Faces of Gifted, Nancy L. Johnson, 1989.

In Oregon, we strive to make accurate identification of our gifted student population by utilizing the multiple steps mentioned below. We are continually researching methods and procedures developed and normed nationally to assist us in the identification process.

The multiple steps used in identification are as follows:

1. Screening

Through the screening process the gifted staff receives a list of students to be further tested to potentially determine appropriate placement in a classroom or in gifted programming. Our screening methods include:

• Parental Survey, completed annually at registration through grade 8; or parent request for additional testing;
• Teacher Survey, completed annually during the school year; or teacher request for additional testing;
• Specialist/Administrator Recommendations; or specialist/administrator request for additional testing;
• Self-Nomination;
• WKCE scores and MAP testing

Although grades are often an indication of high achievement, some students excel in their areas of giftedness despite receiving poor grades. For this reason, it is important to realize that grades are not always a good measure of true ability or potential.Grades should not be the sole criterion used when considering whether or not a student is benefiting from G/T placement.

The following chart is helpful in initial screening:

Note the Difference
Source: Janice Szabos, Challenge Magazine
Tennessee Association for the Gifted

2. Identification

After the screening pool is identified, further testing and data collection is utilizied to determined appropriate placement and challenge for each individual student based on need. Services may take the form of classroom differentiation or programming that focuses on the unique needs of the learner in or out of their regular classroom. Our identification methods include:

• Out-of-Grade Level Tests;
• Subject Area Achievement Tests;
• Portfolio Work;
• IQ Testing administered by the school psychologist;

The pyramid is taken from the Wisconsin Comprehensive Intergrated Gifted Programming Model.

The pyramid represents a model of appropriate services for students in all schools in their specific levels and areas of giftednesss.

Just as no single indicator is sufficient for program placement, no single method or instrument should be used to remove a student once identified as gifted from the program to which he/she has been assigned.

Students may be considered as a candidate for exiting from their gifted programming under the following conditions:

a. They have demonstrated over a substantial length of time that they are not benefiting from the program; or

b. The student requests removal from the program; or

c. The student's parent(s) request(s) that the student be removed from the program.