In accordance with 704 KAR 3:285, Madison County Schools utilize the following procedures and instruments for the selection of high potential learners for participation in the Primary Talent Pool.
“High potential learners” means those students who typically represent the top quartile (25 percent) of the entire student population in terms of the degree of demonstrated gifted characteristics and behaviors and require differentiated service experiences to further develop their interests and abilities.
(A minimum of three informal assessment options is required to assess the degree of demonstrated gifted characteristics and behaviors and to determine level of need and most appropriate service options.)
- Primary Talent Pool Screening Measure #1 –
Circles Activity - Primary Talent Pool Screening Measure #2 –
Draw a Whole Child Activity - 3. Teacher Checklist of gifted behaviors
- Kindergarten
- Grade 1
- Grade 2
- Grade 3
- Slocumb-Payne Teacher Perception Inventory
- Parent Questionnaire to determine interests, needs,and abilities
All primary students (K-3) will be eligible for screening. Both screening measures will be administered in the regular classroom setting under the direction of the Gifted/Talented Resource Specialist. The Gifted and Talented Education
Services staff will complete the evaluation of all student responses. Scores from both measures are combined to create a composite that is compared to a mean cut score for the district. Any student meeting the cut score will also need a completed Teacher Checklist of gifted behaviors and a Parent/Guardian Questionnaire to determine interests, needs, and abilities in order to meet the selection criteria for participation in Primary Talent Pool.
While the above measures constitute the basic components of the selection process, other assessment documentation may be utilized in addition to or in lieu of the fore mentioned measures in accordance with 704 KAR 3:285. Those measures may include the following:
- Collection of evidence demonstrating student performance
- Continuous progress data
- Anecdotal records
- “Available” formal test data
- Primary review committee recommendation
- Petition system (may be initiated on behalf of the student by parent/guardian or teacher/administrator)
- Checklist inventories of behaviors specific to under achieving learners, disadvantaged learners, or limited English proficient learners
- Other valid and reliable documentation
For a student in the Primary Talent Pool, services shall be provided within the framework of primary program requirements and shall allow for continuous progress through a differentiated curriculum and flexible grouping and regrouping based upon the individual interests, needs and abilities, including social and emotional, of the student.
Emphasis on educating gifted students in the general primary classroom, shall not preclude the continued, appropriate use of resource services, acceleration options, or the specialized service options contained in 704 KAR 3:285. A recommendation for a service shall be made on an individual basis dependent upon a student’s performance and/or demonstrated need.