Gifted and Talented

Gifted and Talented Services

Your child may have been identified as a gifted and talented individual.  If this is the case, your child scored above average on an intelligence test (for general intellectual and specific academic) and met at least two other criteria.  Other criteria may include, but are not limited to, teacher recommendation, checklists, jot downs, anecdotal comments, product evaluations, observations, auditions, etc.   The categories of gifted and talented your child may be included in are:   (All definitions are copied from the Kentucky State Regulations for Gifted and Talented Programs. )   General Intellectual Ability:  determined by a student score within the ninth stanine on a full scale comprehensive test of intellectual ability.   Specific Academic Aptitude:  determined by composite scores in the ninth stanine on one or more subject test scores of an achievement test.   Creativity:  determined through the use of informal or formal assessment measures of a child's capacity or originality or thought, fluency, elaboration, and flexibility of though.   Leadership:  determined by a variety of informal measures and the documentation of the willingness of a student to assume leadership roles in class, in a student organization, and in a community activity.   Visual and Performing Arts:  determined through evidence of performance which may include auditions, letters of recommendations, or product or portfolio assessment by specialist or professional artists.   If your child is identified as gifted, he/she has a Gifted Students Services Plan (GSSP).  This plan includes the area(s) in which your child has been identified and the services that are being provided.  You will receive progress reports of your child’s progress while being provided services once a semester.  You will receive comments at the end of the second nine weeks and the end of the fourth nine weeks.    

Definitions of Gifted and Talented Lingo

  “Acceleration options”  means various forms of advancing through material or grade levels prior to the prescribed time based on early mastery, such as pre-testing in content and being excused to go onto higher level activities, curriculum compacting or linear acceleration, simultaneous or dual enrollment in courses at different grade levels including postsecondary, early exit from school, and grade-skipping.  

“Cluster group” means a group usually consisting of four or more identified students placed in a heterogeneous classroom or other instructional setting with a teacher trained in the appropriate instruction of  special needs students, specifically gifted and talented, for the purpose of receiving  a differentiated educational experience matched to the student’s needs, interests and ability.  

“Differentiated service experiences” means educational experiences which extend, replace, or supplement learning beyond the standard curriculum.  

“Differentiation” means a method through which educators shall establish a specific, well-though-out match between learner characteristics in terms of abilities, interests, and needs, and curriculum opportunities in terms of enrichment and acceleration options which maximize learning experiences.  

“Formal identification” means a process by which a student in grades four through twelve is identified and diagnosed as having gifted characteristics and behaviors using a balanced combination of criteria specific to a category of giftedness - intellectual aptitude, specific academic aptitude, creativity, leadership, or visual and performing arts, and by which a student may be determined eligible for various levels of services in each category in which the student meets the criteria.