All Grade 2 students enrolled in AACPS participate in a universal screening for GT Identification in their second-grade year. The identification process uses multiple indicators of potential, ability, and achievement as required by Maryland COMAR 13.04.07. The data points used in Anne Arundel County Public Schools are:
Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)
i-Ready Diagnostic Test
Maryland Department of Education's Primary Talent Development (MSDE PTD) portfolio
Gifted or Advanced identification in Grade 2 is for ALPs instruction in Grades 3-12.
Cognitive ability refers to a student's readiness to learn in different situations and demonstrate creative problem solving skills. The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) is used as a measure of ability in AACPS' GT Identification Screening Process.
An ability measure is different than an achievement measure. An achievement measure evaluates how well the student learns the grade-level content while ability assessments evaluate the student's aptitude to find patterns and relationships in the world.
The full battery Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) is administered in grades 2 and 5. This ability assessment is comprised of three batteries that appraises the level and pattern of a student’s verbal, quantitative, and spatial (nonverbal) reasoning abilities.
Grade 2: Verbal Battery-Picture Analogies
Taken from Riverside Insights (Overview of CogAT for Parents)
Grade 2: Verbal Battery-Picture Classification
Taken from Riverside Insights (Overview of CogAT for Parents)
Grade 2: Quantitative Battery-Number Analogies
Taken from Riverside Insights (Overview of CogAT for Parents)
Grade 2: Quantitative Battery-Number Puzzles
Taken from Riverside Insights (Overview of CogAT for Parents)
Grade 2: Quantitative Battery-Number Series
Taken from Riverside Insights (Overview of CogAT for Parents)
Grade 2: Nonverbal Battery-Figure Matrices
Taken from Riverside Insights (Overview of CogAT for Parents)
Grade 2: Nonverbal Battery-Figure Classification
Taken from Riverside Insights (Overview of CogAT for Parents)
Grade 2: Nonverbal Battery-Paper Folding
Taken from Riverside Insights (Overview of CogAT for Parents)
iReady is an online assessment that measures a student's current level of performance in both reading and math based on state and national standards. It is an adaptive assessment; questions become harder or easier as the student answers correctly or incorrectly. While all AACPS students take the iReady Diagnostic, the scores for Grade 2 students are used as an achievement measure in the GT Identification Universal Screening Process.
The Primary Talent Development (PTD) Early Learning Program PreK-2 is a STEM-based critical and creative thinking curriculum integrating gifted education and early childhood education theory and practice. PTD engages all students in open-ended, hands-on, problem solving experiences which promote the learning behaviors associated with lifelong success:
• perceptive
• communicative
• inquisitive
• persistent
• creative
• resourceful
• leadership
These behaviors are looked at across the grades (PreK-2) to advocate for students demonstrating readiness for advanced instruction. The Primary Talent Development Portfolio is used by the Advanced Leaner Programs office as a measure of student potential within the Grade 2 gifted and talented identification process.
Both Gifted and Advanced students recieve ALPs Service as required by COMAR.
Click below to learn more about Intermediate ALPs Programs and Services.