Gifted and Talented Student Identification Procedures Grades 4 - 12

According to 704 KAR 3:285. Programs for the gifted and talented, a gifted and/or talented child is defined as one who is identified as possessing demonstrated or potential ability to perform at an exceptionally high level in one or more of the following areas:

• general intellectual ability

• specific academic aptitude

• creative or divergent thinking

• psychosocial or leadership ability

• visual or performing arts

Screening

Students may be formally identified as Gifted or Talented (GT) beginning in the fourth grade.  Students who show evidence of giftedness any time during the school year or subsequent grade levels may also be considered.  Screening for gifted and talented students includes all five categories of giftedness (general intellectual ability, specific academic aptitude, creative or divergent thinking, leadership, and the visual or performing arts). The Beechwood Independent Schools screen the entire school population on a continuous basis for likely candidates for services using both informal and available formal, normed, standardized measures, including measures of nonverbal ability, in all areas.

Eligibility

In accordance with 704 KAR 3:285, Beechwood Independent Schools requires at least three of the following evidence options for formal GT identification for a student in grades 4 – 12:

 A collection of evidence from portfolios demonstrating student performance

• Checklist inventories of behaviors specific to underachieving or disadvantaged gifted learners

• Continuous progress data

• Anecdotal records

• Peer nominations

• Formal testing data specific to gifted categories

• Parent interview or questionnaire

• Gifted Selection Committee recommendation for those entering the fourth grade

• Self-nomination

• Student awards or critiques of performance or products specific to gifted categories

• Other valid and reliable documentation

School personnel shall take into consideration environmental, cultural, and disabling conditions which may mask a child's true abilities that lead to exclusion of otherwise eligible students. 

My Student Has Been Formally Identified.  What happens next?

Each formally identified student is offered these assurances through regulation 704 KAR 3:285.   Among these assurances are a Gifted Student Service Plan (GSSP) that is updated annually and two Gifted Student Progress Reports per year. 

The GSSP may include these options as outlined in the Beechwood GT Handbook.  

Acceleration by Grade: Student skips to the next grade level for the entire year. 

Acceleration by Subject/Content: Student works on or moves to the next grade level in a subject area. 

Advanced Placement or Honors: Courses that emphasize higher levels of content (honors) or college-level content (AP). 

Cluster Group:  A group usually consisting of four (4) 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. 

Collaboration: Instruction in a regular classroom to a cluster group of identified gifted students by a specialist in conjunction with the regular classroom teacher. 

Consultation: G/T teacher provides classroom teacher with instructional information and/or materials to meet the needs of G/T students. 

Differentiation: Curriculum opportunities are matched with student needs, interests, and abilities. (Individual or Cluster Group.) 

Dual Credit Courses: High school students earn credit towards high school diploma and a postsecondary degree. 

Enrichment Services: Differentiated activities that supplement the classroom instruction (not extracurricular). 

Internships: Work-based experience educational opportunity.

Mentorships: Specialized study with an adult member in the community under the direction of a teacher. 

Resource services/Pull-out: Part-time grouping of identified gifted and talented students based on students’ interests, needs, and abilities and designed for accelerated content, special interest groups, process skills development, or various combinations of all. 

Seminars: Discussion-based sessions on specific topics focusing on advanced content. 

Special Counseling: Counseling assistance planned in coordination with the gifted teacher and provided by a counselor familiar with the characteristics and social-emotional needs of gifted and talented students. 

*Gifted service options do not supersede High School graduation requirements*

Gifted Student Progress Reports

Student progress will be reported on student report cards during the second and fourth quarters. Detailed progress comments will be sent home to parents on a separate document in March. 

The Gifted Student Service Plan can be accessed by parents in Infinite Campus under Documents.  Students and/or parents seeking changes to the GSSP should contact Mrs. Ashley Ritchie.

About Mrs. Ritchie, Gifted and talented Coordinator and Teacher

• Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Elementary Education K-6 from Hanover College

• Master of Arts in Science Education, Grades K-8 from Walden University

• National Board Certification in Early Childhood Education

• Gifted and Talented Endorsement from Campbellsville University

• Member of National Association of Gifted Children, Member of Kentucky Association of Gifted Educators

• 18 years of elementary classroom teaching experience

Contact Mrs. Ritchie at ashley.ritchie@beechwood.kyschools.us 

Instagram: @BeechwoodTigerGT