Screening and Testing for QUEST

 *** NEW THIS YEAR- LISD will only be screening students once a year in the spring. There will no longer be a fall screening window.*** ***Students who qualify in the spring will receive GT services at the beginning of the following school year.***

Any adult may refer a child for QUEST screening.   Spring screening referrals for the 2026-2027 school year for 1st -5th graders will be accepted until March 1, 2026.  Also please read the parent newsletter on Fridays as updates on screening can also be found there.

Parents will be contacted by April 1, 2026 if more information is needed or if further testing is recommended based on screening indicators. Please note that screening and testing are different. Not all students who are screened qualify for testing.  Students who qualify for the program after testing will begin QUEST classes beginning in the fall of 2026.

Students may be referred for QUEST screening for fall 2026 by filling out the parent input forms using the following links: 

 All 3 forms must be submitted for referral to be complete and considered. 

Please click the links below to complete the forms.

      Thank you.     

1. GT Referral Form

2.GIS (General Intellectual Scale) (25 questions ~10 mins to complete)

3.Parent Survey  (15 questions: ~30 mins to complete)

HOW ARE STUDENTS IDENTIFIED?

 1. Students in grades K-12 may be nominated for QUEST-G/T services at any time by district personnel, parents, self, peers, or others. • The person nominating a student should complete a referral form. • These forms are available from the QUEST-G/T teacher or on the Leander ISD website, http://www.leanderisd.org (pathway: Teaching and Learning Department, College and Career Pathways, Enrichment/QUEST-G/T). • Nominated students would then follow the identification process described below. 

2. Identification is a multi-step process. 

STEP ONE - Screening • The purpose of screening is to identify students who demonstrate potential in the areas of General Intellectual Ability and Creative Thinking. While nominations may be submitted throughout the school year, screening is done during designated windows and follows the below process. 

• All students new to the district in grades 1-5 are automatically placed in the nomination pool on all elementary campuses for screening in January and May. • All kindergarten students are screened in January and February, and kindergarten QUEST-G/T classes start in March. Several screening dates are offered during the summer for new 6th-12th grade students. Summer screening information is posted at http://www.leanderisd.org (pathway: Teaching and Learning Department, College and Career Pathways, Enrichment/QUEST-G/T) and provided to all secondary campus counselors. 

• Multiple measures of general intellectual ability are collected by the campus QUEST-G/T specialist teacher and reviewed by the District Identification and Placement Committee. 

STEP TWO – Identification • If a student meets the qualifying criteria in Step 1, permission from the parent is requested for individual testing in the area of high general intellectual ability. • Multiple measures of intellectual ability are administered, and other documentation of intellectual ability collected by the campus QUEST G/T specialist teacher.

STEP THREE – Placement • All documentation is brought before a district screening committee, which makes the final decision for placement. • Students in grades K-12 must qualify in the 95%ile or higher on at least two measures of general intellectual ability. • All screening and testing data is reviewed by the QUEST-G/T Identification and Placement Committee. • If the data indicates that the student would benefit from receiving QUEST-G/T services, written parental permission is required. 

HOW DO TEACHERS/PARENTS LEARN ABOUT QUEST-G/T?

 Information is available in the following ways. 

• QUEST-G/T teachers may present campus awareness sessions or open houses. These sessions are designed to explain what the program is, who the program can benefit, what behaviors to look for, how the identification process works, and what the students in the program do. 

• QUEST-G/T program information is available on district and campus websites.

• The QUEST-G/T teacher is available by appointment to give a more in-depth explanation to teachers, parents, students, or community members. 

WHAT TRAINING DO TEACHERS RECEIVE? 

• All QUEST-G/T teachers receive 30 hours of training in gifted education prior to being assigned as QUEST-G/T teachers. QUESTG/T teachers receive on-going training locally and through state conferences and other seminars dealing with best practices and current research for educating the talented and gifted (at least six hours annual update in training each year). They then share that learning with their colleagues. 

• Teachers of high school Pre-AP/AP/IB courses receive 30 hours of training in gifted education. This includes twelve hours of nature, needs and identification/assessment of the gifted. The remaining eighteen hours of training are in the teachers’ content areas and other areas of gifted education. They also receive an annual six-hour update in gifted education each year. 

• Teachers of middle school Pre-AP language arts, PACE Math and Social Studies courses receive training in nature and needs of the gifted and Pre- AP/differentiation strategies.

 • All elementary QUEST cluster classroom teachers receive an initial six hours of training in gifted education. Then, each year thereafter, they receive on-going training locally (at least three hours each year). 

• These same opportunities are made available to other interested teachers during LISD Summer professional development, LISD Continuous Improvement Conference, and/or online courses. Revised September 2019 

District QUEST Homepage