Home

quest:(n) the act of seeking pursuing something; a search

The QUEST program is set up as an enrichment to learning. In the QUEST classroom, students learn and use tools that help them research ideas and topics. All students new to the district are screened for QUEST at the beginning of the year. Every kindergarten student is screened in the second semester.

If you need more information about the QUEST program, please visit the district websites listed below.

In QUEST, your student will learn how to use the Creative Thinking skills of Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, and Elaboration in their projects. They will also learn how to use the Critical Thinking skills from Bloom's Taxonomy in their daily life, as well as many research and presentation skills.

• How are students identified for QUEST-G/T services?

• • All students in 1st -5th grades, who are new to the district, are screened for QUEST-G/T during the first couple of weeks of school.

• • Every Kindergarten student is screened in the second semester of their Kindergarten year.

• • Students in grades K-12 may be nominated at any time by teachers, counselors, administrators, parents, self, or peers. The person nominating a student should complete a referral form and return it to the campus QUEST-G/T teacher, who will add names for the next testing window.

• Identification is a multi-step process

• Step 1: Screening and Testing. The purpose of the screening is to identify those students who demonstrate potential in the areas of General Intellectual Ability and Creative Thinking. If students demonstrate at least four indicators, additional intellectual and achievement data will be collected to make placement decisions.

• Step 2: Placement. To qualify for QUEST-gifted services, students must score in the 95%ile or higher on standardized intellectual ability/achievement tests.

• The QUEST-G/T teachers at each campus gather the screening and identification measures. The measures are evaluated and scored by the QUEST-G/T Identification and Placement Committee. This committee is made up of all the district K-12 QUEST-G/T teachers, plus the district coordinator and director. All have at least 30 hours of training in gifted education plus additional hours of training in testing and identification of gifted students. Placement decisions are made by this committee.

• 2020-21 Elementary QUEST Screening Windows

• • Beginning of the school year for 1^st-5^th graders is through the end of August - requests for re-screening must be emailed to campus QUEST-G/T teacher. Any Requests received after the screening window will be screened during the end-of-school year window.

• • End of the school year in May-June

• • Kindergarten screening is in January-February.

• ***First semester screening will begin the first weeks of school. All new to Leander ISD students in grades 1-5 will be screened. QUEST-G/T teachers will gather intellectual ability and creative thinking data from parents, teachers, District Common Assessments and previous school data.***

• QUEST testing is only done during the above times. The only exceptions are transfer GT students who provide documentation of participation in previous GT programs.

Kindergarten

QUEST serves kindergarten students in two ways:

• During the first semester, QUEST teachers provide enrichment opportunities for all kindergarten students. The QUEST teacher goes into each kindergarten classroom at least four times during the semester to provide foundational enrichment activities in critical and creative thinking. This helps prepare the students for the type of thinking that will be tested in January. The QUEST teacher is also available to provide additional support and enrichment for kindergarten teachers and students, depending upon campus needs and time constraints,.

• The initial QUEST screening on all Kindergarten students begins in January of each year. All kindergarten students are automatically screened for the QUEST gifted and talented program. The state of Texas requires that kindergarten gifted students are served by March 1. However, the screening process is on-going, and we will continue to gather information about your student's intellectual and creative thinking abilities throughout the kindergarten year.