Program Overview
The Round Rock ISD program for talented and gifted (TAG) students is provided for those students who perform or show the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment and who exhibit high performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area, who possess an unusual capacity for leadership, or excel in a specific academic field.
"How do I go about testing my kid for TAG?"
November _____- December____ is when the referral window opens. Click HERE during the referral window to submit your child for testing.
January-March is when I will pull kids that were referred and test them on 8-10 little tests on the computer. If they qualify in 2nd-5th grade, I will test them for Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. If they qualify in Math, then the following year they will come to me for their accelerated math class. In 5th grade they HAVE to qualify in a subject area to be in TAG, due to going into Middle School.
Kids can test every year, once a year, but scores do not change much.
PLEASE DO NOT PREPARE YOUR CHILD FOR THESE EXAMS. IT SHOWS THEIR NATURAL ABILITY. IT WOULD BE A SHAME TO GET IN, THEN HAVE TO BE REMOVED FROM TAG.
Program Referrals
Students may be referred for the TAG program by teachers, counselors, and parents. We can't test without the parent referring/permission though. Before the student is further screened for the program, a thorough examination of all pertinent data shall be made. Data collected through both objective and subjective assessments shall be measured against the criteria approved by the Board to determine individual eligibility for the program.
Assessment tools may include but not be limited to the following:
1. Achievement tests.
2. IQ or school abilities tests.
3. Behavioral checklists completed by teachers and/or parents.
4. Teacher nominations based on classroom observations.
5. Student/parent conferences.
6. Student work products.
A committee designated as the Campus Screening and Selection Committee and composed of at least three and no more than five professional employees knowledgeable about the needs and potential of TAG students and familiar with the state guidelines for TAG programs shall be established at each campus. Committee members shall participate in annual training. This committee shall evaluate each nominated student according to the established criteria and shall select those students for whom TAG program placement is the most appropriate educational setting.
Parents and students shall be notified of selection for the TAG program. Participation in any program or services provided for TAG students is voluntary, and before a student is placed in a TAG program, the District shall obtain the parent’s written or digital permission. A member of the Campus Screening and Selection Committee will confer with parents and, if appropriate, the student to discuss the student’s profile generated by the data collection process.
IF YOUR CHILD IS COMING FROM ANOTHER DISTRICT AND WAS IN THE GIFTED PROGRAM, HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS:
If you mark that your child was in a gifted program in their previous district here are the steps we have to take:
Call the school and get verification that they were int he program.
If they are in the program we ask for any test scores that qualified them.
We then send the parent an approval for testing form.
We will test your student on many little tests that take about 3 hours just to see if they qualify.
Within 30 days you will recieve notification if they qualified. If they qualify in 3rd-5th, we then do subject testing, which is an additional 3 hours.
Once we are done with all testing and results, those who qualify will begin services immediately. If they do NOT, they will have to wait until the next school year to test in the Spring.