Resources

The goal of gifted education and talent development in PWCS is to develop advanced skills to encourage and enable students to become self-directed learners:

• Critical thinking

• Creative thinking

• Communication

• Collaboration

• Conceptual thinking

This link will take you to the PWCS website where there is some great information and resources for you at home. 

When does my child get pulled out for services?

Please refer to the schedules page.

Does my child need to make up missed work from the classroom?

No. Student who are pulled out for services do not need to make up the classwork they missed unless it is a test, or something that is absolutely needed for the grade book.

How does a student get into Gifted?

The first step is a referral. Once a parent or teacher fills out the referral form, which can be found here, Mrs. Adams then will send home some important documents. The green permission to test form, (must be signed and return before any testing happens), a parent report, and information about Gifted. Videos and translated parent reports can be found by clicking here. 

How long will it take to make a decision if my child makes it in Gifted?

The process can take up to 90 instructional days. Once Mrs. Adams receives the green permission form back, the process can begin. 

What's the process?

The testing process for Gifted depends on the age/grade of the child. In K-2, students will take an untimed test that measures verbal and non-verbal skills. 2nd grade will also do the non-verbal Naglieri test. In grades 3-5, student will need to complete the CogAT. If a student (such as 5th graders) is referred, they will need to take both of those tests are scores are only valid for two years. Along with those tests, each student will complete a timed math packet (grade level specific), a timed writing piece, and a student response. Mrs. Adams will also collect work samples from the classroom teacher as well as a teacher report (similar to the parent report, but longer and more details). 

Once all this evidence and data is collected, Mrs. Adams and a team of teachers from the school will look over every piece of data collected and following a guidelines book, make a decision. Then Mrs. Adams will go to the supervisors of the Gifted Department with the files and they will review the case and a final decision will be made. 

What are the different decisions that can be made?

There are several possible outcomes. A student (K-5) can place into Gifted several different ways. These are Language/SS based, Math/Science based, Multiple diciplinaries, and General (all around). These different sections do not make a difference in the elementary level and students will still receive their full allotted time. 

Another outcome for K-2 students is placed in our Early Talented Development Program. (ETD). More information about ETD can be found by clicking here.  

Being placed on Monitor could also happen. This means that Mrs. Adams and the team would like to collect more data on the student and will monitor that student until a designated time.

The final outcome is that a student was not found eligible for gifted services at this time.

Have any other questions? Please feel free to email me!