Faith Howard

#3 Field Experience
Eligibility Meeting with Ms. Black

Assessments may be used to obtain a student's background knowledge or provide feedback to

guide instructional processes. All students have the right to receive gifted services if deemed
eligible. There is a process to enter the gifted and talented education program, and each school or
district may do it differently. For example, if another district identifies a student as gifted, they
may enter into the system. For private schools, determining eligibility for the gifted and talented
looks different from that for Fulton County Public schools.

I attended an eligibility meeting for Fulton Science Academy. The process is the same for all
grades K-12, but depending on what a student scores on their assessment changes the track they
may be placed in. Generally, testing takes place from grades three to five. However, if students
enter after those grades, they are still eligible to be reviewed for the program if they have yet to
test for gifted eligibility within the last two years.
Now, let's walk through the process for FSA. Our school does not have on-level classes, so if
parents decide they wish their child to attend, their student must take the MAP test. The MAP
test is a nationally-normed qualifying test that you can take, the cognitive test, CoGAT. The
assessment measures a student's growth in mathematics and reading. After a student completes
the assessment, our administration pulls the MAP scores for reading and mathematics. If they
have a 90 or above in both areas, they are eligible to take the CoGAT, but it still does not deem
them "gifted and talented."

The second part of the process is taking the CoGAT, a cognitive test that measures a student's
reasoning skills. The assessment has nine sections with different types of verbal, nonverbal, and
quantitative questions. Our school uses the company Riverside Insights to facilitate the digital
test. It is taken online, with headphones completing different sections: spatial reasoning,
language, and math. One example of a question is paper folding, and students have to study the
dotted lines and determine what it would look like if it was unfolded. After they finish the test,
their scores still have to be reviewed to determine if they will be admitted to the program at our
school.

FSA only looks at the mental ability and achievement categories. If they score in the 99th
percentile, they will be placed in a higher math or reading track than their current grade level. If
they score in the 96th percentile, they will be placed in an honors math or reading class.
Sometimes, creativity and motivation are reviewed if they do not meet the standards for the
mental ability and achievement categories. Usually, the creativity and motivation category are
evaluated on a case-by-case basis depending on circumstances, such as students from different
families where they may be in foster care, international students, or English is not their first
language. This is because situations as such may sometimes hinder a student's testing ability.
Gifted eligibility for class placements may sometimes depend on scores too. For example, fourth
graders may take an accelerated ELA class if they have the gifted ability and will automatically
be placed. Ninety-five or above in three of the four areas is the requirement for FSA. If
acceleration occurs, students will gradually be moved a year ahead as they move between the
grades. Year-ahead groups are usually hybrid courses that may be half of the first grade, the first
half of the second grade, and so on. The only exception if they do not meet three of the four areas
would be if their parent shares documented proof that the student is receiving tutoring services
outside of school at the grade level ahead. They would then be given a placement test to
determine if they can move forward as accelerated.

On the other hand, this process may look different in public schools. While test scores will
automatically align with the gifted standards for the state, teachers can recommend gifted
students for the program. This was my experience as a kid when I changed districts from DeKalb
County to Gwinnett County. Unbeknownst to me, teachers complete a KISS chart which requires
them to look at characteristics and provide three pieces of evidence: writing, math, humor, and
solving neatly. Students must also demonstrate a higher maturity level than their peers. Students
are often still required to take the CoGAT or a nationally normed test such as the EOCT. They
can be determined as highly motivated, which can also be used to identify a gifted student if they
only get the required scores for three out of four areas.