The North Kansas City School District uses a systematic process for the identification of gifted
students that is composed of multiple criteria, including objective measures and competent
professional evaluation.
Screening
The district will provide screening for all students to ensure that all potentially gifted students have
an opportunity for consideration. All available data, including information contained in the
permanent record, will be considered during the screening process.
The district will use a variety of screening methods that reduce the chance of bias and provide an
opportunity to identify the strengths of all students, including those students difficult to identify and
traditionally under-represented, such as students with limited English proficiency, students from
culturally diverse backgrounds, students with learning disabilities and students with physical
challenges.
The district uses the following screening methods:
1. Nationally normed achievement test scores at the 95th percentile or above
2. Group intelligence test scores at the 95th percentile or above
3. MAP scores at the 95th percentile or above
4. Grades
5. Anecdotal records
6. Demonstrations of creativity or creative problem solving
7. Recommendations from teachers and other personnel, parents/guardians and peers
8. Cognitive Abilities Test at SAS at 125 or above in one (1) area
9. Iowa Test of Basic Skills at the 95th percentile or above
The district uses the following additional screening methods designed to select students who are hard
to identify or traditionally under-represented:
1. Nonverbal IQ tests
2. Nonverbal achievement tests
3. Portfolios of student work
4. Content-specific assessments
5. Recommendations from teachers and other personnel, parents/guardians and peers
6. Formal observations by staff knowledgeable of the characteristics of gifted students
Individual Evaluation
Based on screening results, some students will be targeted for individual evaluation. The program
coordinator will determine which students will receive individual evaluation. The district will use
a variety of evaluation methods to differentiate between the academically superior student whose
educational needs are met by regular classroom programs and the gifted student with needs requiring
additional developmental opportunities.
Students will be individually evaluated in the following areas:
General Mental Ability – Including a full-scale score on an individualized intelligence test at or
above the 95th percentile. The district uses the following tests of general mental ability:
1. Wechsler Intelligence Scales
2. Stanford-Binet Intelligence Tests
3. Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children
4. Test of Nonverbal Intelligence
5. Cognitive Abilities Test
6. Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test
7. Test of Cognitive Skills
8. Comprehensive Test of Nonverbal Intelligence
9. Wide Range Intelligence Test
10. Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test
11. Other nationally recognized intelligence tests
Academic Ability – Including a norm-referenced test with a cut-off score at the 95th percentile or
above on the composite score or on a majority of subtests. The district uses the following tests of
academic ability:
1. Iowa Test of Basic Skills
2. Stanford Achievement Test Series
3. Terra Nova
4. Wechsler Individual Achievement Test
5. Gates-McGinite Reading Test
6. Missouri Assessment Program
7. Wide Range Achievement Test
8. Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement
9. Woodcock Reading Test
10. Woodcock-Johnson Test of Achievement
11. Other nationally recognized achievement tests
Creativity, Reasoning and Problem-Solving Ability – Including results of instruments indicating
outstanding ability in one (1) of the following areas related to the design of the district's gifted
program:
1. Creative and productive thinking
2. Advanced insight
3. Outstanding imagination
4. Innovative or creative reasoning ability
5. Advanced perception of cause-and-effect relationships
6. Problem solving
7. Abstract concepts
The district uses the following creativity/problem-solving assessments:
1. Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking
2. Scales for Rating Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students
Other Ability – Including documented evidence of exceptional performance in a general academic
area. The district uses the following to identify gifted students in this area:
1. Portfolios of student work
2. Formal observations by people knowledgeable of the characteristics of gifted students
Students are eligible for placement in the gifted program if they meet three (3) of the four (4) criteria
individually evaluated.
Placement
The district offers the following placement options:
1. Resource Room Teacher (RRT) model – Pull-out program where the teacher of gifted
students spends all of his or her time in the gifted resource classroom.
Grade level(s): K-6
2. Education Resource Teacher (ERT) model – Pull-out program where the teacher of gifted
students spends at least 80 percent of his or her time in the gifted resource room and some
time as a resource teacher in the regular classroom.
Grade Level(s): K-6
3. Special Class Teacher (SCT) model – Special gifted class is part of the student's regular
schedule.
Grade level(s): 6-8
4. Gifted Resource Teacher (GRT) model – Teacher of gifted students works with students and
teachers in a resource capacity on a flexible schedule.
Grade level(s): 9-12
5. Advanced Placement (AP) courses.
Grade level(s): 10-12
6. International Baccalaureate (IB) classes.
Grade level(s): 11-12
Transfer Students
Transfer students will be placed in the district's gifted program if all of the following are met:
1. The student was previously placed in a gifted program in a Missouri school district.
2. The program in which the student was placed is similar to that offered by the district.
3. The student meets or exceeds the district's placement criteria.
4. The student and parents/guardians agree to the placement.
* * * * * * *
Note: The reader is encouraged to review policies and/or forms for related information in this
administrative area.
Implemented: 08/30/2005
Revised: 06/10/2008; 01/14/2010
MSIP Refs: 7.2, 7.7, 8.8, 8.10, 8.12
North Kansas City School District, Kansas City, Missouri
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