Center Cass District 66

Gifted/Academically Talented Program
Identification

All students are reviewed annually for inclusion into Project Enrich/Challenge. A student may become eligible at any time during his/her enrollment in the district. A committee of trained personnel uses parent and teacher nominations, standardized test scores, the Otis Lennon School Ability Test, and past school performance to determine those students who will be invited to participate.

A student will be considered for placement in Project Enrich/Challenge if his/her local Iowa test scores in vocabulary, reading , language, and mathematics total are at the 95 local percentile, OLSAT score is 130, and school performance earns him/her a teacher nomination. Parent nominations will also insure that a student is screened by the committee.

Children in kindergarten – 2nd grades, who have met the criteria above, are put on a watch list and clustered together for the following school year. They are reevaluated each year to determine the appropriateness of placement.

Identification of children in grades second-through eighth grade is ongoing throughout the year. For children in grades third through fifth, identification occurs formally in the late spring of each year, and for children in sixth-eighth grade in the early fall. When identification procedures have been completed, letters are sent to those parents whose children are invited to join Project Challenge. Once a student has been identified as gifted/talented, he/she will remain in the program through eighth grade unless it is determined by parent, teacher, and student that the program no longer meets the needs of the student.

Exiting Procedure

After a student has been identified, they will remain in the program through eighth grade unless there is a particular reason for exiting.

Reasons for removal of a student from the program:

Refusal to participate

1. Exhibits stress
2. Shows lack of progress
3. Appears to be incorrectly identified
4. Exhibits disruptive behavior
5. Is experiencing academic failure
6. Has a record of poor attendance
7. Parent or classroom teacher requests removal from the program
8. Teacher determines that the program is inappropriate for the individual needs of the child.

Procedures for removal of a student from the program:

  Any of the following procedures which are deemed appropriate may be used to evaluate a student's status in the program and/or to facilitate his/her removal from the program:

Conference with student and program teacher

1. Conference with student and program teacher
2. Conference with student, parents, program teacher and principal
3. Conference with classroom teacher and program teacher
4. Retesting of student
5. Contingency contract between student and program teacher
6. Evaluation by counselor
7. Establishment of probationary period
8. “Time Out” from program
9. Examination of progress by team of professionals
10. Issuance of written progress reports

If the appropriate measures listed above have been followed and the problem has not been remediated or brought to satisfactory resolution, then the student shall be removed from the program.