 The school district should provide information annually regarding the process for nominating students for gifted education programming services.  All students must comprise the initial screening pool of potential recipients of gifted education services, and the nomination process should be ongoing. Screening of any student may occur at any time  Nominations for services must be accepted from any source (parents, teachers, peers, etc.)  A variety of quantitative and qualitative assessments should be available, based on student needs.

 Assessment should be consistent across grade levels and sensitive to all stages of talent development.  No single assessment instrument or its results should deny a student eligibility for gifted services.  All assessment instruments must provide evidence of reliability and validity for the intended purposes and target students.  An appeals process should be available.

 Otis-Lennon School Abilities Test  Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities  Torrance Test of Creative Thinking  Teacher, Parent, Peer, and Self Nominations  Portfolio Review

Step 1: Screening Step 2: Identification Step 3: Program Planning The Screening Team evaluates OLSAT scores, nominations, and portfolio items to determine need for further testing. The Identification Team evaluates all screening items as well as WJ-III scores, Torrance Scores, and additional data to decide placement. All identifying information is removed. Once students are placed in StarGATE, achievement scores, interests, and goals shape the development of each individual ALP. Appeals accepted after both the screening and identification steps, with the provision of additional evidence of high ability.

OLSAT consists of seven levels that collectively assess the range of ability of students in Kindergarten through Grade 12. There is a separate test level for each grade from Kindergarten through Grade 3, allowing for the rapid cognitive growth that occurs during this period. Each level of the new OLSAT was designed to accurately and efficiently assess most students in the grade or grades for which it is recommended. OLSAT 8 is an objective measure of student ability.

The WJ-III measures general intellectual ability and specific cognitive abilities in individuals from 2 to 90+ years. It is an objective assessment administered orally one-on-one. The WJ-III consists of ten subtests, including visual-auditory learning, spatial relations, concept formation, etc. In composite, these tests measure Verbal Ability, Thinking Ability, and Cognitive Efficiency, providing a total GIA (General Intellectual Ability) score.

The Torrance® Tests of Creative Thinking are the most widely used tests of their kind. The figural test invites examinees to draw and give a title to their drawings (pictures). It is appropriate at all levels, kindergarten through adult. It uses three picture-based exercises to assess five mental characteristics of creativity: fluency, resistance to premature closure, elaboration, abstractness of title, and originality.