Academically & Intellectually Gifted

INTRODUCTION

North Carolina legislation governing gifted education (Article 9B) states that public schools should challenge all students to aim for academic excellence and requires local education agencies (LEA) to develop 3-year local plans to monitor Academically or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) program implementation, support quality and effective programs, and safeguard the rights of AIG students. The Wake County Public School System’s (WCPSS) 2019-22 Board approved AIG Plan (hereinafter referred to as AIG 2019-22 Plan) outlines a comprehensive plan to meet the academic, intellectual, social, and emotional needs of gifted and advanced learners with an intentional focus on providing equitable access. This report examines the implementation and goal outcomes of the AIG 2019-22 Plan. The three years of implementation (2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22) were unprecedented due to interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In mid-March 2020, schools transitioned to remote learning and students began receiving instruction and services in a virtual environment through the end of the school year. The 2020-21 school year continued to be atypical as students began the year in a virtual learning environment, returned to the classroom on a cohort rotating schedule (which varied by school level), and finally resumed full-time classroom instruction towards the end of the school year. During 2021-22, students continued receiving full-time classroom instruction, but the carryover impacts of the pandemic continued to affect staff and students. With these extenuating circumstances, researchers from the Data, Research, and Accountability (DRA) Department used available data to provide insight into the implementation of the AIG 2019-22 Plan, as well as to measure progress towards achieving goals related to equitable access, engaging curriculum, and academic growth. All phases of this evaluation were conducted in collaboration with the director and staff from the Intervention and Advanced Learning Services: Advanced Learning Services (ALS) Department.

AIG IDENTIFICATION PROCESS

For students to be identified as Academically or Intellectually Gifted (AIG), Academically Gifted (AG), or Intellectually Gifted (IG) in math and/or English Language Arts (ELA), there are three main stages: nomination, referral, and identification.

At the nomination stage, students may be nominated for the AIG program through three processes:

1) As part of the traditional Grade 3 Screening Process, all 3rd-grade students participate in district-wide aptitude universal screening by taking the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) in the fall. Students who attain a score at or above the 85th percentile are eligible to take the Iowa Assessment. Students who score at or above the 95th percentile on the CogAT or Iowa are nominated and considered for referral.

2) As part of the School Community Nomination Process, parents, students, and educators can nominate any K-12 student at any time during the year.

3) As part of the newly implemented District Nomination Local Norming Process, statistical analyzes are conducted on a wide range of data to examine 3rd-grade students
who are high-performing students, but who may not be nominated through the Grade 3 Screening Process.

At the referral stage, nominated students are considered for referral to the School Based Committee for Gifted Education (SBCGE). The SBCGE committee includes school-based staff members who represent core content areas and grade levels and consists of the following staff: AIG teacher, principal or assistant principal, regular education classroom teachers, students’ regular classroom teacher (elementary school level), and students’ math and/or ELA teacher (middle school level). The school psychologist, special education teacher, English Learner (EL) teacher, guidance counselor, instructional facilitator, and media specialist are also invited to participate as needed for specific cases. The AIG teacher serves as the committee chair. The committee meets monthly throughout the year to ensure that the needs of all AIG students are being met. During the fall and spring referral meetings, the SBCGE reviews nomination packets for each nominated student to determine who is referred for further evaluation. Based on the review of the existing data, the SBCGE determines whether the student is (a) not referred for AIG evaluation at that time, (b) referred for further evaluation (CogAT and Iowa testing or portfolio option), or (c) referred for psychological assessment specific to AIG evaluation (i.e., students needing individual nonverbal aptitude testing, students for whom group testing is not appropriate because of diagnosed medical problems,
students whose group scores do not reflect the student’s performance in the class as measured by a portfolio, and students with IEPs or 504 Plans).

At the identification stage, during the recommendation, identification, and service decision meeting, the SBCGE reviews students’ testing and portfolio components and makes identification and service decisions. All referred students in grades 3-8 either qualify for the program (AIG, AG, or IG identification) or are placed in Talent Development (TD). TD students are served with identified students and go through the nomination process again after one year in the program.

If you would like additional information, please email Lacoya Eaton at leaton@wcpss.net. Please put AIG Question in the subject line.