Miss. Code. tit. 7, pt. 10, IDENTIFICATION OF INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED STUDENTS
NOTE: Throughout the identification process, district personnel shall be careful to select measures that target the student's strengths.
Referral
A student may be referred by a parent, teacher, counselor, administrator, peer, self, or anyone else having reason to believe that the student might be intellectually gifted. The person initiating the referral shall sign the referral form and date it. District personnel shall collect the data required to satisfy the district's referral criteria. The Jacob Javits Act ( PL 107-110 sec. 9101) declares that intellectual ability and academic ability are two distinct and separate areas of performance. Accordingly, while grades and/or achievement test scores might be an indicator of giftedness, neither grades nor achievement test scores shall eliminate a student from the identification process for the intellectually gifted program. Grades and/or achievement test scores are more appropriately an indicator of academic giftedness. Many intellectually gifted students are not going to be high achieving, teacher pleasing students. All measures collected throughout the identification process shall be selected based upon the strengths of the individual student being considered.
Once a referral form has been initiated, signed and dated, only the LSC or parents can stop the identification process.
Referral Criteria
A student shall satisfy two of the following criteria at this level before moving forward in the identification process:
NOTE: A group screening measure will assist in identifying some students from underrepresented populations. However, a group screening measure shall not be the sole determining factor used to eliminate a student from the identification process at the referral stage.
1. group measure of intelligence that has been administered within the past twelve (12) months,
2. published characteristics of giftedness measure,
3. published measure of creativity,
4. published measure of leadership,
5. achievement test scores,
6. existing measure of individual intelligence that has been administered within the past twelve (12) months, and/or
7. other measures that are documented in the research on identification of intellectually gifted students.
Each district shall establish the local minimal acceptable criteria on each measure used at this stage. Documentation of the measures and minimal acceptable criteria for each shall be maintained in a written document approved by the local school board. This document shall be distributed to district administrators, school counselors, and teachers, and shall be available to parents at each school site.
LSC Review
Once the referral data has been collected, the LSC shall review all the data and make one of the following recommendations:
1. the student has satisfied minimal criteria on at least two measures and should move forward to the assessment stage, or
2. the student has not satisfied minimal criteria on at least two measures, however, the LSC feels strongly that additional data should be collected and the student reconsidered at that time, or
3. the student has not satisfied minimal criteria on at least two measures and the identification process should stop.
Potentially Disadvantaged Gifted
At this point district personnel shall make the decision as to the possibility that the student could possibly be eligible for consideration as disadvantaged gifted. If it is believed that the student might be disadvantaged, then the Potentially Disadvantaged Intellectually Gifted Checklist should be completed for possible use during the assessment process. The potentially disadvantaged gifted category makes provisions for certain factors that exist that may put the student at a disadvantage when inappropriate instruments are used during the assessment process.
Assessment
Once the LSC has determined that a student should move forward to the assessment phase, district personnel shall review all data available on the student before deciding which measures are most appropriate to be used during assessment. After reviewing the information available, district personnel shall collect measures from at least three of the categories of assessment measures. A student shall satisfy minimal state criteria on measures from at least three categories before moving forward in the process. Districts may elect to set the local minimal criteria higher than the criteria stated in regulations.
Parental Permission for Testing
At this time, if parental permission for testing has not been obtained, district personnel shall obtain written parental permission for testing.
Phase I Assessment Criteria
1. A full scale score at or above the 90th percentile on a normed group measure of intelligence.
2. A score at or above the superior range on a normed characteristics of giftedness checklist.
3. A score at or above the superior range on a normed measure of creativity.
4. A score in the superior range on a normed measure of leadership.
5. A score at or above the 90th percentile on a normed measure of cognitive abilities.
6. A score at or above the 90th percentile on total language, total math, total reading, total science, total social studies, or the composite on a normed achievement test.
7. Other measures as approved by the SBE on the district's Gifted Education Program Proposal.
A student who has satisfied the minimal acceptable criteria on any three of the above measures shall move forward to the individual test of intelligence.
Phase II Assessment Criteria
Once it has been determined that a student has satisfied minimal criteria on three measures from Phase I of assessment, the student shall move forward to the second phase of assessment, the individual test of intelligence. All individual tests of intelligence shall be administered by a licensed examiner. In no case will the examiner be related to the student being tested. The examiner shall review all available data on the student, whether or not it satisfies minimal identification criteria, and use that information to select the most appropriate test of intelligence. No more than one individual test of intelligence shall be administered to the student without an appropriate waiting period between administrations. The examiner shall provide a signed and dated report of the test administration to include testing conditions, scores on all subtests or subscales, and the strengths and weaknesses of the student. A student must score at or above the 90th percentile composite/full scale or the 90th percentile on approved subtests in order to satisfy eligibility criteria.
Potentially Twice-Exceptional Students
Students who already have an eligibility ruling under IDEA and are being assessed for an intellectually gifted eligibility, and who did not satisfy the minimal acceptable criteria on the individual test of intelligence shall have their results reviewed by the LSC and a licensed examiner. If the student scores at or above the 90th percentile on the nonverbal scale, or who in the opinion of the reviewing committee would benefit from participation in the intellectually gifted program, the student may be granted a provisional eligibility for the intellectually gifted program for a period of one year. At the end of that year, the student's teacher of the gifted shall meet with the review committee to discuss the student's performance in the program. If the student has demonstrated success in the program, the LSC shall change the eligibility status from provisional to regular eligibility. If the student has not been successful in the program, the provisional eligibility shall be revoked.
Potentially Disadvantaged Gifted
Students who have satisfied criteria on the Potentially Disadvantaged Gifted Checklist who did not satisfy minimal acceptable criteria on an individual test of intelligence, but, did score at least the 85th percentile, may be administered one of the following additional measures to determine eligibility:
1. A test of cognitive abilities with a minimal score at the 90th percentile,
2. A group intelligence measure with a minimal score at the 90th percentile,
3. Place existing scores from the assessment stage into a matrix that the local district has had approved by the MDE.
Identification criteria, as approved by the SBE on the local district's Gifted Education Program Proposal must be satisfied for a student to be ruled eligible by the LSC for the intellectually gifted education program.
Assessment Report
District personnel shall write an Assessment Report, which must contain the following components:
1. Student's name,
2. Name of at least three measures from Assessment Phase I that were used to determine the need to administer an individual test of intelligence,
3. Results of each measure,
4. Name of individual who administered or completed each measure and the date administered or completed,
5. Test behaviors for any individually administered test(s),
6. Interpretation of the results of each individually administered test(s),
7. Name of the person who administered the individual test of intelligence and date test was administered,
8. Qualifications of the individual who administered the individual test of intelligence,
9. Results of the individual test of intelligence to include scores on all subtests and identified strengths and weaknesses,
10. Name of the person responsible for writing the Assessment Report, his/her signature and position, and
11. The date of the Assessment Report.
Eligibility Determination
Once the Assessment Report is finished, the LSC shall meet to review all data and determine if eligibility criteria has or has not been satisfied. The LSC shall rule that the student is or is not eligible for the intellectually gifted program.
Parental Notification
District personnel shall notify in writing the parents of each student tested for the intellectually gifted program about the assessment results. District personnel shall offer to explain any of the results that parents have questions about. District personnel shall also notify parents in writing about their rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
Miss. Code. tit. 7, pt. 10, IDENTIFICATION OF INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED STUDENTS