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Referral Process

Placement in the Gifted Program
Permission for Placement
   Once a student is ruled eligible for placement in the gifted program, the parent has the right to agree to placement or withhold placement of the child in the program. Written parental permission must be obtained before the child can be placed in the program.
   Participation in the Gifted Education Program is NOT a reward. It is an Entitlement under State Law (Mississippi Gifted Education Act of 1989, Mississippi Code Sections 37-23-171 through 37-23-181).
 
Participation in Program
   Mississippi Department of Education gifted regulations require intellectually gifted students in grades 2-6 be provided with instruction by a teacher with gifted endorsement for a minimum of 240 minutes per week. Participation is necessary on a regular basis. (A regular classroom teacher may not prevent an eligible student from attending the gifted class due to issues within the regular classroom. A student may not choose to miss a gifted class without prior consent from the teachers and the parent/guardian).
 
Identification Process
   The Gulfport School District uses a multi-faceted process to identify those students who demonstrate unusually high achievement and/or have the potential for unusually high achievement. Intellectually Gifted students require unique differentiated educational programs outside the regular classroom
   The identification process consists of a combination of subjective and objective measures to determine eligibility for the gifted program. No single evaluation method or instrument adequately identifies students who are gifted; as a result, a multi-faceted identification process must be followed to ensure a fair evaluation of each individual student. The identification process shall provide an equitable opportunity for the inclusion of students with an emerging potential for gifted-students who are culturally diverse, underachieving, disabled under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guidelines, physically handicapped, ADD/ADHD, as well as students who exhibit classroom behavior such as extreme shyness, short attention spans, disruptiveness, continual questioning, and anxiety.
 
Referral Process
There are two types of gifted referral processes in the Gifted Education Regulations of 2013:
  1. Mass Screening Referral Process addresses those students who are mass screened for gifted eligibility.
  2. Individual Referral Process addresses those students who are individually referred for gifted eligibility.
 
Mass Screening Referral Process
  •  Districts should use a normed group measure of intelligence in the Mass Screening Referral Process, as well as, assisting in identifying students in underrepresented populations.
    • Students who obtain a full-scale score at or above the 90th percentile on the norm group measure of intelligence shall move forward in the referral process.
    • Students who scored at or above the 85th percentile but lower than the 90th on the norm group measure of the intelligence shall be subjected to an Emerging Potential for Gifted Referral checklist.  If these students meet the criteria on the checklist and have the necessary data to support the areas identified, they shall move forward in the referral process.
    • The next step is collection of substantiated student data obtained through the use of other objective and subjective measures.  District personnel shall make decisions as to which measures will be used during this step of Mass Screening Referral Process.
    • A student shall satisfy two of the following additional criteria before moving forward to the LSC Review of Referral Data stage:
      1. a score at or above the superior range on a normed published characteristics of giftedness checklist,
      2. a score at or above the superior range on a normed published measure of creativity,
      3. a score at or above the superior range on a normed published measure of leadership,
      4. 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,
      5. a score at or above the 90th percentile on a normed measure of cognitive ability,
      6. a score at or above the 90th percentile on an existing measure of individual intelligence that has been administered with the past twelve months, and/or
      7. other measures that are documented in the research on identification of intellectually gifted students.
Individual Referral Process
   A student may be referred by a parent, teacher, counselor, administrator, peer, self, or anyone having reason to believe that the student might be intellectually gifted.
   A student shall satisfy a minimum of three of the following criteria at this level before moving forward in the identification process: 

  1. score at or above the 90th percentile on a group measure of intelligence that has been administered within the past twelve months,

  2. score at or above the superior range on a normed published characteristics of giftedness checklist,

  3. score at or above the superior range on a normed published measure of creativity,

  4. score at or above the superior range on a normed published measure of leadership,

  5. 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,

  6. score at or above the 90th percentile on a normed measure of cognitive ability,

  7. score at or above the 90th percentile on an existing measure of individual intelligence that has been administered with the past 12 months, and/or

  8. other measures that are documented in the research on identification of intellectually gifted students.

 
 LSC Review
   The Gifted Local Survey Committee (GLSC) shall review all the data and make one of the following recommendations:
  1. The student has satisfied minimal criteria on at least three of the measures and should move forward to the assessment stage, or 
  2. The student has not satisfied minimal criteria on at least three measures. However, the GLSC 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 three measures and the process should be stopped.
   GLSC Team Members: Gifted Teacher(s), Principal(s), Lead teacher (if there is only one gifted teacher assigned to the school),    and special education teacher if student receives services under IDEA.
 
   GLSC Team Members for Gulfport School District Second Grade Mass Screening: Gifted teacher(s), principal(s), Second grade    lead teacher (if there is only one gifted teacher assigned to the school), and special education teacher if student receives services    under IDEA.
 
Parent Permission
   If the criterion has been met, the parents will be contacted and a meeting scheduled.  At this time district personnel shall obtain written parental consent for testing and notify the student's parents in writing about their rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). 
 
Assessment
   The assessment stage is the individual test of intelligence, which shall be administered by a licensed examiner; in no case will the examiner be related to the student being tested.
 
  1. The examiner shall review all available data on the student, whether or not it satisfies minimal identification criteria, and use the information to select the most appropriate test of intelligence.
  2. Standard operating procedures should be followed during the selection and administration of all assessments as reflected in the examiner's manuals.
  3. The examiner shall provide a signed and dated report of the test administration to include testing conditions, score on all subtests or subscales, and the strengths and weaknesses of the student.
  4. A student must score at or above the 91st percentile composite/full scale or the 92nd percentile on approved subtests (as per publisher) in order to satisfy eligibility criteria.
Participation in Program
 
Homework/Classwork 
   As outlined in Regulations for the Gifted Education Programs in Mississippi (2013), gifted students in grades 2-6 may not be required to make-up class work missed when they are scheduled to be in the gifted class. Gifted students shall be held accountable for demonstrating the mastery of content and information on regularly scheduled test.
    In the event a student has difficulty keeping up with the regular classroom work, a conference will be held with the parents, classroom, teacher, gifted teacher, and the student, if appropriate, to discuss the problem and to determine an appropriate course of action. The conference and plan of action will be documented, and follow-up conferences will be held as needed. As the academic progress and welfare of the students are always of prime consideration, special situations will be handled on an individual basis.
 
Activities/Specials and Recess
   Gifted students need to attend activities/specials and recess on the days that they participate in the district's gifted program.
 
Progress Reporting
   Parents of students participating in the Intellectually Gifted Program will be notified of progress/participation at District scheduled report card time.