Plan for Identification & Services of Gifted Children

Resources for Gifted Children and Their Families

From the start of the school year, the Pupil Services department is busy following the guidelines set forth by the state of Ohio for identifying and serving gifted students. Our Gifted Intervention Specialist is the paramount component of this process.

The Cardinal Local School District uses various grade-wide assessment tools to identify students who meet the definition of a gifted student according state criteria. These assessments include the MAP tests that are administered three times each year to all students in kindergarten through eighth grade, and the Cognitive Tests of Ability (CogaT) that are administered to all sixth graders in the fall and all second graders in the spring.

The Pupil Services Director and the Gifted Coordinator review these test results after each assessment is completed to determine which students can be newly identified as gifted.  Per the state of Ohio, once a student is identified as gifted they retain this status until they graduate. If a student is newly identified, the Gifted Coordinator will send the parent(s) a letter explaining the identification.  Every year, Written Education Plans (WEPs) outlining the services being provided for each individual student are created by the Gifted Coordinator in conjunction with the student’s teachers and administration.

The Gifted Coordinator offers various levels of assistance to all of our gifted students.  In all instances, the GIS provides professional development to those teachers who have gifted students in their classrooms. This professional development gives classroom teachers relevant information on various topics such as: gifted characteristics and student identification; asynchronous development; learning styles and curriculum planning; and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge. In first through eighth grades the students may be cluster grouped into specific classrooms. For others, the Gifted Coordinator assists the classroom teacher in designing lessons that will expand and stretch the students and promote the development of critical thinking skills.  The Gifted Coordinator also oversees options offered to older students. Some students in eighth grade are subject accelerated, while high school students are provided opportunities such as honors classes, College Credit Plus courses (formerly known as Post Secondary Enrollment Options, PSEO), and advanced placement courses.

In addition, the Gifted Coordinator supports our gifted students through activities such as math and other competitions, enrichment and independent math projects, and book clubs. The Gifted Coordinator also provides coaching and planning with teachers, and consultation for specific students. In the spring, the Gifted Coordinator reviews all of the gifted students’ placements for the upcoming school year to assure the students are in the classes that will be most optimal for their ongoing unique development. The Coordinator then collaborates with the Pupil Services Director to re-design the program to best accommodate the next year’s group of gifted students.

Our Gifted Coordinator is the core of the district’s highly-rated gifted program that allows us to appropriately and adequately serve this unique and special population of students.