Education of Exceptional Children
This law, commonly known as the Exceptional Children’s Education Act (ECEA), delineates requirements for administrative units (AUs) and their constituent schools or districts when implementing program plans for gifted student education. ECEA is the overarching law for gifted education and special education.
House Bill 07-1244
The bill declared that “each administrative unit shall adopt and implement a Program Plan to identify and serve gifted children” 22-20-104.5.
ECEA defines "identification" as:
The assessment process used by the AU for identifying students who meet the definition specified in section 12.01(16) and for identifying the educational needs of gifted students. 12.02(2)(c)
Criteria for Determining Exceptional Ability (Giftedness) or Talent Pool
12.02(2)(d)(i) For each category of giftedness defined in 12.01(16), criteria for exceptional ability means: 95 percentile or above on a standardized nationally normed test or observation tool, or a rating on a performance assessment that indicates exceptionality/distinguished compared to age mates.
12.02(2)(d)(ii) Not meeting criteria on a single assessment tool shall not prevent further data collection or consideration for identification, if other indicators suggest exceptional potential as observed in a body of evidence.
12.02(2)(d)(iii) Criteria for screening assessments is a score range less than the 95 percentile ranking or results on observation/performance assessment tools as determined by the AU to determine referrals, further data collection and observation, and/or formation of student talent pools.
Areas of Identification
The Exceptional Children's Education Act (ECEA) states Gifted students are capable of high performance, exceptional production, or exceptional learning behavior by virtue of any or a combination of these areas of giftedness:
GENERAL INTELLECTUAL ABILITY
SPECIFIC ACADEMIC APTITUDES
Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies, World Language
The identification process begins with a formal referral. A referral can happen at multiple times of the year, come from multiple sources, and be for multiple types of identification (academic aptitude, talent aptitude, etc.) Referrals can be made by students, families, teachers, other school personnel, or community members based on observable traits, achievement or ability data, or other information demonstrating a student may need and benefit from programming.
The GT Facilitator at each school determines the process for referrals. If there is a question about starting a formal referral, parties may complete this form to begin the process. Once the referral is received, the school will send communication to the family acknowledging receipt of referral.
The school team will begin to gather information about a student's academic performance which, when considered in its entirety, documents the level of a student's academic performance and/or cognitive ability, this is known as a body of evidence. A body of evidence should consist of quantitative and qualitative measures to determine if a student meets the criteria for gifted identification and to build a student profile of strengths and interests. Quantitative assessment provides numerical scores or ratings that can be analyzed or quantified. Qualitative assessment provides interpretive and descriptive information about certain attributes, characteristics, behaviors or performances.The evidence must include, at a minimum, assessment results, family input, and multiple types of measures and data sources including both quantitative and qualitative measures. The following are examples of data that may be included in the body of evidence.
Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
Review Teams
According to ECEA Rule [12.02(2)(c)(vi)}, Each [district]shall use identification assessment and review by a team, as described in state board rule, to identify gifted children. The team shall use a body of evidence upon which to base the determination of giftedness. Teams will make a determination within 30 school days of the referral.
Each LPS school has a Gifted Review Team that includes the GT Facilitator along with other staff members who represent a varied and wide range of expertise. Schools are encouraged to include team members who:
The team meets to hear a review of all the data in the body of evidence and carefully consider if the student meets criteria for identification and would benefit from programming.
Gifted Determination
Within 30 school days of the referral, the Review Team will meet to examine the body of evidence collected during the identification process and may make one or more of the following determinations:
After the determination is made, the GT Facilitator will communicate to all relevant stakeholders (family, student, and other educators) the identification status.
THIS FLOWCHART from CDE summarizes this process.
If the team determines the BOE indicates the student meets criteria for identification. Written notification is provided to the parent/family. Other pertinent education personnel should be informed of this decision (for ex. Students’ classroom teacher.) Parents/families/educational personnel are invited to participate in the development of the Advanced Learning Plan (ALP) development.
If the team determines the BOE indicates the student does not meet criteria for identification. Written notification is provided to the parent/family. Other pertinent education personnel should be informed of this decision (for ex. Students’ classroom teacher.)
If the team determines the BOE indicates the student does not meet criteria for identification but they believe the student would benefit from advanced learning opportunities, the student may be placed in the Talent Pool and/or added as a “guest” to an enrichment or honors class.
