How Do You Nominate a Student for Gifted Identification?

Who can refer a student for identification?

Teachers, school leaders, parents, the students themselves, and community members may nominate a student by contacting the GT Facilitator in the school that the nominated student attends by submitting a referral form or writing a letter to the school's Gifted Education Facilitator.

gifted and talented identification and detrmination flowchart: please click on the graphic to read the information in a PDF

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Student Referral Process, explained

  1. The teacher, family, student, or any other stakeholder completes a referral and sends it to the Advanced Academic Department using our Advanced Academics Referral Form.
  2. The Advanced Academics and Gifted Services Team (AAGS) will review the referral and determine the next steps in the process. The team will work with the school-level GT Facilitator during this process.
  3. The GT Facilitator will pull together a body of evidence that supports identification in a student's area of strength (Talent Aptitude or Academic Aptitude):
    1. The GT Facilitator includes a body of evidence on a Google Spreadsheet for the identification team to consider.
    2. The school team and the AAGS leadership team will collaboratively determine identification for Advanced Academics (gifted identification or Talent Pool.)
    3. Families will be contacted to provide additional evidence to support eligibility.
  4. The GT Facilitator will notify families when a student is identified as gifted or will be added to the Talent Pool list.

All student information is confidential and protected under FERPA.

In addition to the referral process, APS does utilize information in the district achievement database to screen for students that have very high academic aptitudes that may warrant further review by our AAGS team for purposes of eligibility. Students with high achievement on district and state tests may not necessarily result in eligibility. Only when a student obtains a robust body of evidence do they become eligible for gifted and high potential supports. (We will explain the Body of Evidence below. Please keep reading.)

For all other students that may be eligible for a non-academic area (e.g. general cognitive ability, leadership, performing and creative arts, etc.) referrals are made by parents, teachers, coaches, or even the student themselves based on data and information already in their possession (e.g. CogAT screeners, recitals/stage performances, community leadership activities, participation in highly competitive sports, etc.), which would trigger a formal referral and the collection of a body of evidence.