Gifted Support Services
Pine-Richland School District is committed to focusing on learning for every student every day. Inherent in that commitment is the recognition of the unique abilities, talents, interests, and needs of intellectually gifted students which require special educational considerations.
Educating the gifted student is the shared responsibility of all educators, the student's parents, and the student.
Programs for gifted children fit into the array of special programs available for all exceptional children. These programs reflect individual differences, equal educational opportunity, and desire for the optimal development of each child. Programs that are based on sound philosophical, theoretical, and empirical foundations are those most likely to benefit students identified as gifted.
Testing for Gifted Services
Gifted learners must be assessed to determine appropriate educational services. District guidelines and procedures are readily available in all schools within the district and on the district website through the Annual Notice of Student Services. Pine-Richland School District continues to use data-driven decisions to determine whether a student is mentally gifted. This term includes a person who has an IQ of 130 or higher or meets multiple criteria as set forth in the Department Guidelines indicate gifted ability. Determination of gifted ability will not be based on IQ scores alone. A person with an IQ lower than 130 may be admitted to the gifted program when other educational criteria in the profile of the person strongly indicate gifted ability. Determination of mentally gifted shall include an assessment by a certified school psychologist.
The Pine-Richland School District has established procedures whereby the classroom teacher and/or school counselor reviews student performance throughout the school year. A general overview of the identification process across all grades levels is as follows: A teacher referral for a gifted evaluation occurs when the student, regardless of any disability, is suspected of being gifted due to the demonstration of the characteristics of mental giftedness consistent with the definition of mentally gifted or the performance level which exceeds that of other students in the regular education classroom.
A parent may make a referral when they suspect their child is gifted. The parent may request in writing an evaluation at any time, with the limit of one request per school year. As per 22 PA Code § 16.22 (c), if a parent makes the request for an evaluation verbally, the school district must inform them to put their request in writing. When the District receives the written request, the parents will receive a Permission to Evaluate form within 10 calendar days of the written request. At that time, the building school counselor will be contacted to complete the building screening matrix whose points are required to complete the evaluation process. The District must receive a parent’s signature on the Permission to Evaluate form in order to continue with the testing by the certified school psychologist. Once the guidance counselor receives the referral from the classroom teacher, a building screening matrix is completed.
Students will receive points for meeting specified criteria, such as:
• Grades
• Standardized achievement scores
• Classroom observations
• Teacher rating scales
• Parent rating scale
• IQ test results
A minimum number of points are required for the student to move on to the second phase of the evaluation, which includes the individual intelligence examination given by the certified school psychologist. Once the evaluation is completed, students are awarded points based on their scores on full scale, individual IQ tests. Finally, points are totaled based on student performance on these multiple criteria. It is possible to qualify for gifted support services with an IQ score below 130 if the student has met all or nearly all other criteria.
Please contact your school building's guidance department to begin the testing process.
RAM Time: Gifted Enrichment
Our big idea is to build a knowledge-base and global awareness in our students with hopes to cultivate their learning through science, arts, literacy, writing, mathematics, engineering, design, and technology. We structure our Gifted Support RAM Time to support the application of 21st-century skills through hands-on problem-solving tasks and require a real-world application. These Problem-Based Learning (PBL) sessions are student-centered and foster learning which takes place within the contexts of authentic tasks, issues, and/ or problem (s)--that are aligned with real-world concerns.
Gifted Resources
Renzulli Learning
An Internet-based educational tool that provides fun, engaging, and meaningful activities that are tailored to meet your child’s individual interests and needs. GoQuest makes sure that your child gets the exact educational resources he or she needs, exactly when he or she needs them.
Design Squad
The DESIGN SQUAD NATION website is an online community that grew out of the DESIGN SQUAD television series that aired on PBS KIDS. The site targets kids ages 8 and older and features creative activities, engaging video, interactive games, and exciting contests.
The College of William & Mary
The Center for Gifted Education (CFGE) is a research and development center providing services to educators, policy makers, graduate students, researchers, and parents in support of the needs of gifted and talented individuals.
Hoagies' Gifted Education Page
Hoagies' Gifted Education Page consists of over 1150 pages of information on gifted children and adults.