IDENTIFICATION & ASSESSMENT OF THE GIFTED - REFLECTION

Based upon your local school experiences, analyze the strengths and weaknesses of
Fulton County Schools procedures for implementing Georgia Board of Education Rule
160-4-2.38 (GEPO-S1, GEPO-S6, GEPO-D1, GEPO-D2, GEPO-D6)
Georgia BoE Rule 160-4-2.38 states: The Georgia State Board of Education defines a
gifted student as one who demonstrates a high degree of intellectual and/or creative
ability(ies), exhibits an exceptionally high degree of motivation, and/or excels in specific
academic fields, and who needs special instruction and/or special services to achieve at
levels commensurate with his or her abilities.
Based on this definition, I believe that Fulton County Schools does a good job of
assessing and identifying students who are gifted, however I believe that the assessment
relies too heavily on the Characteristics Instrument for Screening Students (CISS)
process, which I perceive to be a very subjective way to begin the assessment process.
Teachers that are not necessarily trained in identifying gifted students, use a rubric to
identify students that they believe would be good candidates for further testing. This can
be advantageous for students in elementary, as their classroom teachers often know them
better than other teachers who they might only see once or twice a week. It can also be
detrimental if the teachers that are evaluating the students based on the CISS rubric, are
not trained in what it actually represents and how it can be used to identify students that
might possibly not stand out as being gifted, such as twice exceptional students.
Fulton County Schools does well in informing parents of the process for having their child
screened for eligibility into the talented and gifted program (TAG). There is an automatic
screening at the beginning of the school year, followed by review of standardized test
scores. Parents are given the option to consent for their child to be screened further using
specific gifted eligibility tests.
Through the Identification and Assessment of the Gifted course, I have come to
understand that there are many ways to identify gifted students. We all have a part to
play, and it is not just up to the TAG teachers, or experts at the county or state levels to
do that work for us. The important work we do every day, teaching and learning from
students, makes every teacher an integral part of the process. It is imperative that all
teachers are trained in how to identify gifted students, and I think that Fulton County could
do a better job of ensuring that this is done, rather than focus on just a select few.