Upcoming GT Testing Information

Dear Parents,

Thank you for your interest in our Gifted and Talented program. Please see below for testing information.

District Screening Procedure: Elementary students in kindergarten through third grade score within a target range on the Phase I Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) in order to move forward to the Phase II portion of the screening process. Phase II involves the Iowa Assessments Achievement test.  We will begin testing for Phase I next week, and testing will continue until all students have completed the first Phase. Testing occurs in small groups in our classrooms during school hours.  You will be notified of your child’s status after Phase I testing is complete.  Testing will end for students whose scores do not fall within the target range for cognitive ability and those children will not qualify for placement in the GT program.  Students that do move forward to Phase II will continue the testing process with the Iowa test. 

Due to the volume of students and scheduling constraints, the full testing process will likely take several weeks to complete. To reduce testing fatigue, each student will be tested over the course of 2-3 days. Due to these variables, we are unable to provide you with an exact date or time that your child will be tested. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Students that continue with Phase II testing will sit for 2-3 additional testing sessions to complete all portions of the Iowa achievement test. Please feel free to contact us if you have not received scores by the end of November. Until then, we ask for your patience as I work through getting every student tested. You can best prepare your child for testing by ensuring he/she sleeps well, eats a healthy breakfast, and arrives to school on time each day.

Questions? WGES complies with CISD GT testing procedures. The CISD Gifted and Talented webpage has many resources available for you to further explain the process.

Please see below for testing information specific to fourth grade students only.

District Screening Procedure: ALL fourth grade students are given the CogAT and Iowa Assessments Achievement test in their homeroom classes. The campus GT specialists will use these test scores to determine qualification for the CISD Gifted program for those who were referred. You will be notified if your child does or does not qualify for the CISD Gifted program.

Fourth grade students will take the CogAT the week of October 1 and the Iowa tests the week of October 15. Since you have referred your child for the CISD Gifted program, the GT committee will use the CogAT and Iowa scores obtained during classroom testing to determine placement. We will notify you of your student’s qualification status once testing is complete. Please feel free to contact us if you have not received scores by the end of December.

Thank you,

Elizabeth Irish and Suzanne Moore