Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 7 - Education K-12 › Part 10 - Regulations for the Gifted Education Programs in Mississippi › IDENTIFICATION OF INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED STUDENTS

Current through June 25, 2024
NOTE: Throughout the identification process, district personnel
				shall be careful to select measures that target the student's strengths.
Referral
A student may be referred by a parent, teacher, counselor,
				administrator, peer, self, or anyone else having reason to believe that the
				student might be intellectually gifted. The person initiating the referral
				shall sign the referral form and date it. District personnel shall collect the
				data required to satisfy the district's referral criteria. The Jacob Javits Act
				( PL
				107-110 sec. 9101) declares that intellectual
				ability and academic ability are two distinct and separate areas of
				performance. Accordingly, while grades and/or achievement test scores might be
				an indicator of giftedness, neither grades nor achievement test scores shall
				eliminate a student from the identification process for the intellectually
				gifted program. Grades and/or achievement test scores are more appropriately an
				indicator of academic giftedness. Many intellectually gifted students are not
				going to be high achieving, teacher pleasing students. All measures collected
				throughout the identification process shall be selected based upon the
				strengths of the individual student being considered.
Once a referral form has been initiated, signed and dated, only
				the LSC or parents can stop the identification process.
Referral Criteria
A student shall satisfy two of the following criteria at this
				level before moving forward in the identification process:
NOTE:
A group screening measure will assist in
				identifying some students from underrepresented populations. However, a group
				screening measure shall not be the sole determining factor used to eliminate a
				student from the identification process at the referral stage.
1. group measure of intelligence that has been administered
				within the past twelve (12) months,
2. published characteristics of giftedness measure,
3. published measure of creativity,
4. published measure of leadership,
5. achievement test scores,
6. existing measure of individual intelligence that has been
				administered within the past twelve (12) months, and/or
7. other measures that are documented in the research on
				identification of intellectually gifted students.
Each district shall establish the local minimal acceptable
				criteria on each measure used at this stage. Documentation of the measures and
				minimal acceptable criteria for each shall be maintained in a written document
				approved by the local school board. This document shall be distributed to
				district administrators, school counselors, and teachers, and shall be
				available to parents at each school site.
LSC Review
Once the referral data has been collected, the LSC shall review
				all the data and make one of the following recommendations:
1. the student has satisfied minimal criteria on at least two
				measures and should move forward to the assessment stage, or
2. the student has not satisfied minimal criteria on at least
				two measures, however, the LSC feels strongly that additional data should be
				collected and the student reconsidered at that time, or
3. the student has not satisfied minimal criteria on at least
				two measures and the identification process should stop.
Potentially Disadvantaged Gifted
At this point district personnel shall make the decision as to
				the possibility that the student could possibly be eligible for consideration
				as disadvantaged gifted. If it is believed that the student might be
				disadvantaged, then the Potentially Disadvantaged Intellectually Gifted
				Checklist should be completed for possible use during the assessment process.
				The potentially disadvantaged gifted category makes provisions for certain
				factors that exist that may put the student at a disadvantage when
				inappropriate instruments are used during the assessment process.
Assessment
Once the LSC has determined that a student should move forward
				to the assessment phase, district personnel shall review all data available on
				the student before deciding which measures are most appropriate to be used
				during assessment. After reviewing the information available, district
				personnel shall collect measures from at least three of the
categories
of assessment measures. A student shall
				satisfy minimal state criteria on measures from at least three categories
				before moving forward in the process. Districts may elect to set the local
				minimal criteria higher than the criteria stated in regulations.
Parental Permission for Testing
At this time, if parental permission for testing has not been
				obtained, district personnel shall obtain written parental permission for
				testing.
Phase I Assessment Criteria
1. A full scale score at or above the
				90th percentile on a normed group measure of
				intelligence.
2. A score at or above the superior range on a normed
				characteristics of giftedness checklist.
3. A score at or above the superior range on a normed measure
				of creativity.
4. A score in the superior range on a normed measure of
				leadership.
5. A score at or above the 90th
				percentile on a normed measure of cognitive abilities.
6. A score at or above the 90th
				percentile on total language, total math, total reading, total science, total
				social studies, or the composite on a normed achievement test.
7. Other measures as approved by the SBE on the district's
				Gifted Education Program Proposal.
A student who has satisfied the minimal acceptable criteria on
				any three of the above measures shall move forward to the individual test of
				intelligence.
Phase II Assessment Criteria
Once it has been determined that a student has satisfied
				minimal criteria on three measures from Phase I of assessment, the student
				shall move forward to the second phase of assessment, the individual test of
				intelligence. All individual tests of intelligence shall be administered by a
				licensed examiner. In no case will the examiner be related to the student being
				tested. The examiner shall review all available data on the student, whether or
				not it satisfies minimal identification criteria, and use that information to
				select the most appropriate test of intelligence. No more than one individual
				test of intelligence shall be administered to the student without an
				appropriate waiting period between administrations. The examiner shall provide
				a signed and dated report of the test administration to include testing
				conditions, scores on all subtests or subscales, and the strengths and
				weaknesses of the student. A student must score at or above the
				90th percentile composite/full scale or the
				90th percentile on approved subtests in order to
				satisfy eligibility criteria.
Potentially Twice-Exceptional Students
Students who already have an eligibility ruling under IDEA and
				are being assessed for an intellectually gifted eligibility, and who did not
				satisfy the minimal acceptable criteria on the individual test of intelligence
				shall have their results reviewed by the LSC and a licensed examiner. If the
				student scores at or above the 90th percentile on
				the nonverbal scale, or who in the opinion of the reviewing committee would
				benefit from participation in the intellectually gifted program, the student
				may be granted a provisional eligibility for the intellectually gifted program
				for a period of one year. At the end of that year, the student's teacher of the
				gifted shall meet with the review committee to discuss the student's
				performance in the program. If the student has demonstrated success in the
				program, the LSC shall change the eligibility status from provisional to
				regular eligibility. If the student has not been successful in the program, the
				provisional eligibility shall be revoked.
Potentially Disadvantaged Gifted
Students who have satisfied criteria on the Potentially
				Disadvantaged Gifted Checklist who did not satisfy minimal acceptable criteria
				on an individual test of intelligence, but, did score at least the
				85th percentile, may be administered one of the
				following additional measures to determine eligibility:
1. A test of cognitive abilities with a minimal score at the
				90th percentile,
2. A group intelligence measure with a minimal score at the
				90th percentile,
3. Place existing scores from the assessment stage into a
				matrix that the local district has had approved by the MDE.
Identification criteria, as approved by the SBE on the local
				district's Gifted Education Program Proposal must be satisfied for a student to
				be ruled eligible by the LSC for the intellectually gifted education
				program.
Assessment Report
District personnel shall write an Assessment Report, which must
				contain the following components:
1. Student's name,
2. Name of at least three measures from Assessment Phase I that
				were used to determine the need to administer an individual test of
				intelligence,
3. Results of each measure,
4. Name of individual who administered or completed each
				measure and the date administered or completed,
5. Test behaviors for any individually administered
				test(s),
6. Interpretation of the results of each individually
				administered test(s),
7. Name of the person who administered the individual test of
				intelligence and date test was administered,
8. Qualifications of the individual who administered the
				individual test of intelligence,
9. Results of the individual test of intelligence to include
				scores on all subtests and identified strengths and weaknesses,
10. Name of the person responsible for writing the Assessment
				Report, his/her signature and position, and
11. The date of the Assessment Report.
Eligibility Determination
Once the Assessment Report is finished, the LSC shall meet to
				review all data and determine if eligibility criteria has or has not been
				satisfied. The LSC shall rule that the student is or is not eligible for the
				intellectually gifted program.
Parental Notification
District personnel shall notify in writing the parents of each
				student tested for the intellectually gifted program about the assessment
				results. District personnel shall offer to explain any of the results that
				parents have questions about. District personnel shall also notify parents in
				writing about their rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
				(FERPA).