Gifted Education Annual Notice

NOTICE

 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­Mifflinburg Area School District

Annual Notice of Gifted Support Services

 

The Mifflinburg Area School District is committed to providing Gifted Support services to those students who are eligible and in need of these services.

 

Each school district shall conduct awareness activities to inform the public of gifted educational services and programs and the manner by which to request these services and programs.  These awareness activities shall be designed to reach parents of students enrolled in the public schools and the parents of school age children not enrolled in the public schools.

 

The Mifflinburg Area School District provides programming for students who are identified as Mentally Gifted.  This term includes a person who has an IQ of 130 or higher or when multiple criteria as set forth in Chapter 16 regulations and in Department Guidelines indicate gifted ability.  Determination of gifted ability will not be based on IQ score alone.  Deficits in memory or processing speed, as indicated by testing, cannot be the sole basis upon which a student is determined to be ineligible for gifted special education.  A person with an IQ score lower than 130 may be admitted to gifted programs when other educational criteria in the profile of the person strongly indicate gifted ability.  Determination of mentally gifted must include an assessment by a certified school psychologist.

 

Identification (Child Find) Activities:

Building level teams meet regularly at the elementary, intermediate, middle school, and high school levels to monitor student progress, to develop intervention strategies, and to identify students who may need gifted services.  The teams consider a variety of academic, behavioral, speech/language, and motor development information.  Teachers within the district are trained in referral procedures.  Guidance counselors, working in collaboration with their district colleagues at all levels, are also important front line personnel in child find procedures.

 

The Mifflinburg Area School District has an assessment plan which specifies the type of evaluations that are administered at various grade levels.  The analysis of assessment results is an important child find strategy, and students may be referred to the school guidance counselor and/or school psychologist for additional assessment.

 

Initiating an Evaluation:

Parents who have questions about their child’s academic or developmental growth and believe that their child may be Mentally Gifted should contact the appropriate building principal, school guidance counselor, or the Gifted Coordinator to request screening and/or evaluation.  A parental request for a gifted evaluation should be made in writing.

 

Confidentiality of Student Records:

If a screening procedure finds evidence of giftedness and a gifted evaluation is recommended, the district must issue a Permission to Evaluate form to parents or guardians.  Written consent is required prior to conducting the evaluation.  An evaluation report is prepared after the assessments are completed.  The written record of the results is called an educational record and is maintained by the District.  The record contains information that personally identifies a child’s name, name of parents or other family members, address, and other traceable information.  The school district protects the confidentiality of personally identifiable information according to the district’s Students Records policy and FERPA (Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act).

 

Further information about gifted education is available from building principals or the Gifted Coordinator at (570) 966-8280.