Gifted Program

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EDUPRIZE E.A.G.L.E. Initiative Gifted Program

Frequently Asked Questions

NAGC’s (National Association for Gifted Children) definition of giftedness:

Students with gifts and talents perform – or have the capability to perform – at higher levels compared to others of the same age, experience, and environment in one or more domains. They require modification(s) to their educational experience(s) to learn and realize their potential.

Student with gifts and talents:

• Come from all racial, ethnic, and cultural populations, as well as all economic strata.
• Require sufficient access to appropriate learning opportunities to realize their potential.
• Can have learning and processing disorders that require specialized intervention and accommodation.
• Need support and guidance to develop socially and emotionally as well as in their areas of talent.
• Require varied services based on their changing needs.

Both above grade level instruction, and the honors track are more rigorous in terms of curriculum and are geared toward high achieving students.  

Gifted services provide the required support specific to gifted learners. They target students’ advanced cognition/problem-solving skills, and provide social and emotional support essential for students with asynchronous development.

The EAGLE Initiative is an Enhanced Academic & Gifted Learning Environment which empowers students to elevate their learning by accessing prior knowledge and applying it to real world problem solving. Students are part of a learning environment that allows them to have autonomy and creative decision making in development and application beyond the core concept being pursued.

It is a pull-out program with a dedicated gifted teacher at each campus (Gilbert and Queen Creek), which serves 3rd through 8th grade gifted learners.

Students attend their regular classes for most of the school day, and receive services in the gifted classroom for 45 to 60 minutes, two to three days a week. Specific group times and schedules differ by grade-level, program, and campus. The primary goal is meeting gifted student needs with the least disruptions possible to their regular schedule.

Gifted services focus on providing differentiated learning opportunities involving depth and complexity, the expression of higher-level thinking, and creative productivity in the development of critical thinking and real world problem-solving.  

Gifted teachers promote interaction and collaboration with intellectual peers in which gifted learners develop cooperative competition skills, perseverance, and resilience by focusing on effort and growth vs. winning, and viewing mistakes and perceived failures as learning opportunities.

The gifted classroom is also an environment where gifted learners feel safe to develop an understanding of their giftedness, interests, strengths, and challenges. They are guided through the process of identifying their social/emotional needs, as well as the coping skills and self-advocacy necessary for success in school and in society.

We use the CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test) for identification of giftedness and qualification for services. 

The CogAT is a state approved test that measures students’ learned reasoning abilities in the three areas most closely related to success in school: 

  • Verbal Battery – measures students’ abilities to reason with verbal images and concepts. These reasoning abilities play an important role in reading comprehension, critical thinking, writing, and virtually all verbal learning tasks. 
  • Quantitative Battery – measures students’ abilities to reason with quantitative symbols and concepts. These reasoning skills are significantly related to problem solving in mathematics and other disciplines. 
  • Nonverbal Battery – measures students’ abilities to reason with geometric shapes and figures. To perform successfully, students must accurately implement strategies for solving novel problems. 

The three separate batteries provide a broad perspective on each student’s learned reasoning abilities. The CogAT identifies cognitive strengths and weaknesses, and is not indicative of student achievement. 

 

To qualify for gifted education services students must score at or above the 97th percentile in one or more areas.

Percentile ranks provide a comparison of performance, NOT the percent correct. Each child’s score is a comparison of their performance to that of a national sample of students of the same age, ranking them on a scale of 1 to 99.

Within a week of completing testing, your child will bring home a bar graph report that shows their CogAT scores. The scores will be accompanied by a cover letter that explains whether or not your child meets the qualification criteria.

We administer the CogAT once in the fall (early August) and once in the spring (April/May).

Students can be nominated by their teachers or parents. Parents can nominate their children in the spring or fall, teachers can nominate students in spring.

*Please note that students are only eligible to test once per calendar year (i.e. a student who tests in the spring, cannot test again until the following spring).

Students who qualify in the spring, will join the program the following school year.
Students who qualify in the fall will join the program the same school year.

Yes!  Outside scores are welcome, with two requirements:

  • Testing must have been completed within the last 3 years, or your child will need to retest during the next test session.
  • Any test that was not administered by a school, must have been administered by a State Board Certified psychologist (per Arizona state law).

 

To submit scores, send them to:

Queen Creek campus – kelly.anderson@eduprizeschools.net

There is no charge for the program itself. Parent nominated students must pay a testing fee of $20 via our Infinite Campus Portal (this is only available to be paid during the fall and spring nomination periods).