Gifted

For any child who is referred for gifted testing, GCSS is required to gather information in the following areas: Mental Ability, Achievement, Creativity, and Motivation. For more information, click the arrows below next to each assessment instrument selected by GCSS to meet the identification guidelines of Georgia Board of Education Rule 160-4-2-.38.

These ability tests measure thinking with verbal, nonverbal, and quantitative test content. The questions on the three tests measure your child’s general ability by measuring understanding of relationships among pictures (the verbal test), diagrams (the nonverbal test), and numbers (the quantitative test). The questions on these tests can be solved regardless of the language the student speaks or the knowledge gained by educational instruction. 

 i-Ready Diagnostic provides teachers with a complete picture of student performance relating to their grade level and national norms. It also includes Lexile® and Quantile® information for insights into reading and mathematics performance. The Diagnostic has two rigorous score types that can be used to gauge a student’s readiness for gifted instruction. One score type is the Diagnostic’s criterion-referenced grade-level placements. A student’s potential to succeed in gifted instruction may be gauged based on a performance of "Above Grade Level" on the Diagnostic. The second score type provided by the Diagnostic is norm-referenced scores. The Diagnostic provides a representative national comparison group against which the ability of any single learner or the ability of a group of learners can be gauged using the Diagnostic’s national percentile ranks.  (High school students may also qualify with the results of the PSAT, SAT, or ACT).

The highly reliable Torrance® Tests of Creative Thinking are the most widely used creativity assessments. The most recognizable feature of these tests is the assignment for students to draw and give a title to their drawings. The Torrance has been used for identification of the creatively gifted and as a part of gifted matrices all over the world. The Torrance Tests of Creativity exercises assess three mental characteristics: fluency, flexibility, and originality. The TTCT is administered in one test session, lasting approximately one hour. The resulting score is reported as a national percentile rank to parents in the creativity section on the gifted eligibility report. The 90th percentile is the minimum qualifying score. 

**Motivation refers to a child’s desire to achieve a goal or complete self-selected tasks. Motivation is not a type of giftedness but rather viewed as the energy that drives a child to achieve. 

What is the Gifted Rating Scales (GRS)? Gifted Rating Scales are norm-referenced rating scales based on current theories of giftedness; their use meets state guidelines regarding the definition of gifted and talented students for students in grades K-7. The GRS is a rating scale, completed by a teacher, based upon a child’s motivational behaviors in an academic setting. The local school Gifted Eligibility Team will select two teachers to complete the scale who have known the child for at least thirty days.The 90th percentile is the minimum qualifying score. 

Hawthorn Motivation Scale: The Gifted Evaluation Scale-Third Edition (GES-3) was developed to aid in the identification and program plan- ning for children and adolescents in our schools. The scale consists of 48 items. Each subscale is associated with one of the five characteristics identified in federal and state regulations. The GES-3 subscales are:

• Intellectual 
• Creativity   
• Specific Academic Aptitude
• Leadership Ability 
•  Performing and Visual Arts 

      (High School students may also qualify in motivation with a GPA of 3.5 or higher)

Teachers of Gifted and Talented students in the Greene County School System are guided by Georgia content standards as well as the National Association of Gifted Children Gifted Programming Standards.