Gifted Education Testing Guidelines

1. Gifted Education Testing Guidelines The following are addressed in Bixby Public School District Gifted Education Policy

2. Definition of Gifted and Talented • The statutory definition of the gifted and talented states: • "Gifted and talented children" • children identified as having demonstrated potential abilities of high performance capability and • needing differentiated or accelerated education or services • "demonstrated abilities of high performance capability" means those identified students who score in the top three percent (97% and above) on any nationally standardized test of intellectual ability • Gifted is a measure of ability, not academic achievement. • High Achievers are different than Gifted.

3. General District Policies • school district shall identify and serve students who score at or above the 97th percentile on a nationally standardized test of intellectual ability… • …school district may utilize other evaluation mechanisms such as, but not limited to, teacher referrals in lieu of standardized testing measures. [70 O.S. 1210-301] • Bixby only uses OCCT advanced scores to nominate for testing and/or to place a student in GT as Multicriteria with 96% • Transfer students may qualify with proof of assessment and scores from other standardized tests such as CoGat, WISC, etc. • Transfer students that do not provide documentation of scores meeting Bixby policy must be assessed

4. Tests Used • Otis Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT) • OLSAT measures verbal, quantitative, and figural reasoning skills most closely related to scholastic achievement. • abilities assessed through performance on such tasks as detecting similarities and differences, solving analogies and matrixes, classifying, and determining sequence. • These tasks address higher levels of Bloom’s • The OLSAT is a 72 question timed test (40 minutes total). Unanswered question s are counted as incorrect • The OLSAT is grade specific • Students’ scores are calculated according to age group norms; a 10yr 3mo 4th grader is in the same norm group as a 5th grader the same age

5. Kaufmann Brief Intelligence Test (KBIT) • KBIT measures verbal and nonverbal intelligence • verbal subsection assesses a person’s word knowledge, range of general information, verbal concept formation, and reasoning ability • nonverbal subsection assesses an individual’s ability to perceive relationships and complete visual analogies. • nonverbal test items involve pictures or abstract designs rather than words. • KBIT is not timed and not grade specific (ages 4-90!) • students have a starting point based on attained age • there is a “discontinue” rule & students are not required to answer all questions • KBIT is given in a 1 on 1 setting & the test administartor records all responses • Non-verbal addresses higher levels of Bloom • KBIT also uses age level norming groups

6. Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test 2 (NNAT2) • The NNAT2 measures general ability using test questions that require the student to solve visual analogies or progressive matrices. • The NNAT2 may be administered individually or in a group assessment by the use of a computer. • It is used only under very specific circumstances: 1. a student has achieved a total or composite score at the 96th percentile on the OLSAT or KBIT. 2. A student is a member of an under-represented group such as ELL with additional evidence of high ability. • NNAT is grade specific & timed • Rarely given; only to determine if a student moves from Multicriteria (96%) to top 3%