September '25 Parenting GT Students

I can't believe that September is already more than halfway through, and we're off on another school year adventure! I hope that you and your children all have amazing experiences in each of your schools this year. Every district has its own dedicated coordinator; if you have any questions about your child's ALP or programming, please contact this person.

Akron - Payton Hottinger (elementary) and Hannah Krening (secondary)

Fleming - Ashley Steward

Haxtun - Jeanna Clark (elementary) and Venessa Jones (secondary)

Holyoke - Carly Daniel

Julesburg - Paolo Calvadores

Lone Star - Jocelyn Ham

Merino - Jessi Stumpf (elementary) and Mike Holloway (secondary)

Otis - Casey Henry

Peetz - Leslie Raffelson

Revere - Mindy Green

Wray - TC Travis

Yuma - Amy Allen (elementary), Amber Taylor (middle school), and Jose Rivera (high school)

I share this every year, but I think it's worth repeating as we welcome new parents into the fold of giftedness.

Identification of gifted and talented students can seem like a gray area for many. Knowing the process may help you better understand how students are evaluated and identified as gifted or talent pool. In Colorado, we are mandated by law (see House Bill 07-1244) to identify and program for gifted students.

Districts across the state universally screen all students in early elementary school; in NE Colorado, we test all second-grade students towards the end of the school year in the spring using CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test). All of our schools also test students in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade in the fall. These scores are one piece of evidence that is used to help determine eligibility for gifted identification and programming.

When a student scores above a certain point on the CogAT (determined by the school district), the coordinator will take a look at achievement scores on tests like NWEA and get feedback from the student's teachers. They may also send out a behavior scale (such as SIGS - Scales for Identifying Gifted Students) to parents and/or teachers for further evidence gathering. Coordinators may also ask for additional testing to be done by the BOCES GT Coordinator or the Northeast GERC (Gifted Education Regional Consultant). All of these are taken into consideration when evaluating a student for potential gifted identification. If students participate in 4H or band, art, and dance competitions, results from those events may also be considered. We want to look at all aspects of a student to make a fair assessment of their abilities. The identification process can happen at any time of the year; it is not isolated to these universal screening windows in the fall and spring. Likewise, identification can happen at any grade level.

Sometimes, after looking at all the above, it is determined that a student is close, but not quite "there" yet. Most districts will place these students in their talent pool, where they will receive some programming and opportunities outside the normal school routine to help develop their talents. Many times, these students need just that - opportunities to learn and grow - to tilt them over the edge. If this is where your student is at, embrace this time to provide different experiences at home, encourage your student to seek out and learn more about their interests, and enjoy the learning process.

Understanding the steps we take will hopefully help you know more about how your student was evaluated or is being evaluated for gifted identification.

As you well know, parents are the greatest advocates for their GT children. Knowing this, it's important to know how to approach your student's new teacher about his/her needs in the classroom. One of the first things you can do - especially if you're new to the district - is to hand-deliver a copy of your child's ALP to the new school. I know that the assumption is that it will be transferred from school to school, but it also doesn't happen as often as it should. I learned early on in my own children's educational experiences that I had to do this for them (this also includes any other plans like an IEP or 504).

Here is an article from NAGC (National Association for Gifted Children) that reminds us of what we need to do to get the year started off in the right direction: Starting the School Year on a Positive Note: Five Key Suggestions for Parents.

Every year our region, along with East Central BOCES, puts on student events geared toward the education of gifted and talented students. All information about these events will be passed along by your building coordinator. They are listed here for you so you know what is available. Participation is decided by each district.

Ultimate Celebration

This event is specifically for gifted students in grades 3 - 6 and is held twice a year (fall and spring). The fall event is in Strasburg this year (hosted by East Central BOCES) and the spring event is hosted by Northeast BOCES at NJC in Sterling.

Ultimate Summit

For students in grades 7-12, this event focuses more on potential career options. It takes place during the fall and takes place on consecutive days for NEBOCES and East Central BOCES.

Infusion Classes

Infusion classes are nine-week online classes offered second and third quarters through CDLS and taught by teachers who understand the gifted learner. There's a wide variety of options (art, math, literature, robotics, social-emotional, etc.) for students in grades third through tenth. Participation is optional at your district's level, so reach out to your coordinator about these if your student has an interest. These are asynchronous classes (the students don't meet face-to-face with instructors) and students have to learn how to pace their work independently each week. Registration is open now, so look forward to hearing from your coordinator about this option.

Battle of the Books

This event is for students in grades three through eight. Schools can put together teams of five to seven students in the following groups: third through fifth and sixth through eighth. The groups will be tasked to read 36 books in total and be prepared to answer questions about what they read. The live competition will take place on Monday, May 4 in Sterling. School groups will go head to head competing against one another. If you're interested in being a coach for this, please reach out to your building coordinator. This event continues to be a huge hit. We are looking forward to having even more teams join this year!

Did you know that NE BOCES has a gifted and talented site? You can find more information about identification, programming and services, ALPs, and more at:

https://sites.google.com/neboces.org/gifted/home.

There is a Facebook page for Northeast Colorado Gifted and Talented parents and educators. We encourage you to join! Posts cover everything from articles to inspirational quotes to just plain funny. There are a couple of membership questions to answer, so please don't skip them or you won't be approved. I want this group to remain more private in nature so if conversations happen or advice is requested, everyone is comfortable sharing without people outside our area seeing and commenting.

Click this link to join today (https://www.facebook.com/groups/necoloradogifted)!

This is a live Facebook event that takes place at 5 pm on the first Tuesday of each month (you do NOT have to be on Facebook to watch). National leaders in the areas of giftedness and twice-exceptional learners present on various topics related to their field. Click here to learn more about Conversations with CAGT (https://www.coloradogifted.org/resources/conversations-with-cagt/).

Ian Byrd is a gifted educator who creates a curated list of five short videos each week that will intrigue learners of all ages. He provides the video link and ideas of what you can think/talk about as the video plays. There is something of interest to everyone. To subscribe to this weekly email (it comes out on Friday during the school year), click here (https://byrdseed.com/puzzlements/).

Another website that is similar to Puzzlements is The Kid Should See This. There are over 5,000 kid-friendly videos, curated for teachers and parents who want to share smarter, more meaningful media in the classroom and at home. Selections are grown-up-friendly, too. You can also sign up for weekly emails and every week you'll get a different list of videos and websites that are educational and kid-friendly (thekidshouldseethis.com). It's a win-win!