OATAG FAQ

Q: Why TAG?
A: The Gifted and Talented Education Program serves students who require learning experiences beyond the standard curriculum.

Q: How does a student “apply” for TAG?
A: A student may be referred for TAG identification and testing by a teacher, parent, or they may refer themselves. In addition, they may be identified through standardized state test scores.

Q: What type of test does a student take?
A: A student may be identified for TAG from standardized tests of achievement  (including the state test–the OAKS and the Aprenda, a Spanish achievement test), or through intellectual ability tests (such as the Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Test, Raven, CogAT, Stanford-Binet, or Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) .

Q: What is the score needed to qualify as “gifted”?
A: Districts must identify students who score in the 97th percentile on a nationally-normed test of math, reading, or intellectual ability.  In addition to the test, they must have one additional piece of information about the student that indicates high performance or ability. In addition, districts must identify students who have the potential to perform at the 97th. percentile.  Districts may also identify students who are gifted in the visual or performing arts, in creativity or in leadership, but few districts do so.

Q: How long does the qualification process take?
A: Testing and data collection can take 4-6 weeks for data collection and testing.  The Oregon Department of Education considers “best practices” to be no more than 30 working days or six weeks.

Q: If my child is identified for TAG, what rights do I have?
A: Parents have a right to be consulted about the services that will provided for their child and to give input.  If parents or other district residents do not believe their school or school district is providing the services mandated by Oregon law, they have a right to appeal under their district’s complaint procedure.  If they are unable to reach an agreement with their district within 90 days of initiating the complaint, they may appeal to the Oregon Department of Public Instruction.

Q: What is the difference between percentage and percentile?
A: Percentage refers to the percent of questions a student scored correctly on a test. For example, a student who correctly answered 5 out of 10 questions would score 50%. Percentile refers to a student’s performance in comparison to other students. For example, a child who scores at the 42 percentile , is doing as well as, or better than, 42 percent of the students who took the same test.
Imagine that 100 students took a test and that we graphed the number of students that took the test in order from lowest score to highest score, as shown in the graph above. Most students are „average‰ and would score somewhere in the middle of the graph. That is why it peaks in the middle. Very few students score in the extremely high or extremely low range, which is why both ends of the graph are very low: they represent only a few students. TAG students scoring in the 97th percentile are represented by the orange box.

Q: What is the benefit of being identified as Talented and Gifted?
A: Once identified as TAG, a student is to be assessed for his or her instructional needs.   Schools must provide TAG students with curriculum and instruction at this assessed rate and level of learning.  This may include such interventions as single-subject or grade acceleration, differentiated instruction, independent study, or curriculum compacting (covering the same material as other students in a shorter period of time).

Q: Who determines if a student is TAG?
A: Parental input in the process is key to student success. The School’s Building TAG Team, working with the student’s TAG coordinator, parent, teacher, and principal, makes the final determination based on test scores, work samples, behavioral traits, and other factors.

Q: What are some of the traits of a Gifted and Talented child?

A:
1. Has advanced advanced math skills and/or oral and/or written language skills; uses expressive language; learns second language quickly
2. Makes unique connections; understands systems; sees the “big picture”
3. Asks many questions; seeks in-depth information
4. Is nonconforming; risk-taking; independent
5. Has broad and varied interests, at times, simultaneously
6. Is resourceful at finding unique solutions
7. Exhibits keen powers of observation; is highly sensitive and insightful
8. Has intense and sustained interests; transfers learning to new situations
9. Exhibits an early moral concern; is empathetic
10. Makes nontraditional responses and/or products
11. May reach normal developmental milestones earlier than other students

For more comprehensive lists, go to

http://www.austega.com/gifted/characteristics.htm

http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/What_is_Gifted/characgt.htm

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/browse_resources_174.aspx

Research has found that parents are usually good at identifying giftedness in their children.

Q: How does the qualification process work?
A: It depends on how the student is referred. Please contact your school’s TAG coordinator for specific information about your student’s situation.

Q. My student seems very gifted, but he/she was not identified as TAG. Why?

A: A student may simply not have been nominated for TAG.  Students may hide their true  abilities.  Testing may not reveal the full extent of a given student’s ability.   A student may have a bad day or misunderstand the test.  A given test may be a poor match for the student’s specific skills or knowledge. Some students have learning disabilities that make it more difficult to see their abilities.  Some students are harder to identify because they change schools frequently or speak languages other than English.  Special efforts are needed to ensure that these students are adequately tested and assessed.   Parents must be notified that they have a right to appeal the decision not to identify a student.

Q: Why is TAG education important?

A: Children are not all the same: every child has unique needs and strengths.  Gifted students are special needs students but they have the same right to learn as all other students.  Inappropriate classroom instruction harms them in many ways.  Failure to provide appropriate instruction causes these students to lose interest in school or in learning, unnecessarily reduces their achievement, often leads students to become depressed or frustrated, and undermines their trust in adults. Access to appropriate curriculum and instruction is a right, not a reward.

Q: What are TAG students like in the classroom?
A: TAG students may already know the information being presented by the teacher.
TAG students may instantly grasp new concepts, being able to apply them, but also extrapolate and expand on them, taking them to more advanced levels very quickly and easily.
TAG students may assimilate information very rapidly, well beyond the learning capacity of most students.
TAG students may demonstrate unusual talents or abilities.
TAG students may ask a lot of questions or challenge the teacher’s information
TAG students may cause mischief or seem withdrawn when their learning needs are not being met.

Q: Are all TAG students similar?

A: No. Every child is different.  Some TAG students are well-behaved, well-adjusted and high-achieving. Some are social and/or popular; others are shy or quiet.  Some are athletic; others prefer to read or be creative.  Some are happy; others are depressed.

Because of their extraordinary learning abilities, however, TAG students face a number of unique challenges.  Their vocabulary or thought patterns may make it difficult for other children of the same age to understand them. When they are not sufficiently challenged, TAG students may withdraw or become troublemakers.  TAG students may be the target of bullies or resentful peers.  Teachers may inappropriately expect these students to become teachers’ helpers which can add to the problems they face with peers.

Some TAG students experience additional challenges such as specific learning disabilities, behavioral issues, autism, family problems, poverty or psychological disorders.  They may come from households that do not speak English or that move frequently, disrupting their learning.  They may be living in foster homes or be homeless.  They may simply be immature.  Some educators believe that all gifted students will be well-behaved, well-adjusted or high-achieving in every area and incorrectly assume that students who don’t live up to this ideal can’t be gifted.

Q: Why don’t TAG students always receive services?

A: Sometimes, educators assume that since TAG students are „smart‰, they shouldn’t need attention. State and federal rules that require all students to meet minimum standards may force schools to focus on students who are struggling to meet these standards at the expense of those who have already reached them.  Some teachers who are already feeling overwhelmed by all the responsibilities and requirements they handle every day may resist requests to do anything further.  School administrators may fail to support parents and teachers of gifted children.  Educators may believe some of the common myths about gifted students.

The National Association for Gifted Children provides the following list of common Gifted Education Myths:

* Gifted students don’t need help; they’ll do fine on their own
* That student can’t be gifted; he’s receiving poor grades
* Teachers challenge all the students, so gifted kids will be fine in the regular classroom
* Gifted students are happy, popular, and well adjusted in school
* Gifted students make everyone else in the class smarter by providing a role model or a challenge
* This child can’t be gifted; he has a disability
* All children are gifted
* Our district has a gifted and talented program; we have AP courses
* Acceleration placement options are socially harmful for gifted students
* Gifted education requires an abundance of resources
* Gifted education programs are elitist

Q: What works for Gifted Students?

A: Gifted students are gifted all day long, every day. Part-time or occasional services don’t fully address their needs in the areas where they are gifted.

Fortunately, there are may cost-effective and simple ways to enhance services for gifted students.

The National Association for Gifted Children has compiled the following list of interventions that research has found to be successful and effective for gifted students:

Acceleration (single-subject, whole-grade, or even more than one grade)
Grouping
Curriculum Compacting
Advanced Placement
Pull-Out Programs and Specialized Classes

Q: How many TAG students are there in Oregon?

A: Oregon has about 42,000 TAG students, compared with about 65,000 ELL students and 73,000 Special Education students. Some students are in more than one category.   Oregon has about 560,000 k-12 students in all.

Q: What funding is provided for TAG programs and services?

A: The Federal government does not send any funds to Oregon for TAG services and there is no Federal law that requires TAG services.
The State of Oregon appropriates $350,000 per biennium for TAG; most of this pays the salary of the Oregon TAG specialist.

Q: What are districts doing about TAG?

A: Oregon state law requires every district to have a plan to provide TAG programs and services. Many districts in Oregon allocate funds out of their own budgets to provide state-mandated TAG services.   As of July 1, 2011, Districts must provide a copy of their written plans for programs and services to the Oregon Department of Education.

Q: Where can I go for help?

A: OATAG recommends that parents first consult with their child’s classroom teacher and/or their school TAG coordinator and principal and make every effort to resolve any problems informally.
For more information, parents can go to the Oregon Department of Education website at
http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/results/?id=76

If they feel they need more, they can contact the Oregon TAG Specialist, Rebecca Blocher, <link> or contact OATAG through this website.

Q: What can I do to help?