DCSD screening window for 2020-2021 Gifted and Talented program will run Aug. 19 – Sept. 11
DARLINGTON, S.C. – The Darlington County School District’s (DCSD) referral window for the 2020-2021 Gifted and Talented program will open Monday, Aug. 19, and close Wednesday, Sept. 11.
If you would like your child screened for the Gifted and Talented program, you must complete a screening referral form from your child’s school counselor by Sept. 11. Every child is tested as a second grader. In order to be retested, your child must have scored in the 70th percentile or higher on the last administration of the approved tests for Gifted and Talented.
DCSD will administer the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) and the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) to second grade students and any other eligible grade-level students that have been referred for testing. The testing is a screening for placement in the district’s Gifted and Talented program for the 2020-21 school year.
The testing will be administered in two areas: achievement and aptitude. The ITBS will be administered for achievement, and the CogAT will be administered to determine the aptitude criteria. Students who meet the required criteria (Achievement: 94th national age percentile in reading comprehension or math concepts and problem solving; Aptitude: 93rd national age percentile in either verbal, non-verbal, quantitative, or total) may be eligible to participate in the Gifted and Talented program beginning in the 2020-21 school year. Students who meet one-half of the criteria will be eligible to participate in the Performance Task Assessment in February and March.
If parents would like students in grades 3-11 to be retested, please complete a screening/testing referral form from your child’s school counselor by Sept. 11.
The district will notify parents of a student who qualifies for Gifted and Talented by letter in the summer of 2020.
For more information about the Gifted and Talented Program, please contact the Office of Arts and Innovative Programs at 843-398-2242.