Glebe Advanced Academics FAQs

How does a student become identified as as needing advanced academic services in APS?

A referral for advanced academics initiates the evaluation process.  This referral can be made by anyone– a parent, teacher, or even the student. Referrals for students new to APS can be submitted to Mrs. Landry (AAC) from the beginning of the school year until April 1. Once submitted, the school has 90 instructional days to collect data and determine eligibility.

After a referral submission, the teachers will begin collecting/generating work samples, observational notes, and testing data that will be used during the identification meeting.  This meeting, which will be attended by teachers, administration, and the Advanced Academics Coach (AAC), will be held to evaluate the student’s file, and determine whether or not the student is eligible for advanced academic services.  Since parents are not participants in the meeting, we ask that the Parent Information Form (sent to each family) is completed as a way for parents to share their insights about their child.

Students can be found eligible for gifted services in Math, Language Arts, Science, and/or Social Studies as early as the end of Kindergarten.

Once a child is in third grade, he or she may also be referred for services in General Music or Visual Art. Once an identification decision is made, notification to the parents will be sent via email.  Services will begin the next school year.

Once a child is identified as needing advanced academics, how long does the identification last?

The identification will be part of a student’s file within APS until he/she graduates from high school.

Should I tell my child he/she has been referred for advanced academics?  Should I tell my child that he/she has been found eligible for advanced academics?

As always, talking to your child about educational opportunities is a parental decision that needs to be made on an individual basis.  However, it is common for parents to not tell their child that they are being referred for advanced academics because it can set them up for disappointment if they are not found eligible by the evaluation committee.  In terms of telling a child that they have been found eligible for advanced academics, many parents in our Glebe community do not tell their children for various reasons. The teachers at Glebe do not do or say anything to set gifted children apart from other children in the classroom.   Teachers often utilize small group instruction as part of their daily instructional model, so children taught in a small group for extension appear no different than children taught in a small group for any other level of instruction.

What is the Naglieri?  What is the CogAt?

The Naglieri and CogAt are ability tests that APS uses as universal screeners for advanced academics.  An ability test is different than an achievement test in that an ability test measures intelligence in a specific category (nonverbal ability, verbal ability, and quantitative ability).  An ability test cannot be studied for since it measures natural ability. Alternatively, an achievement test measures if a student has learned information that has been taught– such as an end of unit test or SOL.

The Naglieri is a nonverbal ability test.  This test is administered so that we can learn which students have a high natural ability in nonverbal reasoning, since nonverbal intelligence is less likely to manifest in the general classroom when compared to verbal or quantitative ability– especially within underserved populations such as English Speakers of other Languages (ESOL).

How are advanced academic services delivered at Glebe?

In line with the rest of APS, services are mostly delivered by classroom teachers in the general education classroom.  Teachers with clusters of identified students work with Mrs. Landry (AAC) and Mrs. Ray (Math Coach) to plan differentiated instruction that will take place during the different academic classes.  The workshop model allows for small group instruction based on pre-assessed data as well as provides a choice of activities for students to access as they progress in each subject area.

What are the components of Mrs. Landry’s job?

As an Advanced Academics Coach (AAC), I wear many hats throughout the day!

• I meet with grade level teams regularly to plan instruction and ensure that all teachers, not just those housing gifted clusters, have access to higher level resources that can be used in their classrooms.
• I meet individually with cluster teachers to plan and/or coach them through best practices in teaching advanced learners.
• I curate materials to be used in the classroom by the teachers.
• I co-facilitate small groups of students during their reading, writing or math workshop.
• I manage the gifted identification process (data collection, parent communication, administrative tasks)
• I strive to maintain ongoing parent communication with parents of students identified as advanced learners as well as those wanting to learn about the program.

My child was identified as gifted as our previous school.  How will that work when we come to Glebe?

If your child attended a school in APS the identification will transfer automatically. However, please contact the front office at Glebe over the summer to ensure classroom placement into one of the classes containing a cluster of advanced students.

If your child is coming from a different school district, please try to have identification paperwork with you when registering your child at Glebe and alert the front office staff of the identification so that your child can be properly placed in a classroom with a cluster of students identified for advanced academics.  Also, upon registration, feel free to contact Mrs. Landry to provide a heads up. That will help get the proper paperwork in place at the start of the school year.

How are gifted services in Art and Music delivered?

Beginning in third grade, a student may be referred for gifted services in Visual Arts and Musical Performance.  A referral can be submitted by a teacher, parent, or student.

• • Services will be delivered by the child’s music or art teacher during the regularly scheduled music class.
  • Services often include opportunities for to learn and apply more advanced music and art techniques in class.