Winston Salem/Forsyth County Guidelines for Independent ...

Winston Salem/Forsyth County Schools

Academically/Intellectually Gifted

Winston Salem/Forsyth County Guidelines for Independent Evaluations Any private psychologist wishing to submit independent evaluations in consideration of student eligibility for the Winston Salem/Forsyth County Schools (WSFCS) Academically Gifted (AG) program is expected to follow these guidelines for Independent Evaluations. Identification - Aptitude and/or achievement evaluation scores from independent evaluations may be submitted for consideration for gifted program eligibility. All independent evaluations submitted for consideration must be: • Dated no more than 12 months from the date of the test administration. • The most recent version of the standardized evaluations as listed in the accepted instruments by WSFCS. • Administered, documented and signed by an approved examiner (licensed psychologist). Score requirements for qualification for the Academically Gifted (AG) Services are as follows: 1. attain a full-scale score of 95th percentile on an individual aptitude evaluation; 2. attain a combined score of 180 by adding the percentile scores for the total battery on a nationally normed Aptitude and Achievement evaluation; or 3. A multiple criteria standard of 93rd percentile on a nationally normed evaluation of aptitude OR 93rd percentile on a nationally normed evaluation of achievement WITH End-of-Grade Test at or above 92nd percentile in reading and math (for fourth - eighth graders). *

Score requirements for qualification for the Highly Academically Gifted (HAG) Services are as follows: 1. The composite score on a nationally-normed aptitude score is 99th percentile with a composite score on a nationally-normed achievement evaluation of at least 95th percentile; 2. The sum of the composite percentile scores on nationally-normed aptitude and achievement evaluations is greater than or equal to 195; or 3. A multiple criteria standard of: 99th percentile on a nationally-normed aptitude evaluation, OR 99th percentile on a nationally-normed achievement evaluation, WITH End-of-Grade test scores at the 99th percentile in reading and math (for fourth - eighth graders).

Ethical Expectations – WS/FCS accept private screening results from licensed psychologists for students interested in qualifying for the Academically/Intellectually Gifted program. The WS/FCS standard for student identification emphasizes identification procedures that are “clear, equitable, and comprehensive and lead towards appropriate educational services.” The WSFCS school district expects that ALL psychologist that choose to submit score results from private evaluations will follow practices that are fair and ethical. We expect that you follow the same policies and procedures as outlined by the North Carolina Psychology Board. WS/FCS reserves the right to re-question, invalidate, or refuse acceptance of scores that may be indicative of significant discrepancies or suggest a pattern of unethical practices by the independent evaluator. If at any point the WS/FCS AG committee finds there is reason to believe private evaluations are falsified, we will not only refuse to accept a private psychologist’s evaluations but may

also file a complaint with the North Carolina Psychology Board for further investigation.

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EVALUATION INSTRUMENTS ACCEPTED BY WSFCS FOR AIG SCREENING ACCEPTABLE The following evaluation instruments are recommended and approved for use, according to the best practice guidelines, in determining student eligibility for AIG Program services and placement in AG and HAG levels of service. Aptitude Evaluations • Individually Administered Assessments of Aptitude/Intelligence DAS (Differential Abilities Scales-2nd Ed.) K-ABC-II (Kaufman Aptitude Battery for Children-2nd Ed.) RIAS (Reynolds Intellectual Assessment System) Stanford-Binet V (minimum of six subtests are required to be administered) WISC-IV (Weschler Intelligence Scales for Children-Fourth Edition) WAIS-IV (Weschler Adult Intelligence Scales – Fourth edition) (16 years of age or older) • Group Administered Assessments of Aptitude/Intelligence COGAT (Cognitive Abilities Test) NNAT (Naiglieri Nonverbal Abilities Test) OLSAT (Otis Lennon Scholastic Ability Test) RAVEN (Raven's Progressive Matrices Test) SFTAA (Short Form Test of Academic Aptitude) TCS (Test of Cognitive Skills) Achievement Evaluations (Group and Individual) (Achievement Evaluations must include administration of reading, math and language mechanics components to be used in AG eligibility assessment.) SAT (Stanford Achievement Test) CAT-V (California Achievement Test, Fifth Edition) CTBS (Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills) ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills) MAT (Metropolitan Achievement Test) KTEA -II Terra Nova WJ-III (Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery-3rd Edition) NOT ACCEPTABLE There are a very few evaluation- instruments that are not acceptable for AIG evaluation and eligibility: • PPVT (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test) • PIAT (Peabody Individual Achievement Test) • WRAT (Wide-Range Achievement Test) • K-BIT (Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test) • Slossen Aptitude Test• ERB/CTP tests of achievement (currently only subtest scores are provided—no overall achievement score is given)

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When using the WISC-IV (aptitude evaluation): • • •

The Full Scale Score is used in making eligibility decisions. Pro-rated scores are not acceptable. If a student has a statistically significant and unusual discrepancy in Processing Speed and/or Working Memory at the 0.5 level, the General Ability Index (GAI) may be considered if the difference between the Full Scale IQ and the GAI is significant and unusual.

Considerations for Achievement Evaluations: • •

A Total Reading and Total Math score should be computed. At least two (2) subtests should combine to yield a total score. A single subtest score cannot be used for eligibility decisions.

When using the WJ-III, the following subtest should be administered: • • •

Reading: Broad Reading Cluster subtests, Letter-Word Identification, Reading Fluency, and Passage Comprehension Math: Broad Math Cluster subtests, Calculation, Math Fluency, and Applied Problems Writing: Written Langage Cluster subtests, Spelling, Writing Fluency, and Writing Samples

Any psychologist interested in participating in conducting independent evaluations of students in the WSFCS school district should complete and send a signed copy of the Psychologist Statement located on page 4. For additional information, please contact the Program Specialist for Academically Gifted, Paula Wilkins by email at [email protected] or by phone at 336-748-4000 ext. 51564.

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PSYCHOLOGIST’S STATEMENT I have read the above expectations and guidelines for submission of private evaluations to the Winston Salem/Forsyth County Academically Gifted program. I agree to abide by the guidelines set-forth by the WSFCS district. By signifying below I certify that I will follow ethical practices for administering and submitting private psychological evaluations for the Winston Salem/Forsyth County School district. I understand that WSFCS reserves the right to re-question any items on any evaluation I submit and that if those items are deemed as inaccurate, WSFCS may invalidate those scores, refuse acceptance of future scores, and/or submit any patterns of unethical practices to the North Carolina Board of Psychologist for additional review. By signing this statement yearly, I understand that the WSFCS Academically Gifted program will provide my name to parents as a list of licensed psychologist that have met the guidelines for submitting private evaluations for Academically Gifted screening to the WSFCS school district.

Date:

__________________

Psychologist Name:

Psychologist Signature:

Psychologist Agency:

Address:

Contact Number:

Email Address:

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