Gifted & Talented Programming and Services

The Young Scholars program is an academic program that embraces research-based practices for identifying and nurturing academic potential in students who have been historically underrepresented for gifted services and advanced programming. The program was originally designed and implemented in Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools in 2002. Young Scholars is one of eight nationally-recognized programs which demonstrate clear evidence of successfully supporting diverse high-ability learners.

Students are considered for the Young Scholars program based on their need for:

• Access to resources and experiences that nurture their high potential
• Affirmation of their potential to develop their self-confidence and academic propensity
• Advocacy to ensure that their potential is recognized and further developed
• Additionally, the Young Scholars program targets students in specific population groups due to their historic under-representation in High Potential services, Gifted & Talented (GT) services and advanced course programming.
   

What are the goals for the Young Scholars Program?

The long-range goal of Young Scholars is to find students with high academic potential from historically underrepresented populations at an early age, to raise their personal expectations, to support family involvement, and to prepare students for the more challenging and rigorous work of the formal High Potential Programs in later grades.
 

How are students chosen for Young Scholars?

Elementary Young Scholars specialists go into each Kindergarten through 2nd Grade classroom during the first third of the school year, and teach lessons designed to help promote critical and creative thinking skills. During these lessons, the classroom teacher acts as an observer and, using a specifically designed observation tool, records student actions/thinking during the lessons.

Based on these classroom observations, work samples, and test scores, students are chosen for inclusion in the Young Scholars program. Parents are notified by letter of their student’s inclusion in the program. Students will be assessed for the program each year.
 

What services do Young Scholars students receive?

Once identified, students work with the Young Scholars specialists in a small group setting on a regular basis. Lessons taught provide creative and critical thinking opportunities for students to question, explore, and investigate. Learning activities are also connected to students' diverse backgrounds as well as to content taught in the regular classroom.
 

Robbinsdale Area schools utilizes the CogAT Screener as one data point to identify students who may need services provided by the Gifted and Talented Department.

Form 7 of the CogAT appraises the level and pattern of verbal, quantitative and spacial (nonverbal) reasoning abilities for students from kindergarten through grade 12. These abilities reflect the overall efficiency of cognitive processes and strategies that enable individuals to learn new tasks and solve problems. CogAT provides a more complete picture of students' abilities across the academic spectrum. It will capture important information not represented in reported grades or other measures of school achievement.
 

Fall Testing

In September, 3rd graders are tested with their classroom using the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT).  All fourth and fifth graders new to the district will also be tested using the CogAT.  These test results are part of the identification criteria to place students in our FOCUS program.  FAST scores and MCA scores are also used for FOCUS placement.
 

Identification of 2nd Graders

All students in 2nd Grade will be tested in February using the CogAT.  This is one of the measures used for identifying students to be served by the Gifted & Talented Education Department.  In addition to the CogAT, FAST and MCA test scores are used in the gifted identification process.