DC Everest teachers outline Challenge program nominations, testing, timeline and busing at Riverside parent meeting

Riverside Elementary teachers for the D C Everest Area School District explained how the district’s Challenge (gifted) program works, how parents nominate students and how the district screens and notifies families.

Presenters described the program as a magnetized, self-contained Challenge program housed at Riverside for students in second through fifth grades. Teachers said second grade sometimes combines with third-grade instruction, while third through fifth are self-contained classrooms. The program accepts nominations from within the district and via open enrollment from families who live outside the district.

Placement criteria and process

Teachers said the district uses multiple sources of information rather than a single test to determine placement. Nomination packets include a parent inventory and a teacher inventory that rate behaviors such as task commitment, creativity and academic ability. After inventories are returned, students undergo on-site screening and additional testing administered by a trained district proctor. The district told parents it uses achievement testing and an IQ measure as part of the review; the meeting also noted the district previously used Woodcock-Johnson products and has moved to the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT) for achievement…