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District expands highly capable screening; officials report more low-income students qualifying
Summary
Staff described a year of broader screening using the CogAT, increased outreach to families and testing that led to 34 new qualifiers and an updated highly capable enrollment of about 217 students with increased low-income representation.
Johnny presented changes to the district’s highly capable identification process, saying the district expanded universal screening (targeting 2nd grade, 6th grade and low-income students), administered prescreeners and post-screeners with permission and prioritized testing for all referred students.
He reported the district tested substantially more students at middle school this year than previously and said 34 students qualified for the highly capable program this year, including students from low-income backgrounds. Johnny gave a current program enrollment of 217 students and said 40 of those are low-income (about 18% of the program), noting the district’s emphasis on equitable identification.
Johnny described pragmatic changes — simplifying parent-teacher rating forms, securing permissions to test more students, and offering alternative test administration for young children — and acknowledged continued work to ensure IEP and MLL status do not become identification barriers.
Board members thanked Johnny for personally administering many of the tests and for increasing outreach and testing capacity; no board action was taken during the presentation.
