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Parent Informational Video 10-24-2022

Added Oct 25, 2022 •

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we are recording right now so if you don't want your face to be visible visible on the recording you might want to turn your cameras off I don't think it will be since you're all needed that I'm sharing my screen but this will be recorded and available in case you missed anything all right let's get started alright I did it for the meeting today I'm going to talk a little bit about the character is giftedness overall talk a little bit about what kind of looks like in Highland Park what are referral and testing process looks like and then take just a moment to address our frequently asked questions if you have questions come up during the meeting if you will please utilize that shot future I have a moderator Doctor Griffin that's going to be helping to answer those questions during the meeting still do her best to get to all of the questions I can swing in a really busy time that that becomes difficult to do so will will then address any of the unanswered questions at the end and we're all follow back up with you with an email so if any questions you have if you drop in the chop feature I'm sure she'll get to asthma possibly can my name is Erica Vandergriff I am the director of Tag Services for Highland Park and also have curriculum specialist science health and PE as well as other duties as assigned we know that. Can take pregnant sometimes in the desert that I am this is my fourth year in this Mission and my 16th year overall in the district where I possibly taught some of your sweet little kiddos and so I'm looking forward to another great year all right if I get this question quite a bit what is it what does it mean to be gifted what is the definition of gifted and so we find that while text it provides a definition here with ball go over and just in terms of what what does it mean to be gifted we find that really there is no just widely accepted definition for what is gifted so we rely on the definition that provide that t e a in wall again they Define that they give us his lovely definition they don't necessarily Define what service does look like from District to District which means if you move here from another District if you move from here to another District you'll find that their service model is going to look different from place to place state-to-state on things very quite a bit can vary quite a bit and what their qualifications are are are Dewberry as well but I'll go through and read the definition of Texas provide that stupid is what we rely on here in Highland Park so according to the state of Texas to get sin talented student is one that performs or shows potential for 4 at a high level of accomplishment when compared to Pure so we're comparing them to their grade level peers or their age level Pierce we're looking for someone who exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual creative or artistic hair possesses an unusual capacity for leadership or excels in a specific academic field so he kept going to very if you leave Texas and go to another state we going to have another definition of what gets adjusted and again District to district is going to differ on how that definition is third on how the students that fit into that definition or served Don Highland Park we've we've set aside some goals for how we choose our how we feel our students are best served in Highland Park so these are the goals of our department it is to develop nurture student potential to provide a continuous opportunities for advanced performance and advocate for our students with gifted potential and we know research shows that gifted students always perform outperform their peers sometimes that gifted sometimes the kind of the idiosyncrasies that come with being gifted outweigh the really they're gifted protential sometimes that performance cannot always be visible from from a classroom setting I'm so really we want to help advocate for those students that's it has so many of those idiosyncrasies that can enter them from from displaying really there true potential and make sure that they really are meeting meeting their true potential and every Endeavor that they that they choose to we do have some policies and guidelines dot-dot I determine how do you not only are served here in Texas but also how students are served here in Highland Park you can access those through these links again I will be available on the district website our local guidance is just through our board policy and much of that language comes from what cold the Texas state plan the Texas state plan is set of guidelines. That dictate how old all districts in Texas serve gifted students while this is a a framework of guidance it doesn't that the guidance that a framework of guidance. all right trace of giftedness my goodness I had a dime for 4/4 as many times as I've been out question what does it mean when you get that how do I know if my child is gifted will be fine really in research that there's not there's not ones that definition for what being gifted mean there's really many many different definitions of courting to researcher that that kind of wrote their particular point of to you even even though even even with that said they're there are some widely accepted traits of giftedness that are occasionally seen in most students and I say Hasley because you're not always going to see all of these traits all of the time and there are some students of course that are more of the last time straight some students that will do play Last of these traits and then you'll have some students that match to any of these criteria and so we have to be really creative and how we gather data on students I'm to make sure we're really capturing the whole child in determining if they if they need really Services here in Highland Park what we really want what we find is that gifted students things differently feel differently and typically have some sort of asynchronous develop and what that means is that there's some sort of Miss mismatch between their cognitive their emotional and their physical development so while they might be stinking like a sixth grader they may have the body of a third grader and beat like a kindergartner for example that the crazy example but that would be an example of development of our students display and these are pretty widely after the first research go but they have some sort of Team power of obstruction they're able to see concept that most students cannot have an interest in problem solving and application of concept not only do they really like to dig in Problem by that knowledge to a new novel set of ideas and leave a large vocabulary and that eat typically start we really young an age sometimes as early as two or three intellectual curiosity they really enjoy learning about new things power of critical thinking got to do some sometimes students can be really self-critical of themselves as well as other Independence and work and study you don't really want to Independence and work and study and typically preferred topic they're going to they're going to go home and they're going to do their research on whatever topic that interests and whether it's are the robotics engineering diversity of interests and abilities are inventive and they have the ability for fantasies but it can really spread look into look into car stop. That that that most students wouldn't want to look into their unconcerned for social norms that really necessarily care about fitting in their quotes for being themselves I'm highly committed to sell selected Works to again they loved the topics that they loved and they're going to die beat me into those topics if you have any questions about any of this is a reminder if you'll drop your questions into the I do have a moderator that is monitoring not and still help to answer those questions as best she can in Highland Park we identify areas in two different to different areas here what is the first areas would have called the sific subject matter ability or sfma we identify areas typically area of math that is a subject area of giftedness at least eight students are already to accelerate and learn more mouth is typically pretty linear and fashion that was easily it's easier to identify ready to move faster through this concept because there simply identify students in the area of General intellectual ability Dia so that's what you'll commonly see served and most of the district's that's actually pretty rare for students to identify in the subject matter ability more commonly they're going to identifying the general election would just mean they're really able to contact in each of the subject matter and are able to understand that abstraction through all areas of of Academia we have three different three bands of service model here in Highland Park on the 1st of that being our K1 band in our K1 band all students are so I'm so we don't identify we pushed in and all students in kindergarten through first grade most of not is drip push in with a tag that the teacher all that means is that the child specialist will go end the kindergarten and first grade classroom and help and collaborate with the classroom teacher and providing services for those students we do that in two different ways when is the creativity Workshop the time teacher works with the classroom teacher and providing opportunities on the different kinds of creativity are different aspects of creativity they serve through doing different activities typically books that are read aloud I'm in the nose be a follow-up activity that can goes along with that that encourages flexible thinking encourage collaboration went thinking and originality so kind of showing how early to hone in on some of those skills and then we also do something called a plant experience and that is just a common experience across the entire grade level and what that does is that allows us to see. Garden in first grade students equal playing field to see how do they respond to these experiences that allows us to gather some data and possibly identify that are that mean gifted services I'm on in second grade our second band of services second through fifth grade we start testing our first grade students for second grade students in first grade now they would start testing possibly to be identified for services in second grade but first second through fifth grade first sabbatical exploration explorations of pullout course that means that they come to a different classroom to receive those versus those classes are taught by specialists ultimately it's about 2 hours a week sometimes that is a continuous 2 hours and sometimes that's what up an hour on Monday of the week and an hour on another day of the week and it's an interdisciplinary course students are diving into various topics across all subject matter minutes when I began to stop directed projects different very are various aspects of creativity other learning how to prevent their learning how to really kind of tone in those their skills that allows them to dive deeper into content they would not receive in the grade level classroom the second area that students can receive services and second through fifth grade is through tag math and again that's a pull out course but that means they leave the classroom and come to a toddler classroom for that particular course that is taught by a tax specialist again the tag teacher they are Steve that they lie so well their grade level classmate Thursday evening mass in their classroom come to the tag teacher for their math course for their math instruction and is it compacted accelerated model which means we are really pushing them quickly through their grade level content and accelerating that not only are we putting them quickly through there contact we are also pushing them into the next grade level continent well the goal being that they really are moving at least one grade level above their peers and by the time they get to the middle school sometimes best to 3 grade levels and then our third band of services is 6th grade through 12th grade exploration goes away really go away it changes into tagged content courses that wear their bill actually received tag in their content courses so instead of going to separate classrooms will actually be grouped together Albert identified students and they'll receive tag English language arts tag science and tag social studies in these courses they are there Learning grade level content but they're learning it out a little bit of a quicker Pace on which gives them time to die but a little bit deeper into some of the content as well as able to give them the ability to research into those up into those topics that they're really deeply deeply concerned with in high school and also have an AP or Honors that the ignition you may have English God honors which means a receiving the tag honors content through a a means to clean the pot through starting the diff Enchanted way you're going a little bit quicker through the content 2 in order to 8 and able then to actually and dive deeper and have learn in a different manner jaarsma elective courses such as art and theater that are also available through that time differentiation model and then of course students can still continue on their tag map path I'm at some point in high school the tag mouth pass end because the becomes so high and we don't have necessarily enough to fill an entire tag math classroom and their students who study group together with other toys but by the time they started to get to that level of calculus and precalc Euless they're there already trying to the point that they're discussed the contents in itself is challenging challenging enough that it I keep that tag definition all right key elements of really all-time classrooms he's a sort of things that you will see in any classroom that you visit whether it's been the push and model in the kindergarten classroom or in Explorations pull out model of that 4th or 5th grade you're going to see create critical and creative thinking practices teaching students really Olive think for themselves and really how to think people lie about a topic how do you how are you being creative so again going back to the skills that we talked about earlier that elaborate fiction and originality opportunities to practice their skills are going to be seen typically the classrooms are fairly fast pace or moving pretty quickly through the content because students typically don't need a lot of repetition Wednesday here at once got it they've mastered it in the ready to move on to the next topic I give sometime early to really dive deep and explore some of that other topics that may not be in the grade level content and really going to go into a topic so spending a lot of time about something really specific is really what seems to be best for tag students there were nothing social and emotional needs as needed and sometimes come along with them especially names that need to be addressed and then start on Fosters really really provide an outlet for that allows them to be with other tag identify students who may have some of the other sing some of the same social emotional needs and in that we are really guiding our students to to create professional product so not only are they learning but they're learning how to prevent what they really in life General that's what you're doing you're learning something and then you're presenting it to other people's what kind of learning how to do that and no well-rounded way and then all of our classes are taught by Chichi train teachers that means is bounded how to receive 30 hours of Baseline instruction and then an additional six hours every year in order to help better better meet the needs of tag identified students in high school we also have what is called a tag waiver is only available to our secondary students and the high school at the high school level students entering grades 9 and time if they are only identified in one area so maybe they're only identified and math and I'm in high school they have an ability to apply for what call to tag waiver with allows them to take the other four are the others workhorses of time classes and they do have to fill out an application and there isn't will there is an application process I'm so just letting you know to be aware of that any student entering 11th and 12th grade being taught classes even though they're not identified as needing tax services and because the content in the 11th and 12th grade really become so specialized about level classes are what that which are tagged identified are still covering the agreeable content or just taught through again a different lens for those students do students show that they can handle errands are would fit in in in without class and I'm when they when they complete the application process 30 minutes if it's a must be renewed each year they're applied to the next who are step units for disabled in in 8th grade that are going into ninth grade with complete a tag waiver students that are going into 10th grade as a ninth grade with complete attack labor in the 9th grade applications will be available at the end of January and I'm out put out notifications through not only at the district news but also by the middle school and high school I'm so be on the lookout for that more information to come about that deadlines are firm just as tag referral deadlines are from those are pretty set in stone because that enables us to have time to not only review the application also determine number of courses to ping pong the numbers of students verifying to get into the sources students that are identified and both areas already so if you're already identified as in the mouth and then the general area you do not need to apply for a tag waiver you automatically be placed in top courses all right let's get a referral and testing which is probably the reason most of you were here today so we are starting the parent referral window is going to be opening this Wednesday today's students that are in grades 1 through 11 first grade through 11th grade you're interested in receiving tax service for you will start a parent referral Within that window that window is October 27th to November 30th begin that's a pretty firm window and close at November 30th and won't open again until the following school year I'm so if you are a current do that right now if your student is current right now you must apply during that during that window of time January 18th to about February 20th we will do all of our testing Pacific windows will be email to parents values by not so I'll be emailing out more specific information for example first grade students will be tested during this time second through fifth grade students find out what time that will become available more to adjust the parents that are further student February 13th through April 14th we will do a number of things we will we will become a teacher and put on all of the students that are referred will be not only scoring around past sending some test off to be squirt and I will be analyzing data for the test that are taken not be holding placement meeting on the students that we have tickets for April 26th through April 28th placement letters will be mailed home barring any delay sometimes there are some slight delay either receiving test back from our scoring Center or just a few years ago we had some delays with ice during that sometimes there are those for unforeseen delay might delay the process but right now our goal is to mail placement letters home by April 26th time in that window of time April 26th April 28th be notified of a replacement decision and then from May 1st to May 19th there will be an appeals Windows mechanics that if so if the letters are delayed and getting sent home been forced to appeal window also be a little bit latest well will be a window of time in which you can appeal that decision and we'll talk a little bit about that just a minute and then lastly new services will begin the following school year and there's nothing that you need to do for got your student will automatically be placed in whatever time courses they were identified for all right how do we determine who what students need to be placed in tag our Tag Services so we we use two different types of data we look at the data into different way you look at both the qualitative data and quantitative data for qualitative there are a few different things that are kind of match up with that referrals are considered qualitative data when you begin the referral process you will spend about an hour or stealth a plan for that about an hour or so filling out information about your student not only do we want to know just nearly the basics and we also just kind of want to know what the weather like at home what kind of learner are they what have you observed from them wouldn't be inside of school we would like for you to provide examples of that you'll have an opportunity to actually write your students and several different areas and we ask that if you rate them in a 4 or I would barely means that you always do that characteristic that you give us the specific specific examples of those and I'll become a little bit more clear when you actually see the writing about an hour of 4 particular girl will be also an opportunity first our teachers to fill out an inventory on your student that's preferred but nothing you need to initiate We Will We Will initiate that on my own are part of our students to their teachers and each teacher will fill out an inventory for each student that preferred middle ask them questions about what they have done in the classroom. We're getting information now on on like it home and then what that's doing is like here in the school as well and then any additional data that you want to provide that's not certified met and that parent or teacher kind of inventory that can be independent projects if you want to actually send us a sample of an independent project with yours that your child is working on it home we've got videos links to website students have created pictures of fashion show put on before I need a pendant projects that are that are occurring outside of school or at their extracurricular that your child is particularly passionate about and really should the thing our kind of that gifted learner students also be sent to us they can either be sent to me or the tech specialist on your campus and then we of course also have some quantitative data that we collect on each student that is preferred give us three different types of tests we give what's Colin abilities test and abilities test tells us a little bit about the cognitive process of that child how did they learn the problem out of the approach something with a v never seen before and we also give them and give them a treatment. So we look at some achievement test data which basically tells was kind of what they know according to sort of grade level content do they know grade level content do they know above grade level contact what kind of information do they know and then we also give them some creativity tests which again kind of test them on the various aspects of creativity are they are original thinkers are they really elaborate with their thoughts and they come up with a lot of I do a lot of things a lot of ideas I'm in a short amount of time if your student has a 504 or IEP or is served under yes. They will receive any sort of testing accommodations that they receive for the services of stuff they are already slated to receive texting works. any visitor spots they would also receive that with any sort of testing that we do as well all right blue makes the decision for if your child is placed and we have worked all the selection committee on each Tampa selection committees are generally made of principal tumblers and tag all of these people have received training on on what a time what A Gifted student kind of the criteria of gifted students so they've overstayed immense amount of training actually we look at but all day case study approach which means we look at call Tyler. Just looking at Tech data or looking at all of the information you wrote about your child all of the information that parents at the teachers may have submitted about that child and anything any other additional things that you might have a minute to us all of that to help make that decision we generally have an kind of boat window of data that were looking at that when we think about our quantitative data with you kind of are looking top performing students compared to but that doesn't mean that students that are just below that are going to immediately be cut off so we don't really have cut off scores necessarily if there are other data that we have is there's more quality data that really shows that that student is the type of student that needs Services then that soon it may very well be admitted and there is like I said an appeal window that occurs after you receive your I'm in the mail now there's a 15 school day window and would still have that chance to appeal that decision that again is heard by that same selection committee that determines placement what we are looking for is additional data or evidence to shut so the appeal committee met kind of made a decision that placement may not be right for your for your child but if you have additional data to support that we think place place that data is necessary or placement is necessary that you would provide that the committee would again look at that data through that lens as well and then make again it's a decision necessary or not appropriate or not all right so what are your next step apparent your next step and on Wednesday starting at 9 I visit the time the district tag website that you get to that is you just go hcisd.org click on department and then gifted and talented are we have been the entire page dedicated to our area you'll go there you'll complete the tag referral by November 30th at 5 p.m. I'm again do late referral to be expected to remember that it takes approximately an hour to complete a parent referral and I'm so the earlier you start that the better you also have the option of opening that up looking at it thinking about it formulating your answers I'm and then coming back to complete that so that needs to be done by November 30th at 5 p.m. there's quite a bit that has to be done after the referral window in before we actually start talking did you keep that deadline really firm to make sure that you've done that before prior to November 30th I think that gives you about five weeks to complete that referral should be enough time if you ever have any questions about the referral I'm you are always more than welcome to reach out to me or a tax specialist to get the more information before you complete a referral all right. We're going to move into our frequently Asked question and these are questions that we typically get from year to year of courses and they're going to probably cover every question that's out there but these are questions that are that are typical from year to year what are the name of the test that you administer in Kenya recommend preparation materials so in Highland Park we we don't actually support preparation or protect testing we cannot provide any information that may potentially invalidate test results and we do not support the use of course in their materials as they can really screw the result making it much more difficult to place your file if for example you over prepare and he's got a student that is performing I'm really well on an assessment but we're really not seeing evidence anywhere else in their case study it really makes it really difficult to appropriately placed that child in their courses but you'll eventually be there course wake me up in middle school and high school does my child need to read task each year when if I move out of the districts and come back the general answer is no once once your child has been gifted Services they're all he's going to receive Services even if they've moved away and come back of course there are exceptions to those rules if your child is gone for 10 years or something that we may need to look at testing again to determine what were they receiving in their other District that they were at Amanda's. Does that prepare them for for some of our tax services here we do have some options to reassess for example if it's soon isn't at courses and it's just not a good fit for them we do have some options to reassess. Student I'm just something happened something sometimes there's there's a reason for reassessment of something's going on at that's student is for whatever reason a reassessment is possible if we see a need for it I will be initiated probably by the time and you'll be does my child teacher have to refer my child for testing in order to to be referred and the short answer that is no here in Highland Park we are mostly parent I miss you most of the time our parents are initiating a referral process you'll just simply do that by filling out the Google form on the tag website in that Google form you you will be giving permission Fair and then you'll also be giving permission for your child to be in time Services the following year if you ever have questions about how your child is performing academically you can always reach out to your car turn teacher on to talk about their academic performance they're not necessarily going to be able to tell you yesterday I think your child is gifted or no your child is not gifted it's just simply because they don't have the amount of data that we would have in front of us but they can definitely tell you how they're talking about how your child is performing in their classroom are the test time of the short answer is most most summertime however for some of our younger kids are tester actually not time so some of the test of time depending on the age of your child I'm in the reason we do that is because of the type of test that we give nationally-normed take me to the time limit and that enables us to compare them to students across the nation I'm actually receive is causing quite a bit already this year only want to talk to my child from Mass is this possible the short answer is no the test cannot be separated in that way a lot of the test that we give or sort of intertwined which means we're pulling data from them from those this best place for child and tag math possibly and then to also place them in our general tag identification area which would be Explorations are time courses in middle school but it's a student shows a need you need for Todd math placement than the students can be placed in toddler classes only we just can't simply separate the testing that way does Binghamton classes provide an educational Advantage for my child in the stormdancer really here is no what's the services are Services provided students it may have that may be identified as or students that have a learning disability services are provided for those students these services are provided for our students need for those Services Research that really gifted students for choir and in an environment that nurtures their unique academic and social emotional needs and our talk teachers are trained in instructional strategies training instructional strategies that if your student really doesn't need those services are those instructional strategies really might frustrate or hinder the learning of a learning process that doesn't need those though it's really important that week and I'm determined and really the best placement for those students and that is it for the presentation if for any reason I did not get your specific question you can always email me my email is c a n d a g e at hpisd. Org you can also find my contact information on the district on website any tax specialist on your child campus and we should be able to answer your question as needed so again the deadline for completing your parrot referral is November 30th at approximately 5 p.m. not exactly 5 p.m. the window of time and I am really thankful that you joined me this morning and I hope you got your answer

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Parent Informational Video 10-24-2022

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