Jeffco Public Schools

The Importance of Identifying Talent

In Jeffco Public Schools, we realize the importance of identifying gifted students so that we can then begin cultivating their talent and better meet their needs.  Therefore, we accept and encourage referrals from a wide variety of sources for all grade levels of students in all of our district schools.  In Jeffco, we follow the Colorado Department of Education’s (CDE) GT Identification guidelines in making our identification decisions.

Click here for more about Identification practices in Jeffco Public Schools.

Frequently Asked Questions for Gifted Education Identification

This document from CDE explains the evidence needed to identify a student as “gifted”. There are a variety of different pathways that can be used for GT identification, depending on the data available and the particular strength areas of a student. Please see your school GT Resource Teacher for a more detailed explanation of these pathways

The purpose for identification is to provide programming different from the standard curriculum to better meet the unique needs of gifted students.  Those students whose academic and affective needs are being met by the standard curriculum are not likely candidates for GT identification.

Types of Giftedness / Strength Areas

Giftedness may take a variety of forms, but can be generally broken into 2 broad categories as per CDE’s GT Definition and ID guidelines:

• Intellectual/Academic Ability: this is what people typically think of as giftedness in an academic setting, with strength areas such as

  • Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies, General Intellectual Ability

  • Click here for Intellectual/Academic ID Referral

     

• 'Talent' Aptitude: these are strength areas where students may demonstrate exceptionality in fields such as

  • Creative/Productive Thinking

  • Leadership

  • Visual Arts

  • Performing Arts

  • Psychomotor Aptitude 

Reclassification of GT Identification Categories/Strength Areas

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) has recently updated the categories for GT Identification. Students who were identified prior to 2017 will remain identified as gifted and will continue with their Advanced Learning Plan status, but the identified strength/focus area may change for some students. See here for an update of these changes.