GT in Fairfax County Public Schools
Description of FCPS GT Program
(Not written for parents)
This description of the FCPS GT program is unusually straightforward, and shows where resources have been focused in recent years.
GT Center Screening and GT Programs in Fairfax County Public Schools
Fairfax County public elementary and middle schools have traditional GT Center classes, which include students from multiple base schools. Starting around 2005, FCPS also began a program to create base school GT classes in elementary schools, and to encourage GT Center eligible students to remain in their base elementary schools and to attend middle school honors classes.
As of 2006-07, the GT Center program starts in third grade and continues through eighth grade. This program has changed dramatically in the past decade. The percentage of students admitted has increased from roughly 5% to almost 15%, and the criteria used for selection have changed. In addition, the percentage of students admitted who elect to attend traditional GT Centers has been declining, from about 90% to under 70%. More elementary school students have been staying in their base schools, in the new GT classes that include some GTC-eligible students and some other students selected by the base school administration.
All second grade students enrolled in FCPS take two group ability tests — the Cognitive Abilities Test and the Naglieri. If one or more of the test scores equal or exceed the cutoff being used that year for that test, these students are automatically evaluated for possible admission to the GT Center program starting in third grade.
In the last few years, about 13% of the second grade population has been automatically evaluated. Before then, this group was referred to as the "10% pool," and students were selected for the 10% pool based on aggregated scores on the Otis/Lennon and the CogAT. Now, students are selected for a larger automatic screening pool based on minimum scores with respect to each subtest within the CogAT or the Naglieri overall score. The specific tests and scores required on those tests changes regularly. The current schools of students in the 13% pool compile a screening file, which includes a summary sheet, the school's Gifted Behavior Rating Scale (usually done largely by the second grade teacher), test results, two years of report cards, and an optional parent questionnaire. In the last couple years, FCPS staff have said that about 60% to 70% of the students in this 13% pool were admitted to the GT Center program.
If a student's scores on the CogAT and Naglieri are not high enough for the student to be automatically screened, parents can refer the child for screening in second through seventh grades. The referral process for students in fourth through eighth grade requires at least one achievement score, in addition to the ability tests and other information described above. In recent years, about half the students referred for GT Center screening have been admitted to the GT Center program.
Any student who is screened for the GT Center and is rejected (i.e., "found ineligible") can appeal this decision, by submitting new information. Frequently, families who wish to appeal an adverse decision pay for their child to take an individual intelligence test, such as the WISC or Stanford-Binet.
Students who move into Fairfax County after second grade and/or lived in Fairfax County but attended a private school through second grade must be referred by their parents in order to be screened for admission to the GT Center program.
Detailed information about the deadlines for each of these processes, the tests allowed, and other relevant information, are contained on the FCPS web site. The most comprehensive information is in the FCPS Parent Information Packet, which can be accessed from that web site or obtained from any FCPS elementary or middle school.
A student who is admitted to the GT Center program can opt to enroll in the GT Center, attend in a later year (up to eighth grade), or never attend a GT Center. Being admitted provides families with an option that can be exercised at any time until it expires — when the student is in eighth grade.
The typical elementary school GT Center includes students from at least four or five elementary schools and the typical middle school GT Center includes students from two or three middle schools. The GT Center boundaries have been repeatedly redrawn over the past several years. Some GT Centers have only one GT Center class per grade and others have three or more GT Center classes per grade. GT Center principals have different philosophies about educating gifted students, and these philosophies have a substantial impact on the programs at their schools. For example, some principals allow their GT Center teachers to register their students for academic competitions. Others do not.
Students admitted to the GT Center program who opt to stay in their base schools normally participate in the GT base program, along with students who were not admitted to the GT Center program but who are selected for the GT base program by their local school. Every principal decides how to structure his or her GT base program, and what standards will be used to determine which students are eligible for the GT base program. In some elementary schools, GT base students are grouped together when they are assigned to classes, and/or they are taught by the GT resource teacher in separate "pullouts" for one or more subjects. In other schools, the GT resource teacher provides general education classroom teachers with supplemental materials that can be used to differentiate within a mixed-ability classroom, and rarely interacts directly with students in the GT base program.
Middle school students who opt to stay in the general education program can take honors courses for one or more of their academic subjects. Some middle schools generally limit honors courses to students who scored at least 500 (pass advanced) on the SOL test for the relevant subject in fifth grade, or who otherwise demonstrate prior high achievement in that subject. Other middle schools encourage a wider range of students to try at least one honors class.
FCPS no longer has GT classes in its high schools. Instead, FCPS offers " honors" or "pre-IB" classes, starting in 9th grade. FCPS also offers either Advanced Placement ("AP") or International Baccalureate ("IB") classes in all high schools. AP courses generally are taken starting in 10th or 11th grade. IB classes (either Higher Level or Standard Level) generally are taken starting in 11th grade. These classes are all open admission, unlike the GT Center classes in elementary and middle school.
In addition, about 300 to 330 students who live in Fairfax County are admitted to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology ("TJ"). TJ is a Virginia Governor's School, which also admits students from other counties in Northern Virginia. TJ's admissions process was changed for 2004-05. Under the current process, test scores are being deemphasized to admit more students from underrepresented racial, socioeconomic, geographic, and other groups.