Principals shall ensure that reports from the Texas Education Agency (TEA), which reflect actual Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) data, are compared to campus reports for accuracy.
Principals shall designate a Campus Vanguard Coordinator, preferably not a classroom teacher, to whom all gifted and talented identification and assessment questions should be directed. Coding of G/T students in Chancery SMS shall be done by trained data entry personnel on each campus.
The designee and phone number of the Central Administrative Staff member:
Name: Mary Jane Gomez
Phone Number: (713) 556-6954
The campus Vanguard coordinator should provide appropriate data entry personnel with the names and coding information of students who are eligible, whose documentation is in order, and who are being served. In no case should clerical personnel be responsible for determining a student’s gifted and talented indicator code. Vanguard coordinators are responsible for ensuring that clerical personnel are aware of changes in a student’s services and effective dates of such changes. The designated personnel are then responsible for entering changes at the end of each six-week/nine- week reporting period, the Vanguard coordinator shall notify the campus principal of any Gifted and Talented Report coding errors, with the principal having final signature verification.
Authority: State Law
State law can be found in the Texas Education Code (TEC) Chapter 29: Educational Programs (http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.29.htm);Texas Administration Code (TAC) Chapter 89
(http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter089/index.html): Adaptations for Special Populations, Subchapter A; Gifted/Talented Education; Houston Independent School District (HISD) Board Policy (http://pol.tasb.org/Home/Index/592 )
Definition TEC §29.121
Gifted and talented students are those identified by professionally qualified persons, who perform at, or show the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment and who:
• exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area
• possesses an unusual capacity for leadership; or
• excels in a specific academic field.
To satisfy the state mandate for Gifted and Talented students, TEC §29.121(http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter089/ch089a.html), the District provides a flexible system of viable program options and a G/T Curriculum Framework that reinforces the strengths, needs, and interests of Gifted and Talented students K-12.
The Vanguard program shall be included in the Campus Improvement Plan. Eligibility
Identification and Assessment
School districts shall develop written policies on student identification that are approved by the local board of trustees and disseminated to parents (19 TAC §89.1). HISD’s Gifted and Talented policies are Board approved and include the following:
• assessment of students that include provisions for ongoing screening and selection of students who perform or show potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment in the areas defined in TEC §29.121. HISD adheres to an annual testing calendar that provides testing periods throughout the school year;
data and procedures designed such that students from all populations in the district have access to assessment and, if identified, provided services (TEC §29.122 and 19 TAC§89.1(3). HISD currently provides testing in Spanish and English for students; • selection of assessment measures collected from multiple sources according to each
area are defined in The Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted/Talented Students. HISD schools shall use the G/T Identification Matrix specific for all grade levels K-12 that includes both quantitative and qualitative measures;
• selection of students shall be made by a committee of at least three local district educators who have received training in the “Nature and Needs of Gifted and Talented students.19 TAC §89.1(4). G/T Identification Matrix includes signature lines for three admission committee members that have completed their training;
• identification of Kindergarten students must be completed and students placed in a program before March 1 of the current school year to be eligible for funding. HISD tests all Kindergarten and fifth grade students with the CogAT and the Iowa/Logramos tests during the year to enable schools to begin the process of identification of G/T students;
• include provisions regarding furloughs, reassessment, exiting of students from program services, transfer students, and Matrix Reviews of district decisions regarding program placement. (19 TAC §89.1(5)).
Program Services
Schools districts shall assure an array of learning opportunities that are commensurate with the abilities of Gifted and Talented students and that emphasize content in the four foundation areas: Reading, Math, Science, and Social Studies (19 TAC §89.3. HISD Board approved program services are the following:
• K – 5th grade: Differentiation in the four foundation areas by teachers that have completed their 30-hour mandated G/T Professional Development (19 TAC §89.2(1)). HISD implements this mandate as it is stated with teachers implementing the HISD G/T Curriculum Framework, Scholars & Knowledge.
• 6th - 8th grade: Differentiation in the four foundation areas by teachers that have completed their 30-hour mandated G/T Professional Development (19 TAC §89.2(1)). HISD program services are provided through Pre-AP or IBMYP classes; therefore teachers must have completed the Gifted and Talented training and the Pre-AP/AP or IBMYP/IB training. Teachers differentiate the HISD Curriculum in depth and complexity by implementing the HISD G/T Curriculum Framework, Scholars & Knowledge.
• 9th – 12th grade: Differentiation in advanced level courses by teachers that have completed their 30-hour mandated G/T Professional Development (19 TAC §89.2(1)). Identified G/T students are required to be enrolled in a minimum of two advanced level (Pre-AP/AP, IBMYP/IB, or Dual Credit) classes to retain the G/T code and be qualified for funding. Teachers differentiate in advanced courses by implementing the HISD G/T Curriculum Framework, Scholars & Knowledge.
Exiting Procedures
HISD’s Board Approved Policies mandate the procedures that must be followed to withdraw students from the Vanguard program.
A student is withdrawn from the Vanguard program if:
• the student withdraws from the district:
• a parent requests a “Voluntary Exit Form” from the Vanguard program, then the child will no longer be served in the Vanguard program:
• the student is exited from the Vanguard program services by the Exit Committee: The gifted and talented indicator code is removed from the attendance accounting system by the clerical personnel, only when directed by the Campus Vanguard Coordinator. The effective date of dismissal should be recorded.
G/T Coding in HISD Student Information System
The Gifted and Talented indicator code must reflect the student’s participation in the Vanguard program for each six-week/nine-week reporting period.
• All students identified as Gifted and Talented and receiving Vanguard Program services should be G/T PEIMS coded including the student’s Vanguard program entry effective date.
Documentation
In order to claim Gifted and Talented enrollment for funding, documentation must be complete, which includes the following:
• Student identification and assessment are complete according to HISD policy;
• Student’s Vanguard Program Services are complete according to HISD policy:
includes documentation of teacher’s G/T training complete according to HISD policy;
includes documentation of student scheduled in mandated courses according to HISD policy;
includes implementation of G/T Curriculum Framework, Scholars and Knowledge according to HISD policy.
Controls are in place to ensure that a student is included in only one campus Gifted and Talented count. If the student changes campuses during a six-week/nine-week reporting
period or attends another campus to receive Gifted and Talented instruction, the student’s participation in the program will only be counted once.
At the beginning and end of each school year, the principal’s appointed Campus Vanguard Coordinator shall review the clerical personnel’s input of initial coding in Chancery SMS for accuracy. The principal of each campus has final compliance responsibility and must sign and verify the accuracy of campus coding for G/T students.
Entering Gifted and Talented PEIMS Coding- 2014-2015
The campus Vanguard Coordinator provides a roster of Gifted & Talented students that will be receiving program services and will be coded with the “GT Funding Indicator” (PEIMS) designation, to the Chancery data entryclerk and
The campus Vanguard Coordinator provides a roster of identified Gifted & Talented students that will be coded with the “Qualified and Not Served” indicator with the reason selected from the pull down menu, to Chancery data entry clerk.
Creating a G/T Record for a Student Begin Task From Chancery SIS HOME PAGE:
For every student listed on the G/T Rosters: enter Student’s ID number, click search
click on Student’s name hyperlink to open Student Demographics from the control bar, click Special Populations, click G/T
from the G/T page, click Actions – Add GT Coding
from the Add G/T coding page, click calendar icon to enter student G/T program entry effective date. Enter Effective date
At this point two (2) options are available, selection of the:
G/T Funding Indicator or
Qualified But Not Served Indicator.
For students identified and receiving program services, click the G/T Funding Indicator.
For students identified but not receiving program services, click the Qualified, But Not Served Indicator, and from the “Reason Not Served” pull down …indicate one of the designations given.
Click APPLY after entering the data to save all entries.
Creating Reports:
Run a roster of G/T students receiving Vanguard Program Services and coded with the “G/T Funding Indicator” to review for accuracy with the report created with the coding G/T roster provided by the Campus Vanguard Coordinator.
Run a roster of G/T identified students coded with the “Qualified and Not Served” indicator to review for accuracy with the report created with the G/T roster provided by the Campus Vanguard Coordinator.