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Hernando Today

'Gifted' Screening Sessions Finalized

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By LINNEA BROWN

Published: June 28, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Hernando County's newest school principal wants your star student.

At least, he wants your student to be screened for admission to the district's new centralized, immersion-style gifted program at Explorer K-8 in Spring Hill.

Now that hundreds of district children who scored high marks on standardized tests have been screened for the new gifted program — to be located at the new, 2,100-student school set to open this fall off Northcliffe Boulevard — Hernando County School District officials will host two screening sessions to all local parents who want their children tested.

"It's like a TV show: 'So you think your child is gifted,'" said the school's principal, Dominick Ferello. "Here's your chance to come in and find out."

The sessions are set for July 15 and 16, and open to any parents who call the district's ESE office ahead of time and request a 45-minute, one-on-one screening session, he said.

"I want parents to call and make appointments," Ferello said. "We need their kids to come in. I want them to have the benefit of what we're going to offer at the school."

Meant for local children in kindergarten through eighth grade, the open screenings will follow three closed screenings in June and July for more than 400 students who scored a level five or above on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test or in the 98th or 99th percentile on the FCAT Norm Referenced Test, or NRT.

The final screening session for high-scoring students will be held July 8.

A student is defined as "gifted" if he or she scores at least two standard deviations above the mean IQ score of 130 (minus the standard "error of measurement" of three points) and meets at least one characteristic of a gifted student on the state's standard scale or checklist.

If the student does not meet state criteria, they can also qualify under a Plan B, or socioeconomic plan meant to assist various subgroups.

In Hernando County, a student can qualify if they have a mean IQ score of 120 and are a member of an underrepresented group -- such as a low socioeconomic level or if English is not their first language.

However, the open screening will not consist of a full IQ test. Only children who pass through the initial "IQ indicator" screening process will move on to a full-blown IQ test, scheduled privately at a later date with a school psychologist.

In April, school board members voted for a plan that aims to place the county's gifted students in an immersion-style gifted program at Explorer. With 383 currently-identified gifted students in grades K-8 who would be eligible to transfer to the center, those who do not transfer to Explorer will be forced to "opt out" of gifted services, which many have been receiving at their home schools. About 215 students have volunteered to go to the center, Ferello said.

"I've already met a number of the kids and their parents," he said. "I want them to be comfortable here."

Originally, the center was expected to cost the district nearly $705,000 more than the amount currently being spent on gifted services at the district's 16 elementary and middle schools. However, that amount has since lowered, as the district has cut gifted teaching positions and other belt-tightening measures.

Either way, it is set to be a world-class program, Ferello said.

"It's going to be rigorous and relevant, and like something (people) have never seen," he said.

This week, district staff spent several days writing and finalizing the program's curriculum, which is melded into the core curriculum mandated by the state and modeled after that used by other gifted programs.

Each gifted child that does not transfer to the new center will cause the district to lose as much as $2,100 in additional state funding per child.

However, officials believe there are other gifted children who have not yet been identified, and hope the new screening sessions help funnel them into the program.

"I fully expect that our numbers are going to jump more," Ferello said. "I hope to see at least another 30 or 40 kids (enrolled in the program) by the time school starts."

He said he was not sure how many of the high-scoring students had passed the first level of screening.

Typical characteristics of gifted children include a sophisticated vocabulary, mature interests and a preference for either enjoying solitary activities or socializing with older children, Ferello said.

And come this fall, officials will have a more efficient way of testing.

Instead of the district's current method of one-on-one screening — known as the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test — officials will be able to test children in groups with the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test.

The district is currently in the process of purchasing the test, and will aim to offer the screening to all children in the district each year at the end of first grade.

"I think it's a wonderful thing, and it will really build the program," Ferello said. "It will be a way to quickly screen and identify kids right off the bat to put in the program."

For more information or to set up an appointment for a screening time, call the district's ESE office at (352) 797-7022.

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.

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