Program of Acceleration, Challenge, and Talent Development (PAC-TD): Identification for GT Services

Students in St. Mary’s County Public Schools are screened for gifted and talented services at the end of second grade using a variety of ability and achievement data that has been gathered over the course of the second grade year.

Data available from the Stanford-10 achievement test include reading and mathematics percentiles, and reading and mathematics stanines, with a particular emphasis on students scoring above the 85th percentile.

This data is examined in conjunction with information provided by the Otis Lennon School Abilities Test (OLSAT), an ability test which provides information regarding students’ verbal and nonverbal reasoning skills, and a School Abilities Index (SAI) that is most often used as an IQ measure. Students scoring above a 116 are considered to be above average, with particular emphasis on students who score above 122. This ability data is coupled with longitudinal data available through the completion of the Primary Talent Development program in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 2.

SMCPS recognizes the mobility of its community. To this end, the identification process for gifted and talented services encourages school teams to consider additional assessment data that may come from other school systems and/or private evaluations.

Parent(s)/Guardian(s) and families of students who have been identified as eligible for gifted and talented program services will be notified. This identification will be monitored through completion of the fifth grade year, when recommendations for placement in middle school courses will be reviewed.