Criteria for Gifted GWR
Discipline and Expulsion Programs and Services
Dual Exceptionality Re-evaluations
General FAQs Other Issues
Glossary of Acronyms
AP – Advanced Placement
CBA – Curriculum Based Assessment

Criteria for Gifted GWR
Discipline and Expulsion Programs and Services
Dual Exceptionality Re-evaluations
General FAQs Other Issues
Glossary of Acronyms
AP – Advanced Placement
CBA – Curriculum Based Assessment
CER – Comprehensive Evaluation Report (pre-2001 Chapter 14)
FERPA – Family Education Rights and Privacy Act
GIEP – Gifted Individualized Education Program
GMDE – Gifted Multidisciplinary Evaluation
GMDT – Gifted Multidisciplinary Team
GWR – Gifted Written Report
IDEA – Individual with Disabilities Education Act
IEP – Individualized Education Program
IQ – Intelligence Quotient
LD – Learning Disabled
MDE – Multidisciplinary Evaluation
PDE – Pennsylvania Department of Education
1. Where should complaints be sent regarding Chapter 16?
If the gifted student is also identified as a student with a disability, the Bureau of Special Education will assist with complaints regarding Chapter 14: Special Education for Students with Disabilities. 717-783-2311. If the issue only involves gifted education, the Bureau of Teaching and Learning Support will provide assistance with Chapter 16 complaints as it does with Chapter 4 complaints. Call 717-787-8913.
2. May affiliate groups and/or attorneys file requests for assistance with the PDE on behalf of parents as many parents are reluctant to file requests for assistance for fear of repercussions on their children by the school district and teachers?
Yes, affiliate groups and/or attorneys can file requests for assistance with PDE. However, requests for assistance in regard to the GIEP of a specific child must name that child.
Criteria for Gifted
3. May a person with an IQ lower than 130 be admitted to gifted programs?
Yes. Section 16.21 indicates that a person with an IQ lower than 130 may be admitted to the gifted program when other educational criteria in the student's profile strongly indicate gifted ability. IQ may not be the sole criteria for identifying a student as a gifted student.
4. May school districts set criteria such as high-test ceilings or IQ's of 140+ or design a matrix that is more restrictive than the requirements of Chapter 16 to determine whether a student is gifted and in need of specially designed instruction?
No. Each school district must establish procedures for determining whether a student is mentally gifted through a screening and evaluation process that meets the requirements of Chapter 16. Chapter 16 defines the term mentally gifted as "including a person who has an IQ of 130 or higher and when multiple criteria indicate gifted ability." A person with an IQ lower than 130 may be gifted when other educational criteria in the child's profile strongly indicate gifted ability. The matrix used the the school district may not be more restrictive than the requirement of the Chapter 16 regulations.
5. What are the multiple criteria that indicate a student may be mentally gifted?
The multiple criteria indicating a student may be mentally gifted include:
A year or more above grade achievement level in one or more subjects as measured by nationally normed and validated achievement tests.
An observed or measured rate of acquisition/retention of new academic content or skills.
Demonstrated achievement, performance or expertise in one or more academic areas as evidenced by excellence of products, portfolio, or research, as well as criterion-referenced team judgment.
Early and measured use of high level thinking skills (Guilford/Bloom's Taxonomy), academic creativity, leadership skills, intense academic interest areas, communications skills, foreign language aptitude or technology expertise.
Documented, observed, validated or assessed evidence that intervening factors such as English as a second language, learning disability, physical impairment, emotional disability, gender or race bias, or socio/cultural deprivation are masking gifted abilities.
6. In the "multiple criteria" section 16.21 (e), what is meant by "subject results shall yield academic instruction levels in all academic subject areas"?
Subject results means subtests of achievement tests should provide results that can be used to determine placement in academic instruction in all academic subject areas.
7. In the "multiple criteria" section 16.21 (e), how do you measure or show "an observed or measured rate of acquisition/retention of new academic content or skills that reflect gifted ability"?
Rate of acquisition is the rapidity or speed at which the student is able to acquire, understand, and demonstrate competency or mastery of new learning. Rate of acquisition and rate of retention of new materials/skills can be defined as how many repetitions the student needs before the student masters new information/skills and can use the information/skills appropriately any time thereafter. This data can be obtained by simple procedures such as Curriculum Based Assessment (CBA), direct observation, and reporting from parents, teachers or supervisors. T