FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Gifted-Testing Plan Irks Some Parents

The Fountain Valley School District has approved a controversial change to its Gifted and Talented Education Program that will delay the identification of gifted youngsters until the first grade.

About 60 parents attended a recent meeting to urge board members to continue the current policy of testing students in kindergarten so that GATE instruction could begin in the first grade.

Advocates of the change said that it will give teachers more time to observe students and that older children are better able to take tests. Testing in kindergarten has usually relied more on creativity.

The Gifted and Talented Education Advisory Committee, made up of parents, teachers, a principal and Debby Bowes, director of curriculum and instruction, had approved the new policy on Jan. 9 based on suggestions by several parents, faculty members and administrators.

Many parents argued that current gifted-program policies, which were revised five years ago, have not had enough time to be evaluated. Parents asked for evidence supporting the latest change and accused district officials of simply following the lead of other school districts.

“There’re no hard facts that this is necessary,” said Davonne Aarons, who has a third-grader and a kindergartner in the gifted program. “It’s the flavor-of-the-month opinion with no concrete evidence, just whatever the trends of the time are.”

Bowes said the issue is deciding which grade is most appropriate for assessing whether a child belongs in the gifted program.

“What’s the rush?” she asked. “In rushing a great deal of damage can be done (to the child).”

Bowes added that first grade is still considered early identification and that her preference would be to begin testing in the third grade.

Parents and teachers nominate students for the gifted program who then take IQ and achievement tests. Once identified as gifted, a child remains in the program through elementary school and is retested only if a teacher suspects misidentification. Problems with misidentified seventh- and eighth-graders were among the reasons for later testing.

About 10% of the district’s 5,000 students are designated as gifted, although only 2% to 3% of the population at large is considered gifted based on IQ scores.