No-Cost Gifted Assessment for all Arizona 2nd Graders in SY21-22

Complete the survey by February 25th to indicate your LEA’s interest in the no-cost Gifted Assessment.

Dear School Leaders,

The Arizona legislature appropriated $850,000 to the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to procure an assessment that Arizona public schools could choose to use to evaluate all their 2nd Grade students for Gifted Education programs at no cost during this school year (SY21-22). Participation in this new universal screening opportunity is available, and optional, for all Arizona public schools.

Following a competitive procurement process, ADE has identified the Cognitive Abilities Test™ (CogAT®), from Riverside Insights as the 2nd grade screening tool for this program.

Schools can choose to test their students using traditional paper/pencil versions of the assessment or an online testing option. Given that this program is funded through a one-year appropriation, all testing activities will need to be completed within this fiscal year, or by June 2022.

“We are excited to provide this opportunity that will help our schools more equitably identify our state’s Gifted learners,” said Superintendent Hoffman. “Universal screening removes barriers to access and is a proven strategy to help identify students that have been traditionally underrepresented in Gifted Education programs – especially students who may be culturally, linguistically and socioeconomically diverse.”

Starting this year (SY21-22), students that score at or above the 97th percentile, based on national norms (age or grade norms), on a test adopted by the State Board of Education (which includes the CogAT® test for this program) will generate a new Group B add-on per-pupil funding weight – a new “G” weight. Qualifying pupils will generate the new 0.007 Group B add-on funding in FY 2022 and the corresponding funding will appear in payments and on payment reports later this year. More details about the new “G” weight may be found on our School Finance website.

Interested in administering this assessment? Complete the survey.

A very brief survey has been created to help gather information regarding LEAs interested in taking advantage of this unique opportunity. One representative per LEA should complete the following survey by February 25, 2022.

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The program website hosted by Riverside Insights for LEAs to order testing materials and access comprehensive training and technical assistance and support resources will launch by March 1st. A link to this site will also be posted on ADE’s Gifted Education website.

For more information, please contact Peter Laing at Peter.Laing@azed.gov.

Arizona Department of Education

1535 W Jefferson Street, Phoenix, AZ