Secondary PACE Referral
Packet
2015-2016
PACE provides services for academically gifted and/or talented students in grades K-12 who
have demonstrated a need for advanced, differentiated instruction.
The Plano I.S.D. conducts open, rolling referral with one assessment cycle per school year; sixth
through eighth grades are eligible for assessment in the spring semester. High school students
are assessed at the beginning of the school year only. Students may be referred for the gifted
program by teachers, parents, principals, counselors, or by the students themselves. Referred
students will be assessed at their home campus and are eligible for this assessment only once
each school year. Assessment occurs the semester before potential placement.
Referral packets need to be completed and returned to the gifted specialist at your child’s
school by the appropriate deadline listed below:
MIDDLE SCHOOL REFERRAL DEADLINES
January 13, 2016
HIGH SCHOOL REFERRAL DEADLINE
(Senior High students should contact their counselors within one week of
enrollment to discuss assessment options.)
September 4, 2015
Referral packets must be completed and returned to the gifted specialist at your child’s
school by the appropriate deadline. Referrals received after the posted deadline will be held
for the next assessment cycle. Referral packets may be found online at:
http://pisd.edu/parents/advanced.academics/gifted.pace/index.shtml
You may also request an electronic copy from your campus PACE Specialist via e-mail. If you
prefer a hard copy, please request one from your campus PACE Specialist.
General Information
Individuals often demonstrate their gifts and talents in many ways; one individual may possess
exceptional academic talents and another may be an exceptional artist, musician, athlete, or performer.
Plano Academic and Creative Education (PACE) is designed for the student who demonstrates the need
for advanced academic challenges and for opportunities to develop his/her creative thinking. PACE may
not meet the needs of students whose gifts and talents are in areas other than advanced academics.
Accordingly, PISD is proud to offer high quality, challenging courses at the secondary level in the fields of
visual arts, performing arts, and/or athletics. Participation in PACE is not a prerequisite for these
courses.
Demonstrating academic gifts and talents often is developmental, so not all gifted and talented students
exhibit the need for advanced academic challenges at the same point in their education. Furthermore,
some gifted and talented students excel in one area yet require grade level instruction in other areas.
The younger the student is, the greater the possibility that his/her skills are developing at different rates
in different subject areas. As the child ages, these differences often are minimized through instruction,
life experiences, and/or maturity. It is possible that a young student does not develop the skills needed
for success in the PACE program until later in his/her school experience, a relatively common occurrence
among kindergartners and first graders. For these students, the issue may not necessarily be one of
giftedness, but may be an issue of timing given general classroom performance and/or the expectations
of the PACE program. Consequently, PISD allows students to be assessed for PACE at any grade level.
Parents considering having their child assessed for PACE should reflect on their child’s overall
educational needs, intellectual curiosity, degree of self-motivation, task commitment, willingness to
work independently, awareness that tasks sometimes have more than one correct solution, and comfort
with connections between language arts, history, science, and math.
Teacher referral is not required for PACE assessment. Referrals may be initiated by the parent, the
teacher, or the student, or someone else. This packet includes an explanation of the assessment
process, and an overview of the PACE curriculum. If you decide to have your child assessed for PACE,
please complete the referral information, and return the materials to your child’s school by the due
date. If you have additional questions, please contact the Gifted Specialist at your school.
Assessment Timeline
► Packet 2 must be returned to the Gifted Specialist by the date and time indicated on the bottom of
the Referral Information page.
► All PACE tests administered during the published assessment windows are conducted at the student’s
campus.
Students are assessed in spring of each year. Letters are mailed in May.
Students may be assessed for PACE services once a year.
Students in grades 9 through 12 are assessed within the first six weeks of school.
Students transferring from other districts should contact the campus gifted specialist
upon enrollment.
PACE Assessments and What They Mean
Decisions regarding participation in the PACE program are based upon a preponderance of information
gathered during the assessment process, including both standardized test scores and behavioral data
provided by the parent and the teacher. The scores reflect specific academic skills and abilities related
to the expectations of successful PACE students. A campus committee consisting of at least three
individuals reviews the results and the behavioral data to make participation decisions. Only
assessment data gathered from PISD administered tests are utilized in making these decisions.
Gathering information from identical sources allows a common standard to be used when measuring
student abilities. In general, PACE seeks to serve students who are performing or show the potential to
perform at or above the second standard deviation from the mean on these standardized tests. Test
results and/or assessment information from outside practitioners, clinicians, and/or psychologists are
not admissible.
Ability tests measure students’ ability to learn. Ability scores are considered a representation of the
ability to learn new tasks or solve problems, especially in the absence of direct instruction. These are
important skills in PACE since much of the instruction is abstract, open-ended, and student-directed.
Students are expected to make complex connections in his/her reasoning and to work and think
independently.
Achievement tests measure what students have learned.
The district may administer any of the following assessments to determine the need for PACE services:
- Ability in specific domains (Verbal and Quantitative)
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability (W-J)
Differential Ability Scales (DAS)
Cognitive Assessment System (CAS)
Cognitive Ability Tests - Verbal & Quantitative (CogAT)
Kaufman Assessment Battery (KABC)
- Reasoning or Fluid Intelligence
Naglieri Noverbal Intelligence (NNAT)
Otis-Lennon (O-L)
Cognitive Ability Tests - Nonverbal (CogAT)
-Achievement in specific academic areas
Stanford Achievement Tests (SAT)
Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS)
Wechsler Individual Achievement Tests (WIAT)
Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED
Measure of Academic Progress (MAP)
Scores are mailed home as indicated in the Assessment Timeline and are shared with your child’s
classroom teacher. The goal of gifted assessment is to gather important information not only about
what a student knows, but how a student learns. Please note, the district does not support test
preparation courses and/or materials as they frequently skew test results making it far more difficult
to determine appropriated placement.
STUDENT INFORMATION
Student_______________________________________ Current Grade______
Student’s Birth Date______________Student ID # ____________________________
Student’s Gender (circle)
Female
Male
Current School___________________________Homeroom Teacher _______________________
School Attended Previous School Year: ______________________________________ (if different than current
school)
Referred by: (circle one) Parent Teacher
Student
Other (please explain): _____________
Has your child been tested for PACE previously?
When?_______________________________
Yes / No
If yes,
What language is spoken in your home most of the time? __________________
Does your child speak any languages other than English? ___________________
If yes, to what degree? ______________________________________________
PARENT INFORMATION
Parent/Guardian Name ___________________________
Address City ______________________________________ Zip Code _____________
Home Phone Number____________________
Work Phone Number(s)_______________________
E-mail address_______________________________
SECONDARY REFERRAL DEADLINES
Grades 6-8: January 13, 2016
Grades 9-12: September 4, 2015
I have read the assessment information included in Packet 1 and Packet 2. I give permission for my child
_______________________________________ to be tested for the gifted program and for the Gifted Specialist
to gather all necessary information to complete the assessment process.
______________________________________________________________
Parent/Guardian Signature
_____________________
Date
Packets received by the campus after the deadline will be held for the next regularly scheduled testing session.
PARENT OBSERVATION INVENTORY
Student Name: ______________________________________
Gifted and talented individuals frequently display intellectual and personal characteristics or
talents beyond specific performance in school. Please share any information, news, or
examples that you believe would help a committee understand your child more completely.
Sharing your child’s interests or talents is not bragging. Specific examples are very useful.
You may use additional paper or feel free to bullet your responses.
Intellectual Characteristics – (i.e.: curiosity, questioning, type of thinker, perspective,
vocabulary, learning style)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
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Personal Characteristics (i.e.: persistence, approach to collaborative work, type of humor,
sensitivity, interests, leadership, talents, interests, response to advice/criticism)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Why do you believe your son/daughter requires gifted services?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________________________________________
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Other characteristics or circumstances that should be considered when determining if gifted
services are required:
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
PLANO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
Student Self-Appraisal
Student _______________________________________________Grade ___________________
Why do you believe you need gifted services?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
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Class Schedule
PERIOD
WO)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
CLASS
TEACHER
ROOM #
Preferred
References
(Please Check