The Gifted and Talented spring referral window is open until Thursday at 4:25 p.m with student referrals that can be made by parents, teachers, counselors, community members, or peers. The process has multiple steps which involve the screening committee that is responsible for determining the eligibility of the student. 

“The GT Screening process has a few steps,” GT screening teacher Sarah Wiseman said. “First, a student is referred for screening. Then, I help collect data on that student including a survey from their parents, a survey from their teacher, their grades, an abilities test, and an achievement test. At the end of the process, all of that information is compiled for review by the screening committee. Students previously identified in other districts are not automatically placed into GT because Texas does not have a standardized gifted program.”

For sophomore Nirad Bojedla who’s enrolled in GT Humanities II (combination of PAP English 2 and AP World History), being in a GT class just means having more work to do but not necessarily affecting other aspects such as friendship.

“I have been in the GT program for 4 years,” Bojedla said. “Mgy greatest talents are how I now perceive things thanks to GT, and a weakness that I have is that it can make me super stressed out sometimes. Being in the GT program only makes my work harder, but not too hard. I think my education is very similar to others, just with more work and the requirement of thinking differently to understand things past their face value.”

Providing GT testing documentation with the campus GT teacher is helpful because the teacher can then verify that the student was served in a gifted program before proceeding with the assessment. 

“FISD GT programming is aimed toward general intellectual ability,” Wiseman said. The screening committee looks at what the teacher and parent have to say in combination with grades and scores on both the ability and achievement tests. The process also takes mitigating circumstances into consideration if reported during the screening process, such as income, at-risk status, learning disabilities, or the use of languages other than English.”