In compliance with the Exceptional Children’s Education Act (ECEA) - -Colorado’s primary law regarding requirements for the implementation of gifted education programming, including identification - - the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) has developed portability guidelines to determine whether or not a gifted identification transfers between districts.
Poudre School District honors the Colorado Department of Education Office of Gifted Education Portability Guidelines for students transferring between school districts in Colorado.
In-State Transfers and Portability of Gifted IDs
Portability applies to in-state transfer students coming to Poudre School District. "Portability" means that a Colorado Gifted student's gifted identification transfers to any district in the state, as long as the identification follows Colorado state guidelines set by CDE. Once the student's Advanced Learning Plan (ALP) and qualifying data from the previous Colorado school district are received by the district ID team, the district office has 45 days to review the ALP and 60 days to communicate how PSD will meet the needs set forth in the ALP.
Out-of-State Transfers with Gifted IDs
Given that each state has different requirements, gifted identifications made outside of Colorado do not fall under CDE portability guidelines. For gifted students who move into Poudre School District from out-of-state, a district gifted identification specialist will review all test scores provided for the student and determine whether the body of evidence is sufficient for a gifted identification in Poudre School District or if additional testing is needed.
What is the process for evaluating a transfer student's gifted identification eligibility?
Because gifted identification records do not automatically transfer and because records that are received often do not include the scores used to make a gifted identification, parents can often help speed up the review process by providing official test score reports, gifted identification notification letters, and/or ALPs. You may share your student's gifted records and request a review once your student is enrolled in Poudre School District.
- Gifted status does not automatically transfer, even within the state of Colorado. Records must be received from the prior school and processed by the PSD District Gifted ID Team - - your child has to essentially be "re-identified" here in PSD.
- In addition to indicating that your student has received gifted programming on the enrollment form, reach out to the gifted site coordinator at your student’s new school and let them know that your student has been identified as gifted in another district. Please include your student’s former district in this communication.
- Your student’s new school in PSD will request records from the prior school in a timely manner.
- Once records are received, the gifted site coordinator at your child's school will work with a district gifted identification specialist to see if scores meet state criteria. If records are not received in a timely manner, the district team will reach out to parents to involve them in the process.
- The gifted site coordinator at your child’s school will communicate the results of the review. If your student does not meet CDE criteria for gifted identification, the site coordinator will let you know what assessments are needed and how your student may access those assessments.