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My kingdom for a gifted test!
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Fred desperately needed to get a look at an example of the test given by the Austin Independent School District. Zeus, being the knowledgeable parent that he is, suggested going to the school district's Web site. Surely there would be release copies of the test there, something used in years' past, something that would give Fred an idea of the types of questions his child would be asked if Fred chose to have the boy screened.
Perhaps a few of you do not remember Fred and Zeus. They were introduced in a previous article: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-26878-Austin-Gifted-Education-Examiner~y2009m11d3-How-will-my-gifted-child-be-identified
Zeus, if you will all recall, simply wants to be a friend, and he cannot believe that this test would be so hard to come by. He takes a quick trip on the World Wide Web and finds his ultimate destination: http://www.austinisd.org/
What a treasure trove of information, positively begging to be discovered and explored, but where to find the information on the gifted and talented program? Naturally, there is no link directing Zeus to the Gifted and Talented program, so he must navigate. Starting with the top seems logical (some pithy saying about cream rising occurs to him as he chuckles and accidentally clicks on "H1N1 Flu Virus Information") Sneezing, Zeus goes back to the home page and peruses the links at the top of the page. "Academics" looks the most promising, so he clicks there and is immediately whisked away to a wonderland of sights and sounds.
Even after adjusting his Bose speakers, Zeus realizes he may have exaggerated slightly about the wondrous "sounds" on the page, but there are a few more links, and he clicks first on "Educational Support." Big mistake! Anything having to do with flow charts is generally bad news, so Zeus gets out of there quick as lightning.
"Curriculum" sounds more promising. Surely, the gifted and talented program is considered part of the curriculum. Sure enough, a couple of hoops jumped through later, and the gifted page is found: http://www.austinisd.org/academics/curriculum/gt/
No sample test questions anywhere on the main page, but luckily Zeus finds not only the definition of gifted from the Texas Education Code (which you can find in an earlier article http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-26878-Austin-Gifted-Education-Examiner~y2009m10d27-Why-Texas-doesnt-think-my-child-is-gifted), but also the Federal Definition of gifted, which is only slightly more vague. Surely someplace on this site has test questions, expectations for the test, examples of gifted scores, anything.
Eureka! There is a State Plan for the Gifted that was revised in . . . May of 2000. Yo uhave got to be kidding. The document is 24 pages long and has nary a sample test question anywhere. This is a bust. Zeus will have to go elsewhere for answers. Perhaps someone at his children's school will have the answers he needs . . .
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