A student may be referred for consideration for gifted services by teachers, counselors, administrators, parents or guardians, peers, self, and other individuals with knowledge of the student’s abilities. Standard referrals may occur at any time for students in grades K-12. Referrals are begun by contacting the Gifted Referral Screening Team (GRST) at each school. These teams are chaired by the school counselor(s). Parents must be informed when students are referred. All second-grade students will be observed as potential gifted referrals using a gifted checklist provided by the State Department of Education.

An Eligibility Determination Team (EDT) determines eligibility of students for gifted services. This team consists of all teachers of the gifted, the program coordinator, and a psychometrist when appropriate. A student may be considered automatically eligible for gifted services when the obtained full scale/composite IQ score on an individually administered test of intelligence (NOT a screener) is two standard deviations above the mean or higher. When students do not meet the automatic criteria for eligibility, a matrix of multiple criteria is utilized to determine eligibility. Considered through the matrix are aptitude and performance to include at least three examples from the following: achievement test scores, portfolio, product, grades, work samples, leadership/motivation subscale scores from a behavior rating scale, or other documentation as deemed appropriate by the Gifted Referrals Screening Team.