Gifted Education
Tolleson Elementary School District provides gifted education services to students with demonstrated advanced learning ability who will benefit from learning experiences beyond what is taught in the traditional classroom.
Gifted Education provides leadership and assistance to Arizona public schools in providing appropriate mandatory gifted education services K–12 for gifted and advanced learners as required by ARS §15-779 to both identify gifted learners and provide appropriate educational programs and services for gifted learners throughout the school day.a
What Does It Mean to be Gifted?
Giftedness is asynchronous development in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm. This asynchrony increases with higher intellectual capacity. The uniqueness of identified gifted requires modifications in parenting and teaching to develop optimally.
Tolleson ESD identifies a gifted student as one who has demonstrated advanced cognitive abilities by scoring 95% or higher on the state-approved CogAt in the area(s) of verbal, nonverbal, or/and quantitative skills. The CogAT measures the level and pattern of cognitive development of a student compared to their peers. These general reasoning abilities, which start developing at birth and continue through early adulthood, are influenced by experiences gained both in and out of school.