While the State of Ohio requires and sets the criteria for gifted identification, each school district determines the gifted services it is able to provide and the criteria for receiving those services. Upper Arlington Schools ensures equal opportunity for all district students to receive any services offered by the district for which the student meets the criteria. 

Requests for gifted testing for the purpose of qualifying for gifted classes in the following school year must be received by March 1 of the prior school year. Students who become identified as gifted after the beginning of the current school year will be eligible to participate in gifted classes for which they qualify in the following school year. An exception to the March 1 deadline shall be made for students who transfer into the district after the deadline.

Grades 3-5: Gifted Math

In grades three, four, and five, students who are identified as gifted in superior cognitive ability and math will receive gifted services in a replacement math class, meeting with the gifted intervention specialist each day for the math period. The gifted intervention specialist is the mathematics teacher of record and will assign the grade.

• In third grade replacement math, students will participate in an enriched third grade curriculum. 

• In fourth grade replacement math, the grade-level curriculums for fourth grade and the first half of fifth grade will be compacted into one year. 

• Students in fifth grade replacement math will study the second half of the fifth grade curriculum and all of the sixth grade curriculum. 

While there are no replacement math classes at the middle school level, students who complete elementary Gifted Math 5B/6 may continue to follow an accelerated math curriculum. This may include Honors Geometry for students who complete Algebra I. For additional information on the options for accelerated math at the middle school level, please see the Mathematics section of the Middle School Program of Studies.

Grades 5-8: Gifted ELA / Concilium

In grades five through eight, students who are identified as gifted in superior cognitive ability and reading are eligible to enroll in a replacement English language arts (ELA) class, meeting with the gifted intervention specialist each day for the ELA period. The gifted intervention specialist is the ELA teacher of record.

Grades 9-12

At the high school level, students who are identified as gifted in superior cognitive ability or in a specific academic area, creative thinking ability, and/or the visual and performing arts may be provided gifted services via the following courses:

• Honors

• Advanced Placement (AP)

• International Baccalaureate (IB)

• Project Lead the Way Engineering Pathway

• Science of Robotics

• College Credit Plus

These courses are open to all students regardless of gifted identification but are considered to be gifted service settings by the Ohio Department of Education provided the following conditions are met:

• students' areas of gifted identification match the content of the course;

• students have Written Education Plans;

• course teachers participate in high quality professional development on gifted education (visual/performing arts and CCP instructors are exempt from this requirement).

When students identified as gifted are reported to parents and the Ohio Department of Education as served, they must have a Written Education Plan (WEP) in compliance with the Operating Standards for Identifying and Serving Gifted Students.

A Written Education Plan, or WEP, is a document required for any gifted-identified student who is reported by the district as receiving gifted services. WEPs may look different from district to district but must include the following information, according to the Ohio Department of Education:

• Descriptions of services to be provided and goals for each service; 

• Methods for evaluating progress towards goals and how progress will be reported; 

• Staff responsible for ensuring delivery of each service; 

• Policies regarding waiver of assignments missed in the regular education classroom while a child participates in gifted services; and 

• Deadline for the next review of the WEP (typically the following school year).

If at any time a student wishes to withdraw from gifted services, the child or parent should present a request in writing to the building administrator. If children request to withdraw, the parents will be notified.

Subject and whole-grade acceleration are options at every grade level for any student who meets the district’s criteria. For more information, please contact your building principal.