Highly Capable Program

In order to get accurate testing results students should not do anything to prepare.

No. Students may be referred for highly capable assessment by a parent, teacher, or community member annually. Referrals are used for those students who did not meet the screening requirements or are new to the school district. All referrals will be reviewed by the district’s Multidisciplinary Team to determine eligibility for further testing. Not all referrals will qualify for further assessment. A body of data will be used to determine qualifications for all referrals. 

Universal screening is taken by all 1st and 3rd graders. Referrals will no longer be needed as a body of the evidence will be reviewed for all students in these grades.

The district does not accept private testing results in place of the highly capable identification process. All students must go through the district’s identification process to be eligible for highly capable services.

Funding Information

Washington Administrative Code 

Appeals will not be considered for illness. Please email mitchellj@svsd410.org before the test begins if your child is going to miss a scheduled test due to illness. Students who are not feeling well on the date of the original test are given one opportunity to test on the makeup date within the assessment window. Only one makeup date will be scheduled for each test. The district sets the date for that makeup test. Applications for students who miss a regularly scheduled test and the makeup test will be closed.

Upon enrolling in the SVSD, transfer students identified for and/or receiving Highly Capable services in their previous district will be provided differentiation in the general education classroom, while the SVSD Highly Capable team works with the family and school to determine which services will best meet their academic needs.  To identify students needing highly capable services, the SVSD reviews a body of evidence and local norms for each student.  The body of evidence for all students in the Snoqualmie Valley School District includes multiple objective criteria covering a range of cognitive abilities, as well as academic performance in various subjects. It will be necessary to obtain data from your previous school district for the Multidisciplinary Identification and Placement Committee (MIPC) to review to determine appropriate placement.  If a student’s body of evidence is lacking assessments, additional testing may be necessary, which takes place during the SVSD referral and identification cycle. Private test scores from outside district testing are not accepted.

Please note, not all students identified as needing highly capable services in their previous school district will be determined to need highly capable services in SVSD.  WAC 392-170-055 & WAC 392-170-075 permits districts to create identification criteria specific to the needs of the district’s most highly capable students.  You may submit an appeal if you feel the placement decision is inaccurate. The appeals process is outlined on our website. 

Clustering is grouping students of similar intellect into the same classroom.  For example, if a school has four different kindergarten classrooms and six highly capable children in kindergarten, all six of these children would be placed in the same classroom.  This allows teachers to meet the needs of highly capable children through differentiated and/or extended instruction.

High Achiever vs. Highly Capable Learner

Specific testing dates will be communicated to all families via Parent Square through the SVSD Summit newsletter or neighborhood school newsletters.