Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Education

State Board of Education

Regulations Governing Educational Services for Gifted Students [8 VAC 20 ‑ 40]

Action	Revision of regulations school divisions must meet in their gifted education programs, K - 12
Stage	Proposed
Comment Period	Ended on 9/26/2008

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9/18/08 9:15 pm

Commenter: Todd Rich, Vice-Chair, Henrico County Gifted Advisory Council

Henrico Gifted Advisory Council requests revisions to the proposed regulations.

The Henrico County Gifted Advisory Council (GAC) requests that the Board of Education make public all documentation of the research that supports the proposed new regulations to Chapter 40. The GAC also requests that the following changes to the proposed new regulations be thoughtfully considered:

1. 8VAC20-40-60. Local Plan.

The GAC strongly believes that DOE approval of local gifted plans is essential to maintaining quality gifted programs statewide. State approval also reassures parents and gifted students that their local school system is providing the excellence that they expect.

2. 8VAC20-40-20. Definitions.

Under the proposed new regulations, the definition of “Screening” places an onerous burden on school systems by requiring assessments of all K-12 students. The GAC requests that the definition be changed to: “Screening is the annual process of creating a pool for potential candidates K-12 using multiple criteria through the referral process, review of current assessment data, or information from other sources. Screening is the active search for students who are then referred for the formal identification process.”

3. 8VAC20-40-40. Screening, referral, identification, and placement.

The GAC requests that the language in this section be revised to read: “one or more of the following: English/Language Arts, mathematics, history/social science, or science.” The DOE’s proposed new regulations of this section require identification in ALL of these areas. The DOE’s use of “and” rather than “or” can easily be interpreted to mean that students must be identified as gifted in every subject area, or else they are not identified as gifted in any of them.

CommentID: 2303