Naperville 203
Community Unit School District
Identification and Placement
Naperville Community Unit School District 203 ensures that all students are given an opportunity to be screened for placement into academically talented and gifted services each year. See Description of Services to learn more about these services. Identification and placement are determined by both formal assessments as well as teacher rating scales. Data collected during the identification process are placed on a matrix to determine if placement in academically talented and gifted services is appropriate. Students enrolled in academically talented and gifted services do not need to re-qualify for ongoing placement.
| IDENTIFICATION AND PLACEMENT CRITERIA AND DESCRIPTIONS | |
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Naperville CUSD 203 uses multiple criteria to determine whether placement in gifted and talented services would be appropriate. No one criterion, on its own, provides a conclusive decision as to whether a student should be placed into these services. Rather, the five criteria, taken together, provide a holistic picture of a student and are used collectively to determine if placement would be appropriate. |
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MAP is a nationally-normed, computer-adaptive test that measures the student’s ability level in reading and mathematics. |
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CogAT is a nationally-normed test that provides a description of the student’s own cognitive resources for learning by measuring verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal reasoning abilities. |
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IOWA is a nationally-normed test that measures student achievement in reading, vocabulary, and mathematics. |
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| IDENTIFICATION AND PLACEMENT FLOWCHARTS |
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Flowchart for Placement into Grade 3 Honors Math Flowchart for Placement into Grade 4-8 Honors Math, Project IDEA, or Project IDEA Plus |
| IDENTIFICATION AND PLACEMENT TIMELINES | |
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Fall Grade 3 2026 Timeline |
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Spring 2027 (Grades 4-8) Timelines. The timelines for placement into Grades 4-8 are still under construction and will be updated by the end of September. |
Timeline for Placement into Grades 4-6 Honors Math, Project IDEA, or Project IDEA Plus Timeline for Placement into Grades 7-8 Honors Math, Project IDEA, or Project IDEA Plus |
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New Student Timeline |
Timeline for Placement of Students New to the District |
| PLACEMENT MATRICES | |
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Honors Mathematics |
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| Honors Mathematics (Spanish) | Honors Math Placement Matrix Grades 3-8 (Spanish) |
| Honors Mathematics (Mandarin) | Honors Math Placement Matrix Grades 3-8 (Mandarin) |
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Project IDEA |
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| Project IDEA (Spanish) | Project IDEA Placement Matrix Grades 4-8 (Spanish) |
| Project IDEA (Mandarin) | Project IDEA Placement Matrix Grades 4-8 (Mandarin) |
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Project IDEA Plus |
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| Project IDEA Plus (Spanish) | Project IDEA Plus Placement Matrix Grades 4-8 (Spanish) |
| Project IDEA Plus (Mandarin) | Project IDEA Plus Placement Matrix Grades 4-8 (Mandarin) |
Additional Information about the Placement Tests
| PLACEMENT TESTS | |
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Project IDEA Plus, Grades 4-8 |
The placement test for each grade is the Figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT), which uses three picture-based exercises to assess five mental characteristics and creative strengths. TTCT is a nationally-normed test and is a paper-pencil test. |