Find your district’s gifted testing rules, wherever you live.
Gifted identification is decided by states and, above all, by school districts. Here is how to find your own district’s pages, read them carefully, and know what to ask.
Your state sets the frame. Your district sets the details.
Gifted testing in the United States is not one national process. States set some of the rules, and school districts decide most of what a parent actually meets: which test, which grades are screened, the referral dates, what goes into the file, and how a decision is appealed.
Three states show the range. In North Carolina, state law requires public schools to identify and serve academically or intellectually gifted (AIG) students from kindergarten through grade 12, and each district decides how in its own local AIG plan; AIG programming is optional for charter schools there. Washington makes its Highly Capable Program part of the state’s basic education and requires districts to define a program for highly capable students. In Texas, districts certify to the state that they have a gifted/talented program consistent with the Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted/Talented Students.
So two neighboring districts in the same state can use different tests and different dates. When a national article and your district’s own pages disagree, start from the district’s pages. If two official pages disagree with each other, ask the district which one applies before you act.
Search for the name your district uses.
Districts rarely call it “gifted testing”. Searching your district’s site for its program’s name usually finds the right page faster. Try gifted, GT or G&T, TAG, AIG, Highly Capable, identification, screening and referral.
- AIG (Academically or Intellectually Gifted): the North Carolina term.
- Highly Capable: the Washington term.
- G/T or GT (gifted/talented): the Texas term, also used by districts elsewhere, such as Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland.
- TAG (Talented and Gifted): the term Beaverton School District in Oregon uses, for example.
- Local names: in Virginia, Fairfax County calls its program Advanced Academic Programs (AAP), and Alexandria calls its program Advanced Academic Services (AAS), the name that replaced Talented and Gifted (TAG) there.
- The test names your district lists, such as CogAT, NNAT, NGAT or OLSAT, also lead to the right pages.
Make sure it is your district, then find its own pages.
Confirm the exact district and state first: a city, a nickname or an abbreviation can belong to more than one school district. Then work from the district’s home page, usually through Academics, Student Services or Advanced Learning.
A page on another site can still be official when the district links to it, such as a district Google Site or a state-hosted copy of the district’s plan. Follow the district’s own link to it rather than trusting a search result.
- Your district’s website: search for the program name plus “identification”, “referral” or “screening”, and look for an assessment or testing calendar.
- The district’s local plan, where the state requires one: North Carolina posts each district’s local AIG plan on its state education department site.
- Your child’s school: ask who handles gifted referrals there, often a gifted resource teacher, a counselor or an assistant principal.
- Your state education department’s gifted page, for the rules every district in your state works within.
Screening, referral, testing, eligibility and placement are different steps.
Districts split the process into stages that are easy to run together: universal screening (every child in a grade), referral (a parent or teacher asks for a closer look), further testing, an eligibility decision, placement in a service, and appeal. Each has its own rules and often its own dates.
So a referral doesn’t always lead to testing, a screening score can be a first step rather than the decision, and universal screening can have exceptions or ways to opt out. Find out which step your child is at, and what comes next.
A number on a district page can mean different things.
A score on a district page might be the point that starts a closer look, the requirement for one pathway among several, or one piece of a decision made on the whole file. Read the sentence around the number before you treat it as a yes or no.
If you find no cutoff in the pages you read, that doesn’t prove the district has none; ask. And don’t treat one score as the answer unless the district’s own rule says it is.
Check the school year on every date.
District calendars change from year to year, and some districts post the next cycle’s dates later than parents expect. Before you act on a date, check that the page names the current school year, look for words such as “pending School Board approval”, and don’t assume last year’s dates will repeat.
A plan that covers several years, such as 2025–28, is not a calendar for this school year. “Fall 2027 entry” is when a program starts, not when testing happens. And a date you find today is not current just because the page is still online.
A testing window (the days children sit the test) and a referral deadline (the last day to ask for screening) are different steps with different dates. Our testing timeline shows both for each district we have checked.
Nine things to confirm before testing season.
Once you have found the district’s pages, these are the details that decide what you need to do and when.
- The exact district and state, and your child’s current grade, are right.
- You have the official program page and the plan or calendar that applies, with its school year.
- You know whether screening is automatic, optional, by referral, or a second round.
- You know which test, or which part of it, is used, and what other evidence counts.
- You know whether a published number starts a review, belongs to one pathway, or decides eligibility.
- You have the form or contact, and a deadline with its school year, or a precise question to ask.
- You know how the decision arrives, and whether appeal time is counted in school days, business days or calendar days.
- You have asked about any support your child needs, and about the route for a child who is new, in a private school or homeschooled.
- You haven’t assumed that old dates, another district’s rules, or practice results apply to your child.
Ask about support and other routes.
Ask which language support is available, how testing arrangements for a disability are made, and which route applies if your child is new to the district, in a private school or homeschooled. These answers differ from district to district, so ask rather than assume.
Practice is not selection.
Practice can make a test’s format familiar, but it doesn’t show whether a child will be identified, and some districts ask families not to prepare with test materials at all. Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD in Texas writes: “It is crucial to avoid any form of test preparation, including study guides or practice materials.” Beaverton School District in Oregon writes: “we discourage the use of prepared materials to practice test content.” The NGAT developers’ parent guidance says: “No test prep or studying is needed.”
Follow your own district’s advice. If it asks families not to prepare, that is the guidance that applies to your child.
Short, specific questions.
If the district’s pages leave something unclear, ask the school or the district’s gifted office. These questions are a start.
- Which current document applies to my child’s grade and entry year?
- Is a referral still needed if the grade is screened universally?
- Does this score start a review, or decide eligibility?
- Where is the current appeal form, and what is the deadline?
- Who arranges any testing support my child may need?
- Is there a different route for a child who is new to the district?
Parent questions
Is there a national gifted test?
No. There is no single test or process every district uses. Districts choose their own, and common ability tests include the CogAT, NNAT, NGAT and OLSAT, often alongside classroom and achievement information.
My district has no guide on this site. What should I do?
Search your district’s website for its gifted program’s name plus “identification” or “referral”, find the plan or calendar for the current school year, and ask your child’s school who handles referrals. The checklist on this page covers what to confirm.
Does a gifted identification carry over if we move?
Not automatically. North Carolina’s state education department, for example, says each school district makes its own decision about accepting an identification from another state or district. Ask the new district how it handles students who were identified elsewhere.
Can I ask for my child to be screened if they were not referred?
Many districts accept referrals from parents, including several we have checked, but the form and the deadline differ. The district’s identification page, or the school’s gifted contact, will tell you how and by when.
Sources used for this guide
- North Carolina Department of Public Instruction - Academically or Intellectually Gifted www.dpi.nc.gov
- Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction - Highly Capable Program ospi.k12.wa.us
- Texas Education Agency - Gifted/Talented Education tea.texas.gov
- Fairfax County Public Schools - Testing and Identification Timeline www.fcps.edu
- Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD - Gifted and Talented Services: NGAT www.cfbisd.edu
- Beaverton School District - Talented and Gifted www.beaverton.k12.or.us
- Naglieri General Ability Tests - Test prep guidance for parents naglierigiftedtests.com
Naglieri General Ability Tests™ (NGAT) is a trademark of Multi-Health Systems Inc. (MHS); CogAT® is a trademark of Riverside Assessments, LLC (Riverside Insights); NNAT® and OLSAT® are trademarks of NCS Pearson, Inc. These names are used here only to identify the tests. Reasonwell Press is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or licensed by these publishers or the tests' authors, who were not involved in our materials. Our practice items are original, not actual test questions, and do not guarantee any score or placement.