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School Board Policies:

Each individual district school board within Ontario establishes policies and procedures by which they operate. They must operate within the laws, statutes, and regulations of the government of Ontario; however, they are able to develop some of their own unique procedures within that legislation.

The procedure and policy variations among school boards is demonstrated here by their approaches to how, and when, they provide service to intellectually gifted students.

1) Identification Practices – There are many different ages at which Ontario school boards ‘test’ or assess for ‘giftedness’. Some screen as early as kindergarten (although this is rare) while others administer testing in grade three or four. There are some boards that have no set time for gifted testing and instead rely on the recommendation of school staff to recognize and nominate gifted students. At any time, a parent can request that the school board assess their child for identification as gifted or have testing done privately by an educational psychologist. (School boards typically have standards regarding what type of testing they will recognize and who is qualified to administer this testing).

School boards also differ in the type of assessments they use to identify students who are intellectually gifted. At least a dozen different assessment tools (tests) are currently used in Ontario, either individually or in some combination, to identify gifted learners. The scores and/or combinations of scores required for students to meet the criteria for ‘giftedness’ at each board also differs from board to board. In addition, each board has its own standard procedure for interpreting the scores achieved on these tests in order to identify a student as intellectually gifted.

2) Programming Provisions – After a student has been identified and selected to participate in gifted programming, there are a wide variety of programs used by school boards to respond to the needs of bright/gifted children. Each school board determines what types and combinations of programs they offer to special needs students. The continuum of options ranges from regular classroom curriculum with minimal modifications or enrichment to providing daily differentiated instruction within the regular classroom setting. Differentiation can also be provided through ‘pull out’ or ‘enrichment’ groups or independent study opportunities; these programs look and operate differently in each school or board. Some boards or schools allow acceleration by subject or grade while others do not favour this strategy despite the wealth of research supporting it. Some boards provide congregated gifted classrooms on a full or part time basis, while others favour fulltime inclusion in regular mixed ability classrooms for most, if not all, special needs students, including those who are gifted.

The Terminology and FAQ sections of this website provide further information about many of the specialized terms used here. 

School Board Documents

It is important to carefully review relevant school board documentation relating to special education and to ask questions about learning options for gifted students in your local area. All boards are required to have a Parents’ Guide to Special Education as well as a Special Education Plan. Local school staff can often provide this information. Sometimes it can be found online by searching for special education information on the school board website. The board head office can also direct you to the most appropriate contact to answer any questions you may have. Another avenue would be to contact the chairperson of the Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) or the SEAC representative for the most relevant exceptionality (for example one from ABC Ontario to answer questions about local gifted education options.)