Talented and Gifted

Parents should have received information on how to request the CogAT in the earliest building- or principal-newsletters. If you did not, here is the link to the google form to opt your child out of the NGAT test for their age in order to request that your child be given the CogAT. 

No. Once a student is identified as TAG, that TAG identification follows them throughout K-12 in our district.

No, students cannot take the same test in consecutive years. 

No. If you are asking us to give your student the CogAT (in the 2025-26 school year), then they will be given another task when their class takes the NGAT. By opting for the CogAT, you are opting them out of that specific NGAT test. 

The CogAT test is the "full battery," meaning that it tests them on Verbal, Quantitative and Nonverbal skills. No further testing would be appropriate this year.  

Each of the NGAT sections (Nonverbal, Verbal and Quantitative) all get their own valid score that can be used individually to support TAG identification. 

According to the schedule, we will be testing students every year with a different section of the test, as a universal evaluative tool. 

• 3rd graders will take the NGAT-Nonverbal in their classroom
• 4th graders will take the NGAT-Verbal in their classroom
• 5th graders will take the NGAT-Quantitative in their classroom

Every effort is made to test students who are absent on the day that their class is tested. 

Your child's school itself is the source of that information. Our target is to have all of the NGAT testing done within the month of October. 

Because students will take the tests during class time, you cannot request that your student take the test in an earlier year. 

• 3rd graders will take the NGAT-Nonverbal.
• 4th graders will take the NGAT-Verbal.
• 5th graders will take the NGAT-Quantitative.

This information comes from the NGAT main website. 

Some commercial test prep guides can inhibit student performance when taking tests since students who have been previously exposed to test items sometimes feel overly confident during the actual testing period. Having familiarity with the test items, students are more likely to rush through the test without taking the time to carefully consider what each item is asking. This familiarity greatly increases the likelihood of test error, and despite good intentions by parents, is often disadvantageous to students.

The overall goal of an ability test is to test students’ true intellectual ability, not their learned knowledge. Therefore, we discourage the use of prepared materials to practice test content.

Here are some tips to set up your child for success when taking an ability test:

• Explain that it is important for the student to look at the questions carefully. Even though the tests have time limits, students should take time to look at each question and all of the possible answers.
• Explain that the questions will increase in difficulty throughout the test.
• Have your child, especially young children, practice sitting still and attending to a task for twenty to thirty minutes at a time. Most often these tests are administered on a computer or tablet so practicing a task using technology can be helpful.
• Remind your child that while there are several choices, only one answer is correct. Some students may believe that there is more than one correct answer but, there is truly one best answer.
• Teach your child how to work through the process of elimination, as these tests involve multiple-choice questions.
• Make sure your child is physically comfortable and can advocate for themselves if they are not.  Some things to think about: seating in the classroom, i.e., visual and auditory capabilities.

Not universally. These students, who were in 3rd grade during school years 2023-24 or 2024-25, were given the CogAT as a universal screener in 3rd grade. And their CogAT score--if they took the full 9 subtests--counts as a qualifying score toward their Summa identification. 

When a student who is currently in 4th or 5th grade (in school year 2025-26) is in 5th grade, if they are TAG identified and have one qualifying score, then they will be offered the NGAT-nonverbal. 

• For eligible students from Cedar Park, Five Oaks and Meadow Park
• Elementary Feeders: Barnes, Beaver Acres, Bethany, Elmonica, McKinley, Oak Hills (west of Bethany Blvd), Ridgewood, Rock Creek, West TV, William Walker

• For eligible students from Stoller
• Elementary Feeders: Jacob Wismer, Sato, Springville

• For eligible students from Conestoga, Highland Park, Mountain View and Whitford
• Elementary Feeders: Aloha Huber Park, Chehalem, Cooper Mountain, Errol Hassell, Fir Grove, Greenway, Hazeldale, Hiteon, Kinnaman, McKay, Montclair, Nancy Ryles, Raleigh Hills, Raleigh Park, Scholls Heights, Sexton Mountain, Vose

• For eligible students from Tumwater
• Elementary Feeders: Bonny Slope, Cedar Mill, Findley, Oak Hills (east of Bethany Blvd), Terra Linda

Note: Students are enrolled in the specific school designated by their physical address. If you want to attend a different school's Summa program, you would have to be eligible for and work through the standard transferring process for any BSD student. 

Class sizes depend on school site and program enrollment, which vary year to year. 

While students in the Summa program receive support in their core classes, they are part of the broader school community and have the opportunity to engage with peers in other parts of the school day.

No. Specific learning targets are established for all BSD courses by grade level, Summa classes follow these same learning targets. Summa is intended to provide a differentiated, challenging experience aligned to grade level learning targets that meets the cognitive, emotional, and social needs of eligible students. 

The Beaverton School District provides ongoing professional development to all teachers in differentiation strategies to meet the needs of diverse learners. 

This is teacher and content dependent. Any homework should be an extension of concepts learned in class.

There is no Summa program in high school.

Summa is a BSD-created program, designed for a subset of TAG-identified 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. Summa is intended to provide a differentiated, challenging experience aligned to grade level learning targets that meets the cognitive, emotional, and social needs of eligible students.

Families will be notified and invited after their student is found eligible, no later than the last day before Winter Break. Families will need to indicate to the district whether their child will participate in January of their 5th grade year.

Summa-eligible 5th graders are not asked to commit to Summa program before the Option School lottery. Like all students, Summa-eligible students may apply for one Learning Option. After the Option Schools decisions have been communicated, parents and students will need to make their choice between an Option School or Summa. 

Students can confirm or commit to Summa and remain on an Option School waitlist. If they are offered a spot at an option school, that's when they have to decide between Summa and the Option school spot.

Summa eligibility remains valid until a student's 8th grade year starts. If students have turned down their spot in Summa, but change their mind for the next year, parents should contact the registrar at the building of the specific Summa program in the spring in order to reclaim a Summa spot for the fall. 

The Naglieri General Ability Tests (NGAT) are picture based and include no oral or written language. This change allows us to better identify all students who may be Talented and Gifted. 

After school year 2025-26, we will no longer administer the CogAT.

For students who would enter Summa after the Fall of 2027, CogAT scores will no longer be a valid part of Summa eligibility.

[CogAT scores given in our district or another public school district may still be used as quantitative evidence in the body of evidence needed for a TAG identification.]

As it states on the eligibility charts, students looking to enter Summa in the Fall of 2026 are the last students who could meet Summa requirements with a single CogAT score in the 99th percentile. Students looking to enter Summa in the Fall of 2027 are the last students for whom a CogAT score in the 97th, 98th or 99th percentile can be used as fulfilling part of the eligibility requirements. 

Yes. These tests will be given in class by their classroom teacher. All students will take them. 

We will test all upper elementary students with a section of the NGAT. 

However, if you request that we administer the CogAT to your child, you are opting them out of the NGAT section for this year and they will not take the NGAT. If you opt them out of the NGAT, please note that you will not be able to request in the future they be given the section of the NGAT that you opted them out of. 

No. If you are asking us to give your student the CogAT (in the 2025-26 school year), then they will be given another task when their class takes the NGAT. By opting for the CogAT, you are opting them out of that category of NGAT test (nonverbal, verbal, quantitative). 

Yes. If you request the CogAT be given, your child will take all 9 tests, and have a full CogAT score at the end of the testing.

We are very aware of the different concerns for opportunities for excelling for all of the grade levels. 

If after the regular NGAT-Quantitative testing, a 5th grader is TAG identified and has one qualifying score, and that student has not had the opportunity to take the NGAT-nonverbal, the district will offer those specific students the chance to take that test. This will be true for current 4th graders when they are in 5th grade as well. After that point, we will reevaluate.

This information comes from the NGAT main website. 

Some commercial test prep guides can inhibit student performance when taking tests since students who have been previously exposed to test items sometimes feel overly confident during the actual testing period. Having familiarity with the test items, students are more likely to rush through the test without taking the time to carefully consider what each item is asking. This familiarity greatly increases the likelihood of test error, and despite good intentions by parents, is often disadvantageous to students.

The overall goal of an ability test is to test students’ true intellectual ability, not their learned knowledge. Therefore, we discourage the use of prepared materials to practice test content.

Here are some tips to set up your child for success when taking an ability test:

• Explain that it is important for the student to look at the questions carefully. Even though the tests have time limits, students should take time to look at each question and all of the possible answers.
• Explain that the questions will increase in difficulty throughout the test.
• Have your child, especially young children, practice sitting still and attending to a task for twenty to thirty minutes at a time. Most often these tests are administered on a computer or tablet so practicing a task using technology can be helpful.
• Remind your child that while there are several choices, only one answer is correct. Some students may believe that there is more than one correct answer but, there is truly one best answer.
• Teach your child how to work through the process of elimination, as these tests involve multiple-choice questions.
• Make sure your child is physically comfortable and can advocate for themselves if they are not.  Some things to think about: seating in the classroom, i.e., visual and auditory capabilities.