Curriculum and Assessments (Local)

Fort Worth ISD has adopted the Pathways to Excellence for those children who, through various assessments and observation, show signs of being gifted and talented and/ or are at risk. Pathways to Excellence align the district's instructional efforts to the state-mandated curriculum and the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).

The guides are as follows:

  • Clear, district wide academic content standards based on the TEKS for what is to be taught and learned in each grade level or course;
  • A recommended teaching sequence for each grade level or course correlated to the adopted textbook or other instructional materials;
  • A carefully designed vertical spiral continuum of skills, showing how the content standards are developed, expanded and enriched from kindergarten to high school;
  • Correlations to the TEKS, the TAAS, End-of-Course and Advanced Placement (AP) examinations and the adopted texts;
  • Suggested instructional activities and strategies to assist teachers in their daily lesson planning;
  • Assessment tools to guide teachers in determining levels of student mastery;
  • Other components (philosophy, resource/reference materials, etc.) as appropriate for the various academic content areas; and
  • Faculty development to support implementation of the curriculum.

 

 

State Assessments

The Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted and Talented students requires that assessment opportunities for gifted and talented identification are made available to students at least once per school year. Students in grade K-12 shall be assessed and, if identified, provided gifted/talented services.  Students must meet a certain level of academic awareness in order to qualify for GT programs. Initial identification of these students may come from school staff, or parents. Theree is a minimum of three identification measures during the screening process. Measures must be both qualitive (subjective sources) and quantitative (objective source). Quantitative forms of testing include the Naglieri Non-verbal Ability Test (NNAT-2), and Cognitive Abilities TEST (CogAT). Qualitative forms of assessment include Traits, Aptitudes, and Behaviors Rating Scale (TABS), and KOI Portfolio Assessment. Students must qualify in both Qualitative and Quantitative categories in order to be accepted for gifted and talented programs.