The gifted program in the Ontario public school system, as the name suggests, is a class dedicated to outstanding students. But neither the school nor the school board actively share this information with parents. It seems that the fewer parents know about the gifted program, the better. In fact, spacing of the gifted program is very limited, and the students who can join the gifted program are recommended by the school to the school board.
The question here is how a student is recommended to go to the gifted program? This requires three passes of testing. The first is the provincial EQAO unified test scores in the second half of the third grade; students with excellent scores are recommended to write the CCAT test in the second pass; the winners of the second pass are recommended to the third pass: interview by an educational psychologist. Those students who performed well in all three passes will be recommended to join the gifted program. The starting grade of the gifted program can be different depending on the school boards. Some school boards start the gifted program from grade four, and some school boards do not start the second pass until grade four, and start the gifted program from grade six.
In the second semester of grade three, students will get their first EQAO test. What does EQAO test? From the EQAO Results Overview chart of Halton District School Board below, you can see that the test is divided into three parts: English reading, English writing, and mathematics. If you believe your child is intelligent and the gifted program is a better fit for him/her, consider arranging some extra enrichment learning for him/her outside of school. This gives your child ample room to excel in the first stages of gifted program recommendation, the EQAO test.
At OAKLearning, we use MyPath enrichment courses to optimize the improvement of academic English and mathematics skills. In reading, writing and mathematics, we organize school curriculum into around 40 skill sets for assessment and learning purposes. These assessments highlight a child’s ability in either English Reading, Writing, or Math depending on which assessment you choose. These adaptive assessments give students, parents, and teachers a clear picture where the student’s strengths are in their core skill sets, and where they may need improvement. With this information, targeting unaddressed learning gaps becomes easy and lesson plans can be tailored to best fit the need of the students. Research has shown that students who use diagnostic-driven learning programs such as MyPath are proven to display positive, statistically significant growth.
With focus on EQAO and gifted program preparation, grade 3 students can take the MyPath online course to assess what level they stand academically, and what core skill sets they need improvement in. These courses will start on October 5, 2021. The assessment fee is $50 per test for mathematics and $50 per test for English. If you register an assessment before September 30, 2021, you can have both English and Math assessment at $25 total. On top of this, the $25 fee will also count towards any enrollment of OAKLearning classes. Email us at info@oaklearningcenter.com for more information and to book a test for your child.