UGDSB Gifted screening in fall 2020 postponed

Posted June 23, 2020

June 23, 2020


Please note that CCAT screening for grade 3 students in the fall of 2020 will be postponed until 2021.

At the Upper Grand District School Board, we have done a universal screening of all grade 3 students using the CCAT to determine the students who can be identified as gifted in our board.

This screening occurs in Sept/Oct of the school year. Due to the closure of schools for the spring of 2020, the fall of 2020 is going to be a very challenging/stressful transition back to school for both students and teachers. There will be a significant impact of this global trauma on individuals (stress, anxiety, grief, etc.). In all likelihood, the risk from the pandemic will still exist upon return to school. Students will have missed significant academic time.

The priorities for our mental health staff and support staff will be to support student mental health through this challenging transition. The pressure of administering and participating in standardized testing may further increase stress and anxiety for teachers and students. The effects of trauma, stress and anxiety related to the pandemic will likely have an impact on the validity of standardized assessment results. Assessing students in the first two months of school would likely result in students not performing at the optimal level and therefore students who are actually gifted may not be screened as gifted.

Therefore, we have decided that the CCAT screening for grade 3 students, usually administered in Sept/Oct 2020, will be postponed until 2021.

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