Special Education Programs

Gifted Education

SRCSD parents/legal guardians and school staff may refer students for screening for the gifted program in Kindergarten-12th grade at any time during the school year

All students will be screened for gifted in second grade using the Universal Gifted Screening Process. Exceptions to this include students who have already been staffed into the gifted program; have already been evaluated and found ineligible for gifted services; or have had a cognitive evaluation as part of consideration for another program

Referred students are screened at the school by completing a standardized paper and pencil group intelligence test. Those students who score at a high level on the group test are scheduled for a more lengthy and in-depth evaluation by a school psychologist

A school psychologist administers an individualized test of intelligence to determine a student’s intellectual ability. In Florida, a student must score two standard deviations above the mean or higher in order to meet the intellectual criterion for the gifted program

In conjunction with the psychologist’s testing, a checklist of gifted student behavioral characteristics is completed by one or more teachers familiar with the student. All information is then reviewed by an eligibility staffing committee at the school to determine if the student has a need for the gifted program and meets eligibility criteria

Parents/legal guardians may also choose to contract with a private psychologist for their child's evaluation. The private psychologist must be licensed. When a private psychologist is used, the child’s school psychologist will review copies of the evaluation. The staffing committee will then determine eligibility according to the same criteria mentioned above

Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Programs

SRCSD parents/legal guardians and school staff may request that students be evaluated in Kindergarten-12th grade at any time during the school year

A list of eligibility criteria and required student evaluations for all fourteen (14) available ESE programs can be found in the 2020-2023 Santa Rosa District Schools Exceptional Student Education Policies and Procedures (SP&P)starting on page 60

The SP&P can be found by clicking here or by visiting the Santa Rosa County District School’s ESE Policy and Procedures Special Programs and Procedures page.

Addition information related to SRCSD parent/legal guardian rights can be found within this FLDOE Exceptional Student Education Parent Handbook

*This section complies with Section 1014.05(1)(f)(5), Florida Statutes.