SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – A bill advancing to the Missouri Senate would require all public schools in the state to conduct universal gifted testing for students before third grade.
Missouri House Bill 1757 would mandate the testing requirement across all public school districts. Currently, Springfield Public Schools already tests all second graders to determine if they qualify for gifted education programs.
Current testing practices
“They’re identifying their areas of strength and giftedness to then within the state of Missouri, the gifted, to be classified as gifted as a 125 IQ and above,” said Andrea Fraser, who oversees gifted education programs for Springfield Public Schools.
Fraser said gifted programs are important for all schools because they specialize in helping students who might not be educationally challenged in the classroom…