Clark County School District Gifted & Talented

What is the Clark County School District GATE and TAGS Programs?

Clark County School District provides gifted education services for qualifying students in order to create an environment where they can grow academically and socially given appropriate challenges and instructional approaches.

The Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) Program emphasizes process over content, aiming to cultivate students’ higher level thinking skills as well as their capacities to engage in critical, productive, and divergent thinking. The program gives gifted students access to the teaching methods, resources, and materials they need to thrive.

Further Details

GATE classes in the Clark County School District are typically held as pull-out programs separate from the student’s regular classroom learning. Typically, GATE instruction takes place in 2.5 hours blocks of small group instruction in GATE classrooms each week, during which time students in the program work and learn with gifted peers, with instruction from a certified gifted teacher.

Clark County School District offers two programs for gifted children – the GATE and TAGS (Title 1 Alternative Gifted Services) programs. The TAG program is only available at Title 1 schools, whereas the GATE program is available at all CCSD elementary schools for students in grades 3-5.

Eligibility for the Clark County School District GATE and TAGS Programs

Students may qualify for the GATE and TAGS programs based on their NNAT-2 and KBIT-2 test scores.

Students can qualify for the GATE program given the results of tests that gauge their nonverbal abilities in abstract reasoning, problem solving, and verbal acuity.

For admission into the GATE program, students must meet one of the following criteria:

• Score at or above the 98th percentile on one THE NNAT-3 or KBIT-2 test.
• Matrix score of 15 or more based on multiple criteria, with additional information on the criteria assessed available from the student’s school

Students in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades within the Clark County School District can test for the GATE program with a parent or guardian’s approval. Anyone may submit a referral for a student to be screened for giftedness. Tests are administered by GATE specialists to determine program eligibility, with testing taking place throughout the year from September through April. The first testing phase for the GATE program involves NNAT-3 tests which are administered in groups of 1-4 students in approximately 30 minutes. The second screening phase involves the KBIT-2, which is taken individually in roughly 20 minutes.

Students may qualify for the TAGS program only if they both:

• Attend a Title 1 elementary schools
• Score between the 90th and 97th percentiles on the NNAT-3 or KBIT-2 tests

All second graders attending Title I schools in the Clark County School District are universally screened for admission into the program for the following year. The program also offers workshops for the parents of students who are identified as highly gifted.

In second grade, all students who score at or above the 80th percentile on the initial NNAT-3 online assessment will continue on to further testing by GATE specialists.

Students may be retested for GATE eligibility after 6 months from the date of original testing, however students may only be considered for retesting once.

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