DeKalb County has made gifted testing more inclusive
In the 2024-25 school year, DeKalb County School District changed how it identifies students who should be tested for gifted eligibility, and as a result, more Black and Hispanic students qualified for gifted evaluation.
According to a story published in Rough Draft Atlanta, DeKalb had previously used once-a-year MAP testing as its sole tool to identify students who should be tested for academic giftedness. In 2024-25, the MAP qualifying score was lowered, and another academic factor was also brought into consideration. (From my review of DeKalb’s website, I think it was the ITBS.) This resulted in more students qualifying to take the CogAT assessment to determine their eligibilty for gifted services.
I want to point out that this new development in DCSS absolutely should not be seen as any indictment of their previous screening protocols. In fact, DeKalb County has been following what would be considered best practices in this area for many years. While some school systems require a teacher recommendation for a student to receive gifted evaluation, DeKalb has long based its screening on standardized test scores, removing teacher subjectivity as a factor that could cause inequity. Also, some school systems consider students for gifted evaluation only at particular grade levels, but DeKalb reviews MAP test scores every single school year to find students who should be evaluated for giftedness. DeKalb’s gifted education leadership has long taken pride in doing what it could to identify as many gifted students as possible.
Gifted Atlanta 
Interesting information — thank you for sharing. I’m curious whether DeKalb has a local gifted parent club or chapter for families with gifted students. I’m in North Fulton, but I’m hoping to join (or, if needed, start) a local group in this area. Does anything like that exist? I’m already a life member of the Georgia Association for Gifted Children and a member of the National Association for Gifted Children, but I’m really looking for something with local, community‑based connections.
I’m not aware of a DeKalb group. If there is one, I’d hope someone in GAGC would know about it. Years ago, there was an informal grassroots group of parents, DeKalb Gifted Advocates, that shared information with one another about navigating gifted services in our local public schools. That group was the inspiration for my creation of a blog called Gifted Education in DeKalb County to serve as a repository for information which was being shared mostly through a Yahoo! discussion board. (Yes, that’s how long ago this was.) When I expanded my scope beyond DeKalb County, I moved the website to GiftedAtlanta.com.
The one active local group I’m aware of is Gwinnett Alliance for Gifted Education, https://gwinnettgifted.org/
If you decide to start a group, keep me informed. I’ll be glad to publish a post about it.