| PGTAG Prince George's County Association for Talented and Gifted Education |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| FAQ |
TAG Identification and TAG CLE (Center) Lottery Applications (2009 Edition)
There are two processes - one is TAG identification and that starts in the fall but I'm hearing from
some that the test results are somewhat delayed this year. Once a child is identified as TAG, they
will receive TAG services in one of two ways. If the child stays at the neighborhood school then
they will receive either Pull-out or TAG in the regular classroom services depending on the model the
school is using. Model choice is determined by a combination of the number of TAG identified
students and the preference of the principal. Implementation quality is highly school dependent due
to accountability issues. Some are great, some are not and some are in between. Parents are in the
best position to demand accountability.
If the parent would prefer to send their child to a full day program, then the parent must submit a
lottery application for their assigned TAG CLE or Center (as they are now called). The Lottery
deadline is March 6th and the applications are available online as of today, Jan 27th. They are
currently available from the pgcps home page and can be found here:
http://schools.pgcps.org/esp/
Please note that since parents have not yet been notified of their child's TAG status (a not uncommon
occurrence), you are allowed to apply to the Lottery before receiving notification from the school. If
it turns out that your child is not identified, the application will be pulled. Stay in contact with the
TAG Coordinator and/or the Principal if the process does not seem to be moving forward.
You can always accept a lottery spot and if you need to change your mind later, your neighborhood
school must accept your child. Please note that many of the TAG Centers accept all the applicants
so for the under-enrolled programs, the lottery is a formality but one that you must do. Some of the
schools do, however, have waiting lists.
There is a current practice called TAG-along that allows parents to enroll their non-TAG identified
children (K-6) in the TAG Center if and only there is room in the school. Seat availability is school
and year dependent. It is not guaranteed. However, there has been talk of removing this option and
I don't know what the status of this year's TAG-along applications is. If you are interested in this
option, please contact the Office of Pupil Accounting as I'm told they are now handling TAG-along
placements.
If you find the information online is unclear as presented, please share your thoughts with the ESP
Office by emailing cstokes@pgcps.org so that any confusion can be clarified.
| PGTAG Advocacy, outreach and support for gifted education since 1975 |