Salem-Keizer's Talented and Gifted (TAG) program is in compliance with state requirements, based on a report by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) released this week.

In summary, the report stated: .... compliance has been demonstrated. Many of the corrective action items have been implemented exceptionally well. Other items have been implemented to demonstrate compliance, but may need additional attention and refinement in order for Salem-Keizer to maintain its compliance.

In March 2008, Oregon Department of Education found that Salem-Keizer was not in compliance with Oregon Administrative Rule 581-022-1320 and 581-022-1330 regarding TAG programs. Corrective actions were recommended. This spring, ODE staff reviewed our progress toward compliance and released a detailed report of findings this week.

Here are a few highlights from the report:

• 100% of teachers were able to identify who their TAG students were
•  91% of teachers (who were interviewed by ODE) were able to explain strong examples of differentiated instruction they have used this year for TAG students.
• 100% of teachers interviewed by ODE could clearly site specific examples of pre-assessments they used to determine TAG students' level of learning and formative assessments used to determine TAG students' rate of learning.
• ODE also commended Salem-Keizer for its use of the TAG Advisory Council as an avenue for on-going two-way communication between stakeholder groups.

The full report can be viewed at: http://www.salemkeizer.org/system/files/S-KCAPReportJUNE2009.pdf