Interested in Very Strong (VS) Services:

The VS program is the district’s self-contained, full-time AG service for highly gifted students.  VS services are available in grades 4 – 8 and are offered only at The Academy at Lincoln. To receive VS services, the student must meet the following criteria: 

 Applications to the VS Program are accepted annually during the district’s Choice Schools Application Window.  Due to the additional testing that may be required to determine a student’s eligibility for VS services, the deadline to submit an application for the VS Program may differ from the district-wide Choice Schools Application window.  The deadline for VS applications will be stated on the VS @ The Academy at Lincoln webpage.  

To express your interest in determining your child’s eligibility for VS services, please click on one of the links below to access an electronic form that will allow you to submit your interest in the VS Program. 

• Click here to submit a request for VS eligibility determination to be conducted during the district’s Choice Schools Application Window (January 13, 2023 – February 20, 2023)

• Click here to submit a late request for VS eligibility determination to be conducted after the close of the district’s Choice Schools Application Window

When a request is received, the AG Department will work with the child’s parent/guardian to obtain data from the child’s current school that can be used to determine their eligibility for VS services.  All data from the child’s current school must be submitted directly to the AG Department by the child’s current school.  The AG Department will not accept data that has been submitted directly by the parent/guardian.  All data must be received by the deadlines that will be communicated to the parent/guardian.

• For students currently enrolled in an NC public school or NC charter school: The AG Department expects that the child’s school will be able to share information regarding the child’s performance on the most recently administered state required assessment (i.e., all End-of-Grade assessments; Beginning-of-Grade 3 Reading).  When the school is unable to share such data, a representative from the school must provide notification regarding the school’s inability to provide the data.  In these circumstances, the AG Department may not move forward with the request for VS eligibility determination.  In GCS, the results of the NC Check-Ins and/or the results of MAP NWEA assessments are NOT used for AG identification. 
• For students currently enrolled in other settings (i.e., home school, private school, out-of-state):  The AG Department will accept any summative data for an assessment that was administered by the school and reported on a document generated by the Test Publisher (not a document generated by the Test Administrator). For the purposes of AG identification, the AG Department does not accept MAP NWEA data. If the child’s home/private/out-of-state school is unable to provide data that is accepted by the AG Department, at their own expense, the parent/guardian may have to obtain ONE private test (see more details below). 
• For ALL students (regardless of school setting): At a minimum, the AG Department expects that the child’s current school will be able to provide details regarding the child’s current school performance as evidenced by the child’s current grades in comparison with the GCS grading scale.  If the child’s current school is unable to provide current grade performance information, the AG Department will not move forward with the request.

All requests, for the VS Program, received after the close of the district’s Choice Schools Application Window will be considered late requests.  For late requests, the AG Department may not have the capacity to provide additional testing.  For this reason, the department’s ability to accept late requests into the VS Program will depend on the following:  (1) evidence that the student meets ALL criteria for entry (as listed above) without the need for additional testing and (2) available seats in the program.  Any student accepted into the VS Program after the district has finalized all decisions for the Choice Schools Application Window will be considered a late enrollee.  As such, parents/guardians of late enrollees must acknowledge that bus transportation for these students may not be available for the first 15 school days.  The availability of bus transportation for late enrollees will be determined and communicated by the district’s Transportation Department.     

After consulting with the AG Department, it may be determined that a private test will be needed to determine the child’s eligibility for VS services. In these cases, parents/guardians can use the Private Testing Prior Notification Form to request the use of a private test score.  In these circumstances, the request will need to meet the guidelines stated in our current AIG Plan for the use of private scores.  Our current policy states that prior approval to use a private test score is required AND the department only accepts ONE private test score.  For VS consideration, this means that the AG Department reserves the right to approve the use of a private test that was completed at the parent’s expense in ONE of the following areas: Aptitude, Math, Reading, Science, or Social studies.  For more details regarding the AG Department’s use of private test scores, please visit the Private Testing webpage. 

If you have questions regarding VS services, please contact Dr. Dee Jordan, AG Supervisor, at (336) 370-8322 or at jordand@gcsnc.com.