Application process
Quest students have already been selected for the 2008-2009 school year. The open application period for seventh through ninth grade Quest for the 2009-2010 school year will begin in January, 2009. Please check this Web site in the fall of the 2008 school year for further details.

Application screening procedures
Applicants must meet the screening criteria in order to be considered for Quest assessment. Not all Quest applicants will be eligible for assessment. The district reviews academic performance through the standards-based report card in order to determine eligibility.

Students must demonstrate that their current performance exceeds the grade level standards in:

• language arts
• social studies
• science

The Quest office will have all report card data and test results for current Lake Washington School District students.

Private school students
Academic performance on the student’s most recent report card is reviewed. Applicants will need to complete the junior high private school application. This form is also available at the Quest Office. The form, which explains to the private school the expectations for performance in literacy, social studies, and science, must be included with the application.

Home school students
Academic performance through student work in literacy, social studies, and science is reviewed. Applicants will need to complete the junior high home school application. This form is also available at the Quest Office.

Assessment process
Junior high applicants who meet the screening criteria are scheduled for Quest assessment. There are two rounds of assessment:

• Round I: Academic Achievement Assessment
• The Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), one grade level above the student’s current level, is administered to all students who have met the screening criteria. Students who meet the ITBS achievement criteria will be scheduled for Round II of assessment, the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT).
• Round II: Cognitive Ability Assessment
• The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT), one grade level above the student’s current level, is administered to students who have met the ITBS achievement criteria in Round I.

Creativity
After students have met assessment criteria, teachers are asked to complete a Renzulli Creativity Scale for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Supe¬rior Students. This rating scale is based on the character¬istics of highly capable students and obtains an estimate of a student’s characteristics in the area of creativity.

Applicants must meet all of the program criteria in order to be considered for placement in the junior high Quest program.

Placement procedures
Placements are made on a space available basis. Achievement and ability data measures are compiled and weighted values are assigned for each measure. These multiple measures are combined to derive a total value. The total values are then rank-ordered to determine priority order for program placement.

Wait list
Placement in the junior high school Quest program is limited. In the event that space is not available, a wait list will be created. Students on the wait list are rank-ordered based on their test results at the time of their identification. Placement is offered based on the student’s place on the rank-ordered list. Once the class limit is reached, a wait list is created, based on the rank-ordered list.

If a student declines an offer for placement or moves out of the district, that place is offered to the next student on the rank-ordered list.

Once the wait list is established, it is not re-ordered when students leave the district and return or when new students transfer into the district. Returning and transfer students are placed at the end of the wait list, regardless of score, after students who are already on the rank-ordered list.

Appeals process
Appeals for reconsideration of students who have not met the assessment criteria are reviewed by an appeals review team after application screening, after Round I for ITBS appeals and after Round II for CogAT appeals. Specific deadlines for appeals will be provided by the Quest office. Appeals of assessment results must be based upon one of the following:

• a condition or circumstance believed to have caused a misinterpretation of the testing results
• an inequitable application of the identification procedures

All appeals must be submitted in writing and include reasons to support that either situation has occurred. Each appeal is reviewed by a team including the Quest psychologist, a director of school support and the Chief Academic Officer. The final decision of the appeals review team is reported in a letter to the parents.