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RGA

Reservoir Gifted Academy - Admissions Update (2025-2026 School Year)

Admissions Notifications for 5th Grade(2025-2026):

Families of students being considered for 5th-grade admission to Reservoir Gifted Academy for the 2025-2026 school year received an email notification regarding their child's status on Friday, February 21, 2025. This email indicated one of the following:

  • Accepted: Your child has been accepted to Reservoir Gifted Academy. The acceptance email will contain instructions on how to formally accept the offered seat. The deadline to accept is Friday, March 7, 2025, and acceptance must be completed through a specific form linked in the email.

  • Waitlisted: Your child has met the qualifications for consideration but has been placed on a waitlist. If seats become available after the March 7th acceptance deadline, students on the waitlist will be contacted via email. We will only contact families whose students are offered a seat from the waitlist. The waitlist will be maintained throughout the summer. Please do not contact the school or district to inquire about waitlist status. We will reach out directly if a spot opens.

  • Not Accepted: Due to the high volume of applications and limited spaces, we were unable to offer your child a position at Reservoir Gifted Academy at this time. This decision is final. We encourage you to explore other gifted education resources and programs within Peoria Public Schools.

Important Notes for All Applicants:

  • All notifications were sent via email. Please ensure that you check your spam/junk folder.

  • Do not contact Reservoir Gifted Academy directly regarding the application process or your child's status. For general process questions, please contact Jason Wynn at jason.wynn@psd150.org.

  • Acceptance Deadline: If your child is accepted, you must complete the acceptance form linked in the acceptance email by Friday, March 7, 2025, to secure their place.

Assessment Information:

The Gifted Selection Committee considered the following assessment scores from 3rd and 4th grade as part of the application review process:

  • Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress (NWEA MAP) in reading and math

  • The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)

  • The Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) in reading and math

  • In some cases, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)

For More Information:

  • For general information about Reservoir Gifted Academy, please continue to browse our website.

  • For questions about the gifted identification process (not individual application status), contact Jason Wynn at jason.wynn@psd150.org.

  • For information about other Gifted programs, check this link: https://www.peoriapublicschools.org/page/gifted-education

  • Admission information for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students for the 2025-2026 school year will be sent out via email later this spring.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Reservoir Gifted Academy

The program at Reservoir Gifted Academy is a full-time academic program designed to support academically gifted students in 5th-8th grades. It offers students an opportunity to engage in learning activities at an accelerated pace, depth, and complexity of on grade-level and above-grade-level curriculum.  The deadline to apply for the 2025-2026 school year has passed.

Qualifying students will have consistently demonstrated exceptional abilities in both mathematics and reading as measured by the Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress (NWEA MAP) which is a nationally normed assessment. In addition to the NWEA MAP Assessment, qualifying students will have performed Above Average on the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) and/or the  Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and performs at the Meets or Exceeds level on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) in both reading and math.

Identification and Selection Process for Fifth Grade Admission to Reservoir Gifted Academy

Universal Screening

  • The systematic assessment of all students within a grade level for identifying exceptional ability or potential.

  • All Peoria Public School students in 4th grade are screened for consideration for admittance to Reservoir Gifted Academy as a 5th grader for the following year.

Consideration Process:

  • Letters of consideration were emailed to families for all 4th grade students meeting the District’s identification criteria on January 24, 2025.

  • This letter is to notify families that their child met the criteria for consideration for admittance to Reservoir Gifted Academy as a 5th grader for the following year and is NOT an acceptance letter.

Selection Process:

  • The gifted selection process includes a review of assessment data and qualitative data on students.

  • Selection committee members review student data, endeavoring to appropriately place students so their needs and skill readiness will be met.

  • Decisions are made based on a student’s performance on a variety of assessments.

  • Acceptance letters will be emailed to families for students admitted to fifth grade at Reservoir Gifted Academy for the following year.

  • Waitlist and non-acceptance letters will be emailed to families for students placed on the waitlist and students not accepted to fifth grade at Reservoir Academy for the following year.

  • Admitted students will automatically continue at Reservoir Gifted Academy through eighth grade.

RGA Criteria

ADMISSIONS PROCESS

The application period for the 2025-2026 school year has closed. The selection committee is currently reviewing applications, and families will be notified of decisions via email in late February.