The gifted program at Dysart Unified School District tests students for placement each school year: Fall, Spring, and Kindergarten testing in Spring. Testing may be requested by a teacher, parent, or student. The test in use is the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT). Students must obtain a score in the 97 percentile in Verbal, Quantitative, or Non-Verbal areas in order to be admitted into the program. Students are clustered according to The Cluster Grouping model by Susan Winebrenner, M.S. and Dina Brulles, Ph.D. In addition teachers differentiate according to the student's cognitive ability score.