Edmonds School District Highly Capable screening and NNAT® guide.

Highly Capable is Washington’s term for gifted education services. NNAT® stands for Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test, a visual reasoning assessment that uses shapes and patterns instead of reading passages, vocabulary, or math computation. NNAT3 is the third edition.

What Edmonds says about universal screening

Edmonds School District says all 2nd and 6th graders are universally screened. The district describes the NNAT3 as a 30-minute timed test taken on a Chromebook at school during the school day.

Families who do not want their child screened must tell the teacher and turn in a Test Refusal form by October 31. The form comes from the Highly Capable office at HighlyCapable@edmonds.wednet.edu.

Students in other grades (kindergarten, 1st, 3rd to 5th, and 7th to 12th) can also take the NNAT3 if a parent, teacher, or someone else sends in the Referral and Permission to Test form by October 31, 2026. They test in the school library on the same school date. Private school and homeschooled students who live in the district test at Terrace Park on two Saturdays, December 5 and December 12, 2026.

Sample question

Try an NNAT® practice question

Find how the top picture changes, then apply the same change to the bottom picture.

Listen

ABCDE

A real GateBuddy practice question.

Choose one of the five answers.

Choose an answer

Practice preview

Let your child see the format before test day.

GateBuddy introduces the visual reasoning formats used on the NNAT® through short, age-appropriate practice with clear explanations.

• Built around the four NNAT® question types
• An explanation after every answer: what changed and what stayed the same
• Short adaptive sets plus full, timed practice tests
• A live view so parents can follow along

Try free questions

Real GateBuddy practice questions, one of each NNAT® question type.

What 2nd graders should expect from the NNAT®

The NNAT® is a visual puzzle test. Children study shapes, colors, positions, rotations, and patterns, then choose the answer that follows the same rule.

That is different from normal classroom assignments, so a small amount of format practice can make the test feel less surprising.

How Edmonds decides who is identified

A Multidisciplinary Placement Committee (MPC) of teachers, specialists, and administrators makes the decision. The district says it does not decide based on one score. The committee looks at:

1. The NNAT3 aptitude screener.
2. Standardized achievement tests, such as i-Ready reading and math (given three times a year) and, from 3rd grade, the state SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) test.
3. Staff referrals and a staff inventory form filled out by teachers.
4. For multilingual learners, the committee also looks at WIDA, the district’s English language proficiency test, so a child still learning English is measured against the right comparison group.

The district says that to be identified, students generally need to score at or above the 97th percentile in aptitude, English Language Arts, and math, compared with local building and district norms. Edmonds does not accept private test results in place of its own NNAT3.

1. Results: determination letters go out in early February through ParentSquare (email for private and homeschool families).
2. Missed test day: one make-up day is given in early January for illness (with a doctor’s note) or an unexpected emergency. Email the Highly Capable office before the test starts on your child’s day. Vacations and late arrivals do not qualify.
3. Appeals: due by 4:30 p.m. on February 19, 2027, and allowed only for an extraordinary event during testing or a data mistake such as a wrong birth date or grade. The committee’s decision on an appeal is final, so the appeal is the last step.

What Highly Capable gives your child in Edmonds

1. Elementary school: a full-time, self-contained program (the Challenge program) housed at Terrace Park School, with deeper and more complex work and math taught one level above grade level.
2. Middle school: English, Humanities, Math, and Science courses at Brier Terrace Middle School, with math accelerated by an additional year.
3. High school: a guaranteed spot in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Edmonds-Woodway or the STEM program at Mountlake Terrace, or Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) classes at the local high school.

Identification matters beyond elementary school in Edmonds, because it opens the middle school program and the guaranteed high school spots. Accepting the elementary offer means changing schools, so families decide by a form in Skyward Family Access after February tours.

Elementary schools in Edmonds School District

In most districts, a gifted-screening window applies across the district, while each school handles practical details inside that window. Edmonds goes further by publishing school-specific dates, but parents should still confirm the exact date scheduled for their child’s class.

Edmonds elementary schools include:

• Beverly Elementary
• Brier Elementary
• Cedar Valley Elementary
• Cedar Way Elementary
• Chase Lake Elementary
• College Place Elementary
• Edmonds Elementary
• Hazelwood Elementary
• Hilltop Elementary
• Lynndale Elementary
• Lynnwood Elementary
• Martha Lake Elementary
• Meadowdale Elementary
• Mountlake Terrace Elementary
• Oak Heights Elementary
• Seaview Elementary
• Sherwood Elementary
• Spruce Elementary
• Terrace Park Elementary
• Westgate Elementary

The district also lists Edmonds Heights K-12, Madrona K-8, and Maplewood Parent Cooperative K-8 as other learning options with elementary-age students.

Questions Edmonds parents should ask

1. What date is my child’s class taking the NNAT3, and at what time of day?
2. What will my child see on the Chromebook, and how are directions given?
3. When is the January make-up day, and what do we need to send to get on the list?
4. Which i-Ready and other scores will the committee use for my child?
5. When in February will determination letters and program tours happen?
6. What does the Challenge program at Terrace Park mean for transportation and my child’s current school?

How to prepare effectively for the NNAT

1. Learn the format. Go through the four NNAT® question types (2nd graders take Level C), and after every question talk through the rule: what changed and what stayed the same, not just which answer is right. GateBuddy shows an explanation after every question that names the rule, and it can read instructions and explanations out loud, which helps a child who is still building reading skills or simply learns better by hearing it.
2. Practice 10 to 15 minutes a day, for as long as you can. Reasoning skills build like a muscle, a little at a time. A few weeks of practice helps, but months of short, steady sessions build much more.
3. Spend extra time on the weakest type. Most children find one or two question types harder. Focus there once the basics feel familiar. GateBuddy’s practice sets do this for you: each set of five leans toward the question types your child has seen least and adjusts how hard the next questions are based on recent answers. You can also pick one question type and a level (easy, medium, or hard) to work on a weak spot.
4. Practice on a screen. Edmonds gives the test on a Chromebook, so some practice should be on a screen too.
5. Take full, timed practice tests: at least two, and more is better. A full test is where your child learns pacing and how to work alone against a clock, the way test day works. Every GateBuddy plan includes eight full, timed NNAT® practice tests, so your child can take several along the way and still save the last two for the final few weeks as a dress rehearsal. While your child works on their own, GateBuddy’s Live View lets you follow along from your own phone: how many questions they have answered, the answer they just picked, and how many they have right so far. Your child gets the independence of test day, and you still see everything.

Practice teaches your child what the questions look like and gives them ways to approach and think through them, so test day feels familiar instead of surprising.