Identification

Primary Extension and Challenge (PEAC) is a part time supplementary program for students in Years 5 and 6. Students are identified as suited to participation in the PEAC Program through testing in Year 4.

All public school students in Year 4 are provided with the opportunity to be assessed for suitability for the PEAC program. Parents may request that their child be excluded from the testing process by notifying the school in writing.

The Gifted and Talented Selection Unit in Central Office is responsible for coordinating the state-wide test schedule, compiling and distributing test materials and distributing student results through Regional Offices.

Regional Assessment Coordinators manage and coordinate test material distribution, collation, record-keeping and the return of answer sheets for marking on behalf of schools.

The tests were developed by the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER). The marking, scoring and data management are handled by an external independent agency.

Test administration is conducted by school staff.

Regions are responsible for managing the pool of students identified as suitable to PEAC through the test process, with each selected student meeting defined criteria.

The PEAC selection test consists of two sections:

Verbal Reasoning (VR), comprised of 25 multiple-choice items and two item types:

Reading Comprehension and Reasoning by Analogy.

Mathematical Reasoning (MR), comprised of 25 multiple-choice items of two item types: Mathematical Reasoning and Abstract Reasoning.

It is important to make fair and consistent interpretations of the data. There are three measures used in selecting students who are suited to PEAC participation:

• The Total Percentile
• The Verbal Reasoning VR Percentile
• The Mathematical Reasoning MR Percentile

The PEAC Program is intended for the most able students. Approximately 880 Year 4 students are identified each year across Western Australia using percentiles. This represents ~3.5% of all public school enrolments.

School Nominations

Each year a limited number of places become available in the PEAC Program due to test identified PEAC students moving out of a DoE school or out of NMER. This provides an opportunity for schools to nominate highly able students who may benefit from participation in the program, particularly those who lack opportunities to work and interact with like-minded peers during their regular school experience.

Many students would benefit from participation in the PEAC program, but the task of the Nomination Committee is to determine the students in most need of access. A key factor in this determination is a student’s access to a cohort of like-minded peers. Highly able students with few like-minded peers were considered to be in greater need of access to the PEAC Program, than those in a high achieving cohort.

Due to the limited number of places available for nominated students,

ONLY schools with 5 or less identified students will be invited to submit a School Nomination for the PEAC Program.

The maximum number of students that can be nominated from any school is 4. Where there are a greater number of students deemed suitable for nomination, schools are encouraged to consider alternative methods of provision for these students within the home school.

The nominations received are scored against criteria including PEAC Test scores, school academic performance and behavioural characteristics.