Gifted and Talented Students
Definition of Gifted
“children and, whenever applicable, youth, who are identified at the preschool, elementary, or secondary level as possessing demonstrated or potential abilities that give evidence of high performance capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, specific academic or leadership ability or in the performing and visual arts and who by reason thereof require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school. (P.L. 95–561, Title IX, [a])”
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Gifted Areas Include…
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General intellectual ability
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Specific academic aptitude
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Creative or productive thinking
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Leadership ability
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Visual and performing art
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Characteristics of a Gifted and Talented Student
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Early reading
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Early Math Skills
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Great at puzzles
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High Degree of Concentration
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Well developed Memory
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Early Language Development
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Curiosity
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May prefer Independent work
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Multiple Interests
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Ability to Originate Original Ideas
Academic Characteristics
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Reading behaviors include:
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early knowledge of the alphabet, often begin reading early, read with expression, and have high interest in reading.
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Writing behaviors include:
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displays early ability to make written sound symbol correspondence, exhibits fluency and elaboration in story writing, used advanced sentence structure, may show interest in adult topics for writing, generates many writing ideas, uses precise, descriptive language.
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Speaking behaviors include:
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learning to speak early, high-receptive vocabulary, advanced sentence structure, high verbal behavior in speech, talks a lot, talks rapidly, enjoys acting out story events and situations.
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Mathematical behaviors include:
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has early curiosity and understanding about the quantitative aspect of things, is able to think logically and symbolically, perceives and generalizes about mathematical patterns, remembers mathematical symbols
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Identification Process for Students
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Each state sets its own criteria for identifying
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For a student to be first identified as being gifted/talented in some districts a teacher must recognize the needs of the student.
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Instruments may be able to determine if a student is gifted/talented. Some students do not do well in traditional test settings but perform well in other ways.
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Two-Stage Assessment Process: Students will first be screened using a traditional achievement or aptitude test, many of these students score near perfect, and then will participate in off-level testing that is a more advanced test that will obtain a better description of their abilities.
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There are also Authentic Assessments + Dynamic Assessments
How Gifted and Talented Students Receive Education
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Received in a variety of settings.
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In most school districts, students are not identified to receive services as gifted until middle school.
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There is a debate on providing programs and services for young children who are gifted and talented.
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In secondary education, there are several placement options to meet a student's needs, such as including, grouping, special programs, separate schools, and homeschooling.
