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Gifted education

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Gifted education is a broad term for special practices, procedures and theories used in the education of children who have been identified as gifted or talented. Programs providing such education are sometimes called Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) or Talented and Gifted (TAG) programs. Youths are sometimes identified as gifted by placing highly on certain standardized tests, although sole reliance on this method is often considered inappropriate, and educators are shifting towards broader means of identification. In order to preclude tracking or gate keeping, programs of gifted education often use student interest, parental request, and teacher recommendations as additional criteria for entry.

Gifted programs are often cut when budgets are tight, partly because they are seen as a luxury, which suggests that they continue to have modest political support in many communities. The history of gifted education in the US, however, shows continued support from national policy makers since the mid-twentieth century.

Justification

Advocates of gifted education argue that gifted and/or talented youth are motivationally or perceptually or intellectually prepared for a challenge not offered in the standard curriculum, so that it is appropriate to pace their lessons more aggressively by encouraging them to participate in honors courses, Advanced Placement courses, International Baccalaureate courses, and other sources of educational enrichment and acceleration.

They also claim that the needs of many gifted students are still neglected, as schools tend to place emphasis on improving education for the "average" student or students at the margin of success. Some argue that too many resources are diverted from gifted education to the other end of the special education spectrum, disabled students. This may be an unintended consequence of the development of disability rights litigation, which some pundits argue has led to the disabled receiving escalating resources at the expense of needed growth for gifted programs and even for core curricula (see special education). However, many advocates believe that both special education and gifted education deserve more resources, on the general principle that each child should receive a challenge appropriate to his preparedness and motivation.

The families of gifted and disabled students are often dissatisfied with the education system, which, while it may suit the majority of students, often fails to provide for those with special needs.

History

Gifted and talented education dates back thousands of years. This kind of education dates back at least to China's Tang Dynasty (circa 618 B.C.), where child prodigies were summoned to the imperial court for specialized education (Colangelo & Davis; Davis & Rimm). A more common reference point in the West is Plato (c. 427–c. 347 BCE), who advocated providing specialized education for the gifted (Colangelo & Davis, 1997; Davis & Rimm, 1989). Throughout the Renaissance, those who exhibited creative talent in art, architecture, and literature were supported by both the government and private patronage (Colangelo & Davis; Davis & Rimm; Hansen & Hoover, 1994).

United States

The United States has moved slowly toward the idea that specialized educational services should be provided to all who can profit from them, regardless of wealth (Colangelo & Davis, 1997; Davis & Rimm, 1989; Newland, 1976). In the 19th century, new provisions were made for the education of the gifted and talented in the U.S. One early step was flexible promotion, implemented in the St. Louis Public Schools in 1868; in Woburn, MA in 1884; in Elizabeth, NJ in 1886; and in Cambridge, MA in 1891 (Colangelo & Davis; Piirto). The St. Louis Public Schools plan allowed students to complete a six-year curriculum in four years (Piirto, 1999). (By 1920, two-thirds of major U.S. cities had some type of educational programming for gifted students (Colangelo and Davis, 1997).

During the 20th century, gifted and talented education became a national issue. Mensa was founded in 1946, the American Association for the Gifted was in 1947, the National Association for the Gifted in 1953, and the Association for the Gifted in 1959. The 1957 Sputnik was a seminal event, creating a national sense of urgency to educate more advanced students in mathematics and science. This has been linked to the National Defense Education Act of 1958 (Piirto, 1999). Nevertheless, in the 1972 Marland Report, Congress expressed concern about the inadequate state of gifted and talented education (Delisle, 1999; Piirto), and in 1993, the Department of Education published National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent.

Forms of gifted education

Attempts to provide gifted education usually fall into the following categories:

Separate classes

Gifted students are educated in either a separate class or a separate school. Classes like this are sometimes called "Congregated Gifted Classes".

Separate or independent schools are schools with a primary mission to serve the needs of the academically gifted. Such schools are relatively scarce and often difficult for families to locate. Such schools often need to work to guard their mission from occasional status-seeking parents and charges of inappropriate elitism, support the professional growth and training of their staff, write curriculum units that are specifically designed to meet the social, emotional, and academic talents of their students, and educate their parent population at all ages.

Self Pacing

Self-pacing methods, such as the Montessori Method, use flexible grouping practices to allow children to advance at their own pace. Self-pacing can be beneficial for all children and is not targetted specifically at those identified as gifted or talented, but it can allow children to learn at a highly accelerated rate.

Acceleration

Pupils are advanced to a higher-level class covering material more suited to the pupils' abilities and preparedness. This may take the form of skipping grades or completing normal curriculum in a shorter-than-normal period of time. Partial acceleration is a flexible approach which can advance a student in one field, such as mathematics or language, without changing other studies, such as history and sports.

Some colleges offer early entrance programs that give gifted younger students the opportunity to attend college early. In the U.S., many community colleges allow advanced students to enroll with the consent of school officials and their parents.

Acceleration presents gifted children with academic material from established curricula that is commensurate with their ability and preparedness, and for this reason is a low-cost option from the perspective of the school. However this may result in a small number of children taking classes targetted at older children, and individual students in an acceleration program may or may not feel socially accepted by much older students. The social disconnect is most apparent when a profoundly gifted young child is enrolled in classes with teenagers and young adults. It is least apparent when a moderately gifted student is advanced by only one or two years. Some advocates have argued that the disadvantages of being retained in a standard mixed-ability classroom are substantially worse. For example, psychologist Miraca Gross reports: "the majority of these children [retained in a typical classroom] are socially rejected, isolated and deeply unhappy [by their same-age peers with typical academic talents]. Children of IQ 180+ who are retained in the regular classroom are even more seriously at risk and experience severe emotional distress."[1]

Pull-out

Students spend a portion of their time in a gifted class, and the rest of their time with same grade students of varying abilities. These programs vary widely, from carefully designed half-day academic programs to a single hour each week of entertaining fluff. Their effectiveness is difficult to measure because of the diversity of programs, and is highly debated. A positive outcome likely depends on the level of challenge a student receives during the majority of their time at school.

Enrichment

Students spend all class time with their peers, but receive extra material to challenge them. Enrichment may be as simple as a modified assignment provided by the regular classroom teacher, or it might include formal programs such as Odyssey of the Mind, Destination Imagination or academic competitions such as Brain Bowl, Future Problem Solving, National History Day, science fairs, or spelling bees.

Homeschooling

An umbrella term encompassing myriad educational options for gifted children: part-time schooling; school at home; classes, groups, mentors and tutors; and unschooling. In many states, the population of gifted students who are being homeschooled is rising quite rapidly, as school districts responding to budgetary issues and standards-based policies are cutting what limited gifted education program remain extant, and families seek educational opportunities that are tailored to each child's unique needs.

Summer school

This covers a variety of courses, such as CTY and CTYI that take place in the summer.

Hobby

Games like chess, foreign languages, art, or music give an extra intellectual challenge outside of school hours.

Studies of Giftedness

Differences in intelligence have been known for recorded human history, but the development of early intelligence tests by Alfred Binet led to the Stanford-Binet IQ test which was developed by Lewis Terman, who began long-term studies of gifted children with a view to checking if the popular view "early to ripen, early to rot" was true. He showed this popular belief was false and many of the children (dubbed "Terman's termites") were studied for decades.

Modern studies by James and Kulik[2] conclude that gifted students benefit least from doing reasonably typical studies in a mixed-level class, and benefit most from learning with other similarly advanced students in accelerated or enriched classes.

Commonly used terms in gifted education

[3]

Differentiation Modification of a gifted student’s curriculum to accommodate their specific needs. This may include changing the content or ability level of the material.

Affective Curriculum A curriculum that is designed to teach gifted students about emotions, self-esteem, and social skills. This can be valuable for all students, especially those who have been grouped with much older students, or who have been rejected by their same-age, but academically typical, peers.

Heterogeneous Grouping A strategy that enables the grouping of students of all ability levels to learn in the same classroom environment.

Homogenous Grouping A strategy that enables the grouping of students by specific ability, interest, or subject area.

Individualized Education Plan (IEP) A written document that addresses the gifted student’s needs. It may include specific accommodations, materials or classroom instruction. IEPs are generally used with students with disabilities, who are required by law to have an IEP when appropriate. Most states are not required to have IEPs for students who are only identified as gifted. Some students may be intellectually gifted in addition to having learning and/or attentional disabilities, and may have an IEP that includes, for instance, enrichment activities as a means of alleviating boredom or frustration, or as a reward for on-task behavior. In order to warrant such an IEP, a student needs to be diagnosed with a separate emotional or learning disability that is not simply the result of being unchallenged in a typical classroom.

Controversies

Controversies concerning gifted education are varied and often highly politicized. They are as basic as agreeing upon a common definition of what constitutes giftedness in a person: performance vs. inherent intelligence as many students do not exhibit both at the same time. The forms of measuring general intelligence are also controversial: early IQ tests were notorious for identifying intelligence in privileged races and classes, while underreporting intelligence in disadvantaged subgroups. Gifted programs are often seen as being elitist in places where the majority of students receiving gifted services are from a privileged background. Some schools and districts accept IQ tests only as evidence of giftedness. This brings scrutiny to the fact that many affluent families can afford to consult with an educational psychologist to test their children, whereas families with a limited income cannot afford the test and must depend on district resources.

Definition of giftedness

Educational authorities differ on the definition of giftedness: even when using the same IQ test to define giftedness, they may disagree on what gifted means - one may take top 2% of the population, another would take top 5% of a population, which may be within a state, district, or school. Within a single school district, there can be substantial differences in the distribution of measured IQ. (The IQ for the top percentile at a high-performing school may be quite different from that at a lower performing school.)

In Identifying Gifted Children: A Practical Guide, Susan K. Johnsen (2004) explains that gifted children all exhibit the potential for high performance in the areas included in the United States federal definition of gifted and talented students:

The term 'gifted and talented' when used in respect to students, children, or youth means [those who show] evidence of high performance capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop such capabilities.

— P.L. 103–382, Title XIV, p. 388

The National Association for Gifted Children defines giftedness as:

Students, children, or youth who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who need services and activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities

This definition has been adopted in part or completely by the majority of the states in the United States. Most have some definition similar to that used in the State of Texas, whose definition states:

[The phrase] 'gifted and talented student' means a child or youth who performs at or shows the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment, and who:

  • exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area;
  • possesses an unusual capacity for leadership; or
  • excels in a specific academic field.
    — 74th legislature of the State of Texas, Chapter 29, Subchapter D, Section 29.121

The major characteristics of these definitions are (a) the diversity of areas in which performance may be exhibited (e.g., intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership, academic), (b) the comparison with other groups (e.g., those in general education classrooms or of the same age, experience, or environment), and (c) the use of terms that imply a need for development of the gift (e.g., capability and potential).

Reliance on IQ

Some authors question the existence of "the g factor" and thus hold that the result of an IQ test is meaningless, rendering the notion of giftedness meaningless. The most famous example is The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould.

In her book, Identifying Gifted Children: A Practical Guide, Susan K. Johnsen (2004) argues that schools should use a variety of measures of students capability and potential when identifying gifted children. These measures may include portfolios of student work, classroom observations, achievement measures, and intelligence scores. Most educational professionals accept that no single measure can be used in isolation to accurately identify a gifted child.

Even if the notion of IQ is generally useful for identifying academically talented students who would benefit from further services, the question of the cutoff point for giftedness is still important. As noted above, different authorities often define giftedness differently.


The theory of positive disintegration

Overexcitability has been a popular theme in many gifted circles over the past twenty years. Overexcitability is a component of developmental potential, a part of Dabrowski's theory of Positive Disintegration, a theory of personality development. The application of TPD to gifted education is one of several (other applications include psychotherapy, personality theory, philosophy of Man, etc.).

Appropriateness of forms of gifted education

This is the most hotly debated aspect of gifted education. Some people believe that gifted education resources lack availability and flexibility. They feel that in the alternate methods of gifted education, the gifted students "miss out" on having a "normal" childhood, at least insofar as "normal childhood" is defined as attending school in a mixed-ability classroom. Others believe that gifted education allows gifted students to interact with peers that are on their level, be adequately challenged, and leaves them better equipped to take on the challenges of life.

Another facet of this controversy is the effectiveness of the programs dependent upon resources that are pushed more toward students who are struggling. Gifted Education is not mandated in many states, making it elective for districts to earmark money for. Many lower-achieving districts and schools must make crisis decisions on programs that are not high priorities. As a result, gifted students at these schools are not served, or not served effectively.

Impact on other parts of the education system

Some critics have claimed that gifted programs result in educational triage, with the gifted program taking a disproportionate amount of school resources, leaving other pupils with much reduced resources. (See, for example, the writings of Mara Sapon-Shevin.) There is little evidence of such effects, especially in contrast with the resource consumption of special education programs. The most common gifted programs are also the lowest cost: skipping grades and modified assignments in the regular classroom.

Gifted programs can also face problems with the singling out of the gifted students by regular students. Gifted programs that are in the same school but under a separate program can cause a problem with bullying[1], as a specific set of targets, already singled out for a reason that might fuel a bully's insecurity (above-average performance intellectually), are objects of abuse. Such a program can result in gifted students being discriminated against by other students. This obviously has negative effects on the students as well, perhaps not just limited to a dim view of 'normal' students. However, some people could argue that while students may be teased for high intellectual capacity, they would also be able to make friends amongst peers who are treated the same way and not let the bullies be such a big impact on their life.

Emotional aspects of gifted education

While giftedness is seen as an academic advantage, psychologically it can pose other challenges for the gifted individual. A person who is intellectually advanced may or may not be advanced in other areas. Each individual student needs to be evaluated for physical, social, and emotional skills without the traditional prejudices which either prescribe either "compensatory" weaknesses or "matching" advancement in these areas.[4] (c.f., page 157)

A person with significant academic talents often finds it difficult to fit in with schoolmates.[5] These pressures often wane during adulthood, but they can leave a significant negative impact on emotional development.

Social pressures can cause children to "play down" their intelligence in an effort to blend in with other students.[6] "Playing down" is a strategy often used by students with clinical depression and is seen somewhat more frequently in socially acute adolescents. This behavior is usually discouraged by educators when they recognize it. Unfortunately, the very educators who want these children to challenge themselves and to embrace their gifts and talents are often the same people who are forced to discourage them in a mixed-ability classroom, through mechanisms like refusing to call on the talented student in class so that typical students have an opportunity to participate.

Students who are young, enthusiastic or aggressive are more likely to attract attention and to disrupt the class by working ahead, giving the correct answers all the time, asking for new assignments, or finding creative ways to entertain themselves while the rest of the class finishes an assignment. This behavior can be mistaken for ADHD.

Academically talented students can also be the inadvertant victims of well-meaning adults who overestimate an individual student's non-intellectual talents. The adults they admire may confuse the students' obvious academic talents with general wisdom and experience. Such students may be given inappropriate liberties (such as the unsupervised use of a credit card or permission to attend parties which the same parent might refuse to a typical student), or not given normal advice on important subjects like sexual behaviors and illicit drugs.

Parents may forget that talented students benefit from a normal family life. Some ambitious parents plan an entire family's life around their desire for a child to excel in school. As with any child, being treated as if you are the center of the universe will lead to self-centered and egotistical behaviors.

Finally, G&T students are statistically somewhat more likely to be diagnosed with a psychiatric disability such as bipolar disorder and to become addicted to drugs or alcohol.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13] PMID 4879917 PMID 1262090 These additional issues can require special attention in school.


Gifted and talented programs

A Talented and Gifted program is an academic program that caters to excelling students. The program may be found in various forms in schools around the world, often with the name "Talented and Gifted" (TAG) or "Gifted and Talented Education" (GATE). Classes may either be in the form of more challenging, in depth or advanced courses, or in the form of a regularly scheduled seminar that covers extracurricular material.

A list of Gifted and Talented Programs

Australia

New South Wales

  • Gifted Education Research, Resource and Information Centre (GERRIC), The University of New South Wales
  • Selective school (New South Wales): Government high schools where students are admitted based on academic merit.

Queensland

  • Queensland Association for Gifted and Talented Children

[14]

South Australia

Canada

Alberta

British Columbia

Ontario

Quebec

Saskatchewan

Europe

England & Wales
Republic of Ireland
Germany
Lithuania

Mexico

Philippines

Serbia

Singapore

United States

As of 2002, only 37 US states have laws requiring that some services be made available for the gifted. Of these, approximately 28 require that the services must be adequate to meet to the educational needs of every gifted student. There is one federal law with respect to gifted education. The Jacob K. Javits Gifted & Talented Student Education Act of 1988 was renewed as part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1994 and as part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Alaska Rogers Park Elementary School.

Arizona

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Georgia

Florida

Idaho

Indiana

Illinois

Kansas

Louisiana

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Mississippi

Missouri

Nevada

New York

North Carolina

Oregon

  • [University of Oregon Summer Enrichment Program]

Ohio

South Carolina

Texas

Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Center for Gifted Learners, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

See also

Australia

Gifted organizations by region

References

  1. Colangelo, N., & Davis, G. (1997). Handbook of gifted education (2nd ed.). New York: Allyn and Bacon.
  2. Davis, G., & Rimm, S. (1989). Education of the gifted and talented (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
  3. Hansen, J., & Hoover, S. (1994). Talent development: Theories and practice. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt.
  4. Johnsen, S. (1999, November/ December). The top 10 events in gifted education. Gifted Child Today, 22(6), 7.
  5. Newland, T. (1976). The gifted in historical perspective. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
  6. Marland, S. P., Jr. (1972). Education of the gifted and talented: Report to the Congress of the United States by the U.S. Commissioner of Education and background papers submitted to the U.S. Office of Education, 2 vols. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. (Government Documents Y4.L 11/2: G36)
  7. Piirto, J. (1999). Talented adults and children: Their development and education (3nd ed.). Waco, TX,: Prufrock Press.
  8. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (1993). National excellence: A case for developing America's talent. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
  9. Sriraman, B. (2004). Gifted ninth graders' notions of proof. Investigating parallels in approaches of mathematically gifted students and professional mathematicians. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, Vol. 27, no.4, pp. 267-292.
  10. Sriraman, B. (2005). Are Mathematical Giftedness and Mathematical Creativity Synonyms? A theoretical analysis of constructs. Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, vol.17, no.1, pp. 20-36.
  11. Sriraman, B & Steinthorsdottir, O. (2007). Excellence and equity in education and talent development: Components of a Hegelian dialectic. Mediterranean Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, vol. 6, no. 1 & 2, pp. 91-102.
  12. Sriraman, B (Guest Editor) (2007). Perspectives on talent development in mathematics education. Mediterranean Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, vol. 6, no. 1 & 2, pp. 1-152
  13. Sriraman, B. & Dahl, B. (2007). On bringing interdisciplinary Ideas to Gifted Education. In press in L.V. Shavinina (Ed). The International Handbook of Giftedness. Springer Science
  1. ^ Purdue University study
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