Understanding Gifted and Talented Education: Definitions, Characteristics, and Approaches
Gifted and talented education is a field dedicated to identifying and nurturing students who demonstrate exceptional abilities or potential. This article explores the definitions of giftedness, the characteristics of gifted learners, and the various educational approaches designed to meet their unique needs.
Defining Giftedness
Most people understand that giftedness entails being bright and having high potential, and existing definitions of giftedness typically focus on capability and achievement as identifiers of giftedness. Generally, though, existing definitions typically are based on the federal definition. 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.
The federal definition states: "Gifted individuals are those who demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude (defined as an exceptional ability to reason and learn) or competence (documented performance or achievement in top 10% or rarer) in one or more domains. Domains include any structured area of activity with its own symbol system (e.g., mathematics, music, language) and/or set of sensorimotor skills (e.g., painting, dance, sports)."
Students with gifts and talents perform - or have the capability to perform - at higher levels compared to others of the same age, experience, and environment in one or more domains. They require modification(s) to their educational experience(s) to learn and realize their potential. The state of Missouri defines gifted children as “those children who exhibit precocious development of mental capacity and learning potential as determined by competent professional evaluation to the extent that continued educational growth and stimulation could best be served by an academic environment beyond that offered through a standard grade level curriculum." (Section 162.675). This definition has been adopted in part or completely by the majority of the states in the United States.
The development of ability or talent is a lifelong process. It can be evident in young children as exceptional performance on tests and/or other measures of ability or as a rapid rate of learning, compared to other students of the same age, or in actual achievement in a domain. As individuals mature through childhood to adolescence, however, achievement and high levels of motivation in the domain become the primary characteristics of their giftedness.
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Characteristics of Gifted Learners
When discussing characteristics of gifted children, any one of these characteristics may be present or not present-there are so many variables at work. Furthermore, these common cognitive and affective characteristics do not comprise a comprehensive list. While giftedness often entails high intellectual potential, it's important to recognize the multifaceted nature of these students.
There are clear differences between high achievers and gifted learners:
- Development: Although a high achiever’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional domains may seem to develop more quickly than an average student, those domains still move in sync with one another.
- Motivation: High achievers are motivated extrinsically. They make good grades, please their teachers, show interest in assignments, understand and memorize easily, and thrive on knowing the answer. Gifted learners are motivated intrinsically. They typically show interest and perform well if the activity is meaningful, individualized, and related to their passions.
- Perception: While both high achievers and gifted learners may be intuitive and sensitive individuals, children who are gifted tend to exhibit even more awareness, sensitivity, and emotional intensity than their non-gifted peers. The difference lies in the degree.
- Energy: They replenish their energy differently.
Gifted children often stand out. Whether you are a parent, an educator, or a student, you are likely here because you have noticed something different about a student or about yourself if you are that student in question. Those without a background in gifted education may feel that gifted children stand out because of their good grades or high achievements. However, many of us who work with gifted children know that they are different for other reasons like their quirky sense of humor, their intense questioning, or their refusal to sit still in the classroom and repeat math facts when they would much rather be discussing the nature of infinity. At its core, giftedness is a brain-based difference that contributes to our vibrant and neurodiverse world. This neurological difference means that profoundly gifted students experience a different intellectual, academic, and social-emotional development trajectory than neurotypical individuals.
To quote a beloved leader in gifted education, Dr. Jim Delisle, “Giftedness is an innate ability to both detect and comprehend the world in complex ways that differ significantly from age-expected norms.” Importantly, Delisle makes the distinction that giftedness is not always apparent just from looking at a student’s achievements. Like most people, highly capable students are unique individuals with varied and multifaceted talents and interests. Some demonstrate mastery in multiple areas while others excel in a single subject. The National Association for Gifted Children lists additional traits of giftedness that parents may find useful.
From an affective perspective, research has yielded consistent conclusions that gifted individuals are as well-adjusted as any other student group and are not any more vulnerable or flawed than their peers. However, Robinson et al.’s (2002) landmark compilation of research examining the social and emotional lives of gifted students uncovered common affective characteristics.
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Identifying Gifted Students
Identifying gifted children is often difficult but is very important because typical school teachers are not qualified to educate a gifted student. Oftentimes profoundly intelligent young people are not properly identified and, thus, do not receive an appropriately challenging education. Research shows this can lead to underachievement or even dropping out of school - studies indicate that 40 percent of all gifted students may be underachievers. In nearly every classroom, some students will push beyond the day’s lesson. They are the ones who keep their hand raised after the textbook answer has been given, who want to know not only “how” something works but “why.” They may explore side projects at home, read far above grade level or bring new perspectives to class discussions. Meeting their needs requires educators who understand how to cultivate advanced thinking while balancing social and emotional growth. A gifted student demonstrates abilities far above peers in areas such as reasoning, creativity or leadership. These learners are capable of mastering concepts quickly, thinking abstractly and approaching problems in unconventional ways. The National Association for Gifted Children mentions that signs can appear as early as childhood, but may come with mixed signals. This is why giftedness does not guarantee success. Without instruction that challenges these students to advance in their areas of excellence and helps them catch up in areas of weakness, students may lose motivation or struggle socially.
Identifying gifted students is complex, and a single test is rarely enough. Cognitive assessments are often a starting point, measuring reasoning skills and processing speed. To capture talents beyond numbers, schools use portfolio reviews that showcase student work - writing, art or science projects that reflect originality and depth. The Hechinger Report notes that relying solely on standardized tests can overlook students from underrepresented groups, especially students of color or first-generation immigrants. In New York City, the previous testing system was completely scrapped and replaced by universal screening. To address this discrepancy, schools can also turn to multiple measures: teacher and parent recommendations, performance-based tasks and dynamic assessments that evaluate how quickly a student learns new material.
Individual IQ testing is usually the optimal method to identify giftedness among children. However it does not distinguish well among those found to be gifted. Therefore, examiners prefer using a variety of tests to first identify giftedness and then further differentiate. This is often done by using individual IQ tests and then group or individual achievement tests. The two most popular tests for identifying giftedness in the school-age population are the WISC-IV and the SB5. Although a newer WISC version, the WISC-V, was developed in late 2014, the WISC-IV is still the most commonplace test. It has been translated into several languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, French, German, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Italian. The WISC-IV assesses a child's cognitive abilities, with respect to age group. The SB5 is an intelligence test that determines cognitive abilities and can be administered to persons in virtually any age group. It assesses a series of intelligence indicators including fluid reasoning, general knowledge, quantitative reasoning, spatial processing, and working memory. The WIAT-III cannot assess all components of learned knowledge, but does give an understanding of a child's ability to acquire skills and knowledge through formal education. This test measures aspects of the learning process that take place in a traditional school setting in reading, writing, math, and oral language. Versions of these tests exist for each age group. However it is recommended to begin assessment as early as possible, with approximately eight years of age being the optimal time to test. Out-of-group achievement testing (such as taking the SAT or ACT early) can also help to identify these students early on (see SMPY) and is implemented by various talent search programs in use by education programs. Testing alone cannot accurately identify every gifted child. Teacher and parent nominations are essential additions to the objective information provided by grades and scores.
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. 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 up the top two percent of the population, another might take up the top five percent 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 term "Gifted Assessment" is typically applied to a process of using norm-referenced psychometric tests administered by a qualified psychologist or psychometrist with the goal of identifying children whose intellectual functioning is significantly advanced as compared to the appropriate reference group (i.e., individuals of their age, gender, and country). The cut-off score for differentiating this group is usually determined by district school boards and can differ slightly from area to area, however, the majority defines this group as students scoring in the top 2 percentiles on one of the accepted tests of intellectual (cognitive) functioning or IQ. Some school boards also require a child to demonstrate advanced academic standing on individualized achievement tests and/or through their classroom performance.
In her book, Identifying Gifted Children: A Practical Guide, Susan K. Johnsen (2004) writes 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. Peter Marshall obtained his doctorate in 1995, for research carried out in this field in the years from 1986. At the time, he was the first Research Director of the Mensa Foundation for Gifted Children. In Identifying Gifted Children: A Practical Guide, Susan K.
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Educational Approaches for Gifted Learners
Once identified, gifted students need instruction tailored to their abilities. The main approaches to gifted education are enrichment and acceleration.
- Enrichment: An enrichment program teaches additional, deeper material, but keeps the student progressing through the curriculum at the same rate as their peers. For example, after gifted students have completed the standard curriculum, an enrichment program might provide them with additional information about a subject.
- Acceleration: An acceleration program advances the student through the standard curriculum faster than normal.
Here are some specific strategies and programs used in gifted education:
- Acceleration Strategies:
- People are advanced to a higher-level class covering material more suited to their abilities and preparedness. This may take the form of skipping grades or completing the normal curriculum in a shorter-than-normal period of time ("telescoping"). Whole grade skipping is considered rapid acceleration.
- Subject acceleration (also called partial acceleration) is a flexible approach that can advance a student in one subject, such as mathematics or language, without changing other studies, such as history or science.
- Some colleges offer early entrance programs that give gifted younger students the opportunity to attend college early.
- 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. This may result in a small number of children taking classes targeted at older children. For the majority of gifted students, acceleration is beneficial both academically and socially.
- Some advocates have argued that the disadvantages of being retained in a standard mixed-ability classroom are substantially worse than any shortcomings of acceleration. For example, psychologist Miraca Gross reports: "the majority of these children [retained in a typical classroom] are socially rejected [by their peers with typical academic talents], isolated, and deeply unhappy. Children of IQ 180+ who are retained in the regular classroom are even more seriously at risk and experience severe emotional distress."
- These accelerated children should be placed together in one class if possible. Research suggests that acceleration might have an impact long after students graduate from high school.
- Cluster Grouping: Cluster grouping is the gathering of four to six gifted and talented and/or high achieving students in a single classroom for the entire school day. Cluster teachers are specially trained in differentiating for gifted learners.
- Colloquium: Like acceleration, colloquium provides advanced material for high school students. In colloquium, students take Advanced Placement (AP) courses. However, colloquium is different from AP classes because students are usually given more projects than students in AP classes. Students in colloquium also generally study topics more in depth and sometimes in a different way than students enrolled in AP classes do. Colloquium is a form that takes place in a traditional public school. In colloquium, subjects are grouped together. Subjects are taught at different times of the day; however, usually what is being taught in one subject will connect with another subject. For example, if the students are learning about colonial America in History, then they might also be analyzing text from The Scarlet Letter in English. Some schools may only have colloquium in certain subjects.
- Compacting: In compacting, the regular school material is compacted by pretesting the student to establish which skills and content have already been mastered. Pretests can be presented on a daily basis (pupils doing the most difficult items on a worksheet first and skipping the rest if they are performed correctly), or before a week or longer unit of instructional time.
- Enrichment Activities: On the primary school level, 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, Science Olympiad, National History Day, science fairs, or spelling bees. Programmes of enrichment activities may also be organised outside the school day (e.g. the ASCEND project in secondary science education). This work is done in addition to, and not instead of, any regular school work assigned. Critics of this approach argue that it requires gifted students to do more work instead of the same amount at an advanced level. On the secondary school level sometimes an option is to take more courses such as English, Spanish, Latin, philosophy, or science or to engage in extracurricular activities. Some perceive there to be a necessary choice between enrichment and acceleration, as if the two were mutually exclusive alternatives.
- Separate Classes or Schools: Some gifted students are educated in either a separate class or a separate school. Some independent schools have a primary mission to serve the needs of the academically gifted. Such schools are relatively scarce and often difficult for families to locate. One resource for locating gifted schools in the United States can be found on the National Association for Gifted Children's resource directory accessible through their home page. Some gifted and talented classes offer self-directed or individualized studies, where the students lead a class themselves and decide on their own task, tests, and all other assignments. These separate classes or schools tend to be more expensive than regular classes, due to smaller class sizes and lower student-to-teacher rations. Not-for-profit (non-profit) schools often can offer lower costs than for-profit schools.
- Homeschooling: An umbrella term encompassing a variety of educational activities conducted at home, including those for gifted children: part-time schooling; school at home; classes, groups, mentors and tutors; and unschooling.
- Pull-Out Programs: Gifted students are pulled out of a heterogeneous classroom to spend a portion of their time in a gifted class. These programs vary widely, from carefully designed half-day academic programs to a single hour each week of educational challenges. Generally, these programs are ineffective at promoting academic advancement unless the material covered contains extensions and enrichment to the core curriculum. The majority of pull-out programs include an assortment of critical thinking drills, creative exercises, and subjects typically not introduced in standard curricula. Much of the material introduced in gifted pull-out programs deals with the study of logic, and its application to fields ranging from philosophy to mathematics.
- Self-Pacing Methods: 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 targeted specifically at those identified as gifted or talented, but it can allow children to learn at a highly accelerated rate.
- Summer Schools: These offer a variety of courses that mainly take place in the summer. Summer schools are popular in the United States.
- Talented and Gifted (TAG) Programs: Within the United States, in addition to programs designed by the state, some counties also choose to form their own Talented and Gifted Programs. Sometimes this means that an individual county will form its own TAG program; sometimes several counties will come together if not enough gifted students are present in a single county. Generally, a TAG program focuses on a specific age group, particularly the local TAG programs. These classes are generally organized so that students have the opportunity to choose several courses they wish to participate in. Courses offered often vary between subjects, but are not typically strictly academically related to that subject. For example, a TAG course that could be offered in history could be the students learning about a certain event and then acting it out in a performance to be presented to parents on the last night of the program.
After being identified, gifted students need instruction tailored to their abilities. Pull-out programs give them time away from their regular classroom for targeted learning, while self-contained classrooms provide full-time advanced instruction with peers at similar levels. Enrichment opportunities expand on the standard curriculum, encouraging independent research, problem-solving and creative projects. Through the online master’s program at Texas State, educators learn how to design these environments effectively. Teachers who study gifted education gain opportunities to shape how schools approach advanced learning. Many move into leadership roles such as program coordinator, curriculum specialist or director of gifted services. Completing the Master of Education in Elementary Education - Teaching and Transforming Advanced and Gifted Education online program prepares teachers not only to support students but also to influence programs at a broader level. Educators who take this path often find that their careers evolve alongside their students’ growth.
Historical Context
Gifted and talented education dates back thousands of years. Plato (c. 427-c. Francis Galton conducted one of the earliest Western studies of human intellectual abilities. Between 1888 and 1894, Galton tested more than 7,500 individuals to measure their natural intellectual abilities. He found that if a parent deviates from the norm, so will the child, but to a lesser extent than the parent. This was one of the earliest observed examples of regression toward the mean. Galton believed that individuals could be improved through interventions in heredity, a movement he named eugenics. He categorized individuals as gifted, capable, average, or degenerate, and he recommended breeding between the first two categories, and forced abstinence for the latter two. His term for the most intelligent and talented people was "eminent". At Stanford University in 1918, Lewis Terman adapted Alfred Binet's Binet-Simon intelligence test into the Stanford-Binet test, and introduced intelligence quotient (IQ) scoring for the test. According to Terman, the IQ was one's mental age compared to one's chronological age, based on the mental age norms he compiled after studyin…
The development of early intelligence tests by Alfred Binet led to the Stanford-Binet IQ test developed by Lewis Terman. Terman began long-term studies of gifted children with a view to checking if the popular view "early ripe, early rot" was true.
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