GIFTEDNESSBy: Patrick Archuleta, Linda Bennett,

and Melanie McKinley

What is Giftedness?

High intellectual ability paired with outstanding:Subject matter understanding, Aptitude/achievement, Creativity/divergent thinking, and/orProblem-solving/critical thinking

To such a degree that an Individualized Education Program is deemed necessary to meet the child’s educational requirements.

Identification of Giftedness

Can be identified by:Parent or other family memberTeacherSocial worker or counselorSelf

Characteristics of Giftedness

Five primary characteristics:Learns new material fasterRetains information easilyUnderstands abstract conceptsVery strong interest in one or more subjectsProcesses more than one task at a time

Other Characteristics

Being ultra-sensitive to other people’s feelings.

Having a sophisticated sense of humor. Being very intense. Transferring learning and concepts to

different situations.

Diverse Populations

Tend to be underrepresented. Many standardized tests are culturally

biased. Do not focus solely on being above grade

level. Instead look for:

being able to learn new material quickly. being able to think in a different way.being able to apply learning to different

situations.

Dual Exceptionality

Some students are both gifted and have:a learning disability, a visual impairment, a speech impediment, a behavioral problem, and/or Attention Deficit Disorder.

Their learning challenges may mask the fact that they are gifted.

Process Follows the same process as other Special

Education ReferralsInitial ReferralSchool Support Team (SST)/Student Assistance

Team (SAT)Referral TeamSpecial Education Diagnostic EvaluationEligibility Determination Team (EDT)/Individualized

Education Program(IEP) Committee

(See flowchart)

Diagnostic Evaluation

Administered by qualified diagnosticians.

Two tests Intelligence Quotient (IQ) exam

○ 130 or above required ○ Exception: a 124 or higher with social and/or

economic strugglesStructure of Intellect (SOI) exam.

IQ Chart

Gifted

Funding

Via the State Equalization Guarantee Considered as part of Special Education Generates an additional 0.7 Unit Value

(approximately $2510/child in 2011/12) Potential changes in upcoming years

Intervention Programs

Self-contained classrooms Pullout programs/resource room Gifted education seminars Resource centers

Classroom Interventions

Compacting Differentiated Classroom Ability Grouping Other Ideas

Compacting

Any student may take the end of the unit assessment as a pretest.

Mastery of Content =Extension Activities.

Student accountability during extension activities.

Designated area of the classroom.

Differentiated Classroom

Four characteristics essential to the effective differentiated classroom:Instruction is idea focused and standard

driven. Ongoing assessment of student readiness

and growth. Flexible grouping is consistently used.Students are active explorers.

Ability Grouping

Ability grouping for reading and mathPlacementPacingAdvanced reading interventionsAdvanced math interventions

Other Ideas

Long-term project that is ultimately presented to an audience and/or entered into competitions.

Most Difficult First strategy Concrete feedback on their work.

Struggles of Gifted Kids

Some things gifted kids have said:Parents, teachers, and friends expect us to

be perfect all the time.Kids often tease us about being smart.We feel overwhelmed by the number of

things we can do in life.We feel different and alienated.We worry about world problems and feel

helpless to do anything about them.

Final Thought

Gifted programs are not about elitism. We are talking about the essence of quality public education: enabling all

children to reach their full potential. We seek for gifted children exactly what we

seek for other groups of exceptional and special-needs children: an

appropriate learning environment.

(Bob Chase, NEA President)

Questions?