Criteria

Characteristics
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Definition of Gifted Learners
Gifted learners are children and youth with outstanding talent who perform or show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience, or environment. (U.S. Department of Education,1993)

Guiding Principles for the Identification of Gifted Learners

Intelligence is multi-faceted and manifested in many ways.
Instruments used should measure diverse abilities and talents.
Student identification should be based on valid and reliable measures.
No single instrument or score, including summed matrix scores, should be used to determine eligibility.
Assessment of students should continue over time.
A profile of each student’s strengths and areas of need should be developed and maintained.
A knowledgeable committee should review student assessments and determine eligibility.
Written procedures should include matters of consent, eligibility, retention, and appeals.

Characteristics of Gifted Learners
Gifted students reveal themselves in many ways and in a variety of settings. Informal observations of students by parents, peers, teachers, and others in the school community are often rich with telltale signs of giftedness. Differences in the expression of characteristics occur developmentally. Other differences result from the diversity of cultural, ethnic, economic, and environmental backgrounds of youngsters.

Certain traits appear to be able to distinguish gifted students from those in the average range. Students considered gifted in a specific area usually exhibit the majority of the following traits in addition to advanced skills in their main area/s of competence.

General characteristics most often found in research studies include:

Rapid learning
Extensive stores of information
Strong problem-solving abilities
Long attention span
Sensitivity
Perfectionism
High degree of energy
Wide range of interests
Preference for older companions
Well-developed sense of humor
Early reading; avid reading
Ease with puzzles and mazes
Maturity in judgment, at times
Perseverance
Imagination/creativity(Frasier, 1991; Rogers, 1986;

Silverman, Rogers, and Water, 1982 Silverman, Chitwood and Waters, 1986)
When considering any particular characteristic it is useful to focus on the degree to which a student’s behaviors are atypical. Along a continuum typical for a particular age, certain students exhibit extremes of the characteristic. For example, a seven year old with an extremely extensive store of information may have a depth of knowledge about spiders that rivals some experts.

4/8/03