Working with gifted learners can be a rewarding challenge, but it can be even more difficult to properly identify giftedness in children who are exceptional. We have now learned that traditional IQ tests and academic performance are not the only indicators of giftedness. This can be especially difficult if a child is learning in an environment which does not teach in his or her native language, or if he or she is mired in a lack of educational resources or parental support.
Professional Development & Identifying Gifted Learners
In addition, when it comes to the needs of gifted students, popular focus is usually on the learner rather than their teachers, parents, aides, or administrators. Researchers at the National Center for Research on Gifted Education at the University of Connecticut recently tackled these issues. They studied the processes of identification, testing, and placement of students in sixteen elementary and middle schools in various parts of the United States. These schools were chosen based on their strong ability to scout out gifted learners. The research team also spoke with parents and educators.
The result was four recommendations for professional development for those who care for the educational needs of gifted:
1.) Screen All Students for the Potential to Receive Gifted Education
The former understanding of “gifted” tended to rely on superior academic performance. However, this may indicate that a child has strong organizational, memorization, and testing skills rather than the deep cognitive processes that can be the mark of an exceptional mind. While students who wrote symphonies or solved thorny mathematical problems at an early age might have been termed “gifted,” in the past, the usual solution was to suggest guidance outside the school experience, such as music or art lessons, or to recommend that the student simply skip a grade or begin school early.
While better than no support at all, these solutions did not account for students who might have been struggling with a learning disability despite their giftedness, those whose strong abilities were expressed outside a classroom environment, or students who were not learning in their native language. The practice of grade skipping also did not account for asynchronous development of the gifted or the social difficulties it might create.
A more efficient and equitable way to identify gifted children is to screen the entire student population. In this fashion, students who giftedness might be buried beneath behavior problems, poor scholastic performance, lack of parental support, or a struggle to communicate in a non-native language are identified. This also helps to eliminate the role of chance in the identification of a gifted student—that one staff member happens to notice characteristics of exceptionalism while another might miss them. Applying a universal series of screenings to each child at various stages of development not only helps lift the burden from potentially overworked staff members, it ensures a impartial process for meeting the needs of all kinds of giftedness.
2.) Use More Than One Screening Procedure
If students are targeted for enriched education merely on the basis of IQ tests or academic performance, many forms of giftedness may be missed. The study suggests the provision of native-language assessments and interviews for students who are not learning in their primary language. Researchers also suggest that students who indicate potential but who are not yet provided with enrichment education should be placed in a “talent pool” to observe their various forms of expression.
Most importantly, the mark of giftedness should not be tied to a single test or even entire day of interactions. Students might be ill, be struggling with emotional problems, acting as tired secondary caregivers in stressed households, weathering a parental divorce, or just beginning to learn a second language. Emphasizing the identification of giftedness as a process rather than merely a set series of academic responses helps to include students who, for example, might be brilliant artists but who flounder in traditional seat work and multiple-choice tests.
3.) Spread the Word About Giftedness to Parents & Other Staff Members
Many still operate by a narrow definition of “giftedness” despite an enormous widening of the term. On the administrative level, schools and school districts can spread the responsibility for identifying gifted students across several departments, including those who work with the learning disabled and the physically handicapped. Engaging those who might interact with students in situations other than the classroom, such as music programs, athletic teams, or service clubs spreads the net. Collaboration across disciplines and specializations can help to raise the probability that a child who might otherwise be overlooked has a chance to be identified for enriched education.
Parents and close family members such as secondary caregivers should be engaged as well. Encouraging parents to become advocates for their children and involved in their education is vital to their students’ success. No matter the socioeconomic background, education level of the parent, or place of residence, gifted and non-gifted children alike all show stronger social skills and better academic performance when their primary and secondary caregivers are engaged in their school.
4.) Professional Development Opportunities for Educators Helps Identification of the Gifted
Providing staff, administrators, educators, and specialization faculty the ability to attend workshops, seminars, and retreats can increase the chance that they are equipped to identify gifted children outside of usual screening or more rigid testing methods.
Such opportunities might take place over the summer months or online. Those who are involved in education but do not come in contact with the gifted on a daily basis might benefit the most from professional development. Speakers from within the school can help address specific and familiar challenges, and outside presenters can provide a fresh perspective.
Staff members who might not have background in gifted education might benefit from explicit policies and procedures concerning the process of identifying a gifted child. Just as students who are struggling should be referred to specialized education programs tailored to their needs, exceptionally talented children will benefit from a team approach to enriching every aspect of their education.
