When people hear the term “special needs,” they often think of students who have difficulty finding academic success. Special education programs are intended to support these students, providing instruction tailored to their needs as determined by extensive evaluation and spelled out in an individual education plan (IEP). The term “special needs” is a broad one, and most teachers can think of many different types of students who fall under the umbrella: students with specific learning disabilities, students diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, students who need speech or occupational therapy, and many more. There are federal laws in place to ensure these students receive the services they need.
The most underserved population of special needs students, however, might come as a surprise: gifted students. While gifted students also have academic needs that cannot be met within the confines of a general education classroom, these needs are often overlooked based on the assumption that “smart” students “will be just fine.”
What makes a gifted student gifted?
In “3 ways to provide differentiated instruction for advanced learners,” we wrote about the fact that advanced learners come in many shapes and sizes: students who show high academic performance, get good grades, or finish tasks early, to name a few. But ask someone for the definition of “giftedness,” and the lines begin to blur a bit. In truth, giftedness is difficult to concisely explain, and many ideas of what being gifted means suggest that giftedness lies along a spectrum.
In 1972, the US Office of Education took a crack at a definition that is still in use by many school systems today. This definition centers around “demonstrated achievement and/or potential ability” in any one of these areas:
- General intellectual ability
- Specific academic aptitude
- Creative or productive thinking
- Leadership ability
- Visual and performing arts
- Psychomotor ability
And while educators of the 1970s took an important first step by shining a spotlight on what truly sets gifted students apart, in many cases this definition became set in stone, taken too literally as educators tried to identify students for giftedness based on a single test score (such as IQ) or using the six areas above as a conclusive checklist (in spite of their broad, vague, and even subjective nature).
A 2018 review of research and literature on gifted identification and education presents many models of giftedness and cross-examines the commonalities between them, which include:
- High ability is a prerequisite for giftedness
- A gifted child does not necessarily become a gifted adult
- Psychosocial variables, effort, and practice affect talent development
- Outstanding performance cannot be attained without natural potential
One of the most notable psychologists to make an impact in the early reexamination of giftedness is Joseph Renzulli. He proposed a “three-ring” conception of giftedness that focuses on three traits that contribute equally:
- Above-average general ability
- High levels of task commitment
- High levels of creativity
Various other narratives highlight additional defining traits, such as high intellectual potential, advanced emotional and social maturity, open-mindedness, objectivity, an instinct for metacognition, and a deep desire to understand how the whole universe works. Even with extensive research and the ongoing efforts to shine a light on the nature of giftedness over the last 50 years, it is still difficult to pin down a definition precisely; this remains one of the leading obstacles today in the accurate identification of gifted students.
So, then, to answer our previous question, what defines a student as gifted is a set of characteristics, such as attitude, disposition, and maturity, alongside intelligence. Gifted students are highly self-aware, are driven by deep curiosity and creativity, and show attention spans far beyond their peers, especially on topics of interest.
Identifying gifted students
Given the difficulty of creating a definition for “giftedness,” it should come as no surprise that identifying gifted children is also complex. Although many teachers have a specific image that comes to mind when they hear the words “academically gifted,” students who fit that profile might (or might not) be gifted. There are many other profiles of giftedness, and not all of them scream “gifted” to a casual observer. It’s easy to identify a gifted student who is performing several years above grade level in multiple subject areas, for example, but there are many gifted learners, particularly those from historically underrepresented populations, who are easier to miss. Because of this, it is crucial to use best practices when identifying students for access to gifted services.
An effective and equitable process for identifying gifted children is structured to reduce bias as much as possible. The National Association for Gifted Children describes a systematic, multiphase process that includes a combination of objective and subjective measures used to nominate, screen, and place students. Each measure has something to contribute to the process. Multilingual learners, for example, might do very well on a universal screener even if they are quiet in class and have caregivers who lack the language skills to recommend them. On the other hand, students with test anxiety might perform poorly on the test but produce classwork that prompts teachers to initiate a referral. Caretakers or community members may have the best opportunity to suggest giftedness based on students’ creativity, determination, and leadership skills, qualities that might be more evident outside of a school setting. The most equitable identification process, then, is one that includes a variety of measures, including a universal screener in addition to measures such as student grades, state standardized test scores, recommendation forms, teacher and parent observation or ratings forms, and portfolios of student work.
How MAP Growth can help with gifted student identification
It is widely agreed that a universal screener should be a part of the identification process. A universal screener is a single assessment, such as MAP® Growth™, that is administered to all students in a certain grade or grades. As our guide explains, MAP Growth, which many schools already use to collect data on all students, can be used to inform decisions related to placement in gifted and talented programs. While these screeners should not be used as the sole factor in determining eligibility, they can be a useful starting point and can help schools avoid missing students who might otherwise have gone unnoticed.
As we discussed in a 2023 press release, using MAP Growth scores as one data point in the gifted identification process is particularly important for students of color and from low-income backgrounds, groups that are less likely to be referred based on more subjective measures, such as teacher recommendations. A multiphase identification process that includes a universal screener in combination with multiple additional measures, such as those described above, gives the best chance of capturing the diverse skills, talents, and abilities that might define a student as gifted.
How to support gifted students
Some aspects of gifted education are already in wide use and work well for gifted students. There’s a large body of research to suggest that acceleration remains one of the most effective avenues for serving gifted students. This can take the form of grade-based acceleration, subject-based acceleration, advanced placement (AP) courses, early admission, and program approaches, like STEM or international baccalaureate (IB).
Apart from decisions about acceleration, curriculum designed for gifted students must adapt to the ways in which they learn and think. The curriculum should:
- Present big problems and vital questions for students to grapple with
- Require the student to collect, interpret, and assess relevant information and data
- Allow for students to draw conclusions and solutions to problems that they test or evaluate
- Allow for open-minded thinking and students to evaluate their own ways of thinking
- Communicate with others to co-construct meaning
While these general curricular modifications are good guidelines for most gifted students, they are not a one-size-fits all solution, because the profiles and unique needs of each student are highly varied. Just like any other student in a special education program, gifted students should also have individualized education plans (IEP). Specific and targeted supports must be put in place to help those students realize their full potential.
Differentiation alone within an inclusive general education setting is not always comprehensive enough to meet the specialized needs of each gifted learner. We are accustomed to thinking of tiered supports for students who have trouble accessing curriculum within the general classroom setting even when the teacher provides differentiated instruction. Just as some students with learning disabilities are best served by Tier 2 supports in the classroom while others need Tier 3 interventions in a small-group setting, gifted learners display the same level of variety and depth of needs. To continue with terminology commonly used for exceptional students, “mildly gifted” students can flourish with classroom-level differentiation, while “moderately gifted” students cannot and “profoundly gifted” students may also need a fully self-contained classroom to receive an appropriate educational experience.
Ultimately, it is important to realize that no one piece of the puzzle perfectly meets the needs of every gifted student; many approaches require layers of support and opportunity to provide an equitable education. A large number of experts would recommend both acceleration and enrichment, strategically implementing a variety of pedagogical strategies to provide tasks that build in depth and complexity, choice and open-endedness, creative thinking and problem solving, and independent and small group studies. An enriched curriculum in combination with individualized instruction, mentoring, and alternative exploration options weave a foundation that can support a student with such highly individualized needs.
