1. Gifted Students
Jerica Ayers
October 16, 2013

2. What does it mean to be gifted?
Historically, giftedness has often been determined by IQ tests
Gifted—IQ above 130
Highly Gifted—IQ above 145
Profoundly Gifted—IQ above 160

3. What does it mean to be gifted?
Federal definition: Students, children, or youth who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who need services and activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities.
Kansas definition: Performing or demonstrating the potential for performing at significantly higher levels of accomplishment in one or more academic fields due to intellectual ability, when compared to others of similar age, experience and environment.

4. What does it mean to be gifted?
In Kansas, gifted education falls under the umbrella of special education, and gifted students in Kansas have an IEP.
IEP—Individualized Education Program—a written document that outlines goals and objectives for an individual student, as well as the accommodations and services the school will provide

5. Gifted Indicators in Kansas
Evidence of performing or demonstrating the potential for performing at significantly higher levels of accomplishment in one or more academic fields
Evidence of this performance being due to intellectual ability
Evidenced when compared to others of similar age, experience, and environment

6. Other associated terms
Twice exceptional—used to describe a gifted student that has a disability
Intelligence—Ability to learn, reason, and problem solve
IQ—much debated numerical representation of intelligence

7. What makes gifted students different?
They learn at a higher rate.
They desire depth in academic areas in which they are interested.
Gifted does not mean better. Being identified as gifted does not make one either admirable or contemptible.

8. Characteristics according to Duke TIP
Mental flexibility, including a tolerance for ambiguity
Openness to information
Capacity to systematize knowledge, so that it is logical, structured, and  sequential
Capacity for abstract thought
Fluency, the ability to produce new combinations and patterns of ideas
Sense of humor
Positive thinking
Intellectual courage, which translates as high persistence and motivation
Resistance to enculturation, that is, not forfeiting one's own values in favor of those of society; ability to decide between what can and what cannot be believed and between what is and what is not important

10. Potential difficulties
Social isolation
Unhealthy perfectionism
Underachievement
Depression

11. What school districts do
Accommodations in the regular classroom
Part-time assignment to both regular and special classes
Full-time grouping with students of similar abilities
Acceleration or grade advancement

12. What instruction should not look like:
Doing more of the same stuff faster
Isolating them from other students
Performing classroom chores
Expecting the student to constantly tutor others
Completing tasks they already know how to do and then waiting

13. What instruction should look like:
Opportunities to learn with greater depth or breadth that their classmates
A higher degree of difficulty, often with less structure. More abstract, open-ended, or multifaceted than is appropriate for their peers.
Support in risk-taking when challenges are given

14. References Kansas State Department of Education, www.ksde.org
National Association for Gifted Children,
ERIC Digests on Gifted and Talented,