1. Gifted and Talented Education

2. “Gifted and Talented Children” means children and, wherever applicable, youths, who are identified at the preschool, elementary, or secondary level as possessing; demonstrated or potential abilities that give evidence of high performance capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, specific academic or leadership ability, or in the visual and performing arts, and who by reason thereof require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school.
(Marilyn Friend pg. 483)

3. talented –adjective having talent or special ability; gifted.
gifted  –adjective 1.having great special talent or ability: the debut of a gifted artist. 2.having exceptionally high intelligence: gifted children.
talented  –adjective having talent or special ability; gifted.
General Intellectual Ability
Specific academic aptitude 
Creative or Productive thinking
Leadership ability
Visual and Performing arts

4. Myth or Reality
Creativity tests are an effective means of identifying artistically gifted and talented students.
Myth
(Clark & Zimmerman, 1992).

5. Myth: Caution should be exercised in using creativity tests as a means of identifying artistically gifted and talented students. Creativity tests are used to measure problem solving skills and divergent thinking abilities applicable to a variety of situations. Many contemporary researchers and writers, however, have asserted that the concept of creativity often is poorly understood and poorly defined and that there are no reports of the validity of creativity tests in predicting success in gifted and talented programs for students with high abilities in visual arts (Clark & Zimmerman, 1992).

6. Reality Myth or Reality
In identifying artistically gifted and talented students, attention should be paid to potential and works in progress as well as to final performance and products.
Reality
(Clark & Zimmerman, 1992).

7. Reality: Many programs for artistically gifted and talented students are based upon defining art talent as the ability to create a superior product or perform in a distinguished manner. Many art educators are now eliminating such requirements; they are expressing concern for students' interest and desire to participate and their potential for performance. Researchers will be challenged to develop methods of identifying students with potential to perform at high levels of ability in the visual arts and at the same time access emerging skills, cognitive abilities, and affective abilities through work in progress, as well as final products (Clark & Zimmerman, 1992).

8. Reality Myth or Reality
In exemplary programs for gifted and talented students, the provision of challenges and choices are major influences on increasing student achievement and motivation.
Reality

9. Reality: Themes in exemplary gifted and talented programs identified included: Leadership (strong administrative voice to represent and implement the program); Atmosphere and Environment (supportive, accepting, and positive throughout the school); Communication (clear and frequent between and among parents, teachers, students, and administrators); Curriculum and Instruction (teachers' flexibility in matching to student needs); and Attention to Student Needs (commitment to serving students from traditionally underrepresented populations). In addition, the exemplary programs were found to influence student achievement and motivation through exposure to challenge and choices.

10. How is the search and results of gifted and talented students affected/compromised by the methods of testing and resources available?

11. Testing
How can we fully assess the range of someone's intelligence?

12. Some students do better on performing tasks (problem solving, music, ect.) as apposed to standardized testing. (Marilyn Friend pg 492)
Suggestions lean toward two forms of testing – portfolio and performance based.
Students may be gifted across many subject areas or in a specific area
Tests were made for the first group
Many students were missed during testing
Students who needed specialized opportunities wouldn’t be realized

13. Qualifying gifted students
Two stage assessment process
General aptitude test
Advance off-level test to get better description of their abilities
PLUS test
School and College Ability Test SCAT
SAT

14. Measures to match Programs
Whatever the emphasis of the program is, should be tested for in the assessment

15. High ability does not constitute giftedness
Factors to be taken into consideration during the assessment process
Motivation
Concentration
Persistence
Personality

16. Equity Rely on cut off scores or sets of info
Helps understand that giftedness has many dimensions
Addresses concerns about those with potential that has yet been developed

17. Authentic Assessment
Clearly resembles the actual curriculum and instruction students experience in schools
Writing Essays
Debating
Creating Portfolios

18. Dynamic Assessment
Ongoing identification of students learning needs and abilities
How much students improve based on skill instruction
Test, teach skills to them, test them again

19. Spatial Ability
Capability to mentally visualize and manipulate objects
The ravens matrices
are multiple choice tests of abstract reasoning, originally developed by Dr John C. Raven in 1938.
In each test item, a candidate is asked to identify the missing segment required to complete a larger pattern.
Many items are presented in the form of a 3x3 or 2x2 matrix, giving the test its name.

20. What is considered in the gifted range?
Highly Gifted –

21. Four tests used to measure intelligence
Wechsler tests
Standford Binet 4
Standford Binet LM
Standford Binet 5

22. Not effective to measure giftedness
Wechsler tests
Made for the “norm population”
Scores from
Standford Binet 4
Low ceiling making it impossible to measure gifted ability

23. Standford Binet LM revision of the Standford Binet 4
Negative aspects
Normed in 1972
“sexist, morbid, outdated”
“the specific strengths and normative sample was entirely Caucasian; weaknesses cannot be compared easily”
“It is not user-friendly--in fact, it's a nightmare to learn to administer; scoring and interpretation require subjective judgment…”
“produces one global IQ-score”
Positive aspects
Test questions are presented in mixed order unlike the Wechsler tests
Easier for younger children by not being such a uninteresting test
Designed to identify gifted children

24. Most updated successful test to measure giftedness
Standford Binet 5
Capable of accessing if a child is gifted and if so how gifted