Gifted education

Gifted education is a broad term for special practices, procedures and theories used in the education of children who have been identified as gifted or talented. Youths are usually identified as gifted by placing highly on certain standardized tests.

Advocates of gifted education argue that gifted and/or talented youth are so perceptually and intellectually above the mean, it is appropriate to pace their lessons more aggressively, track them into honors, Advanced Placement, or International Baccalaureate courses, or otherwise provide educational enrichment.

They also claim that the needs of many gifted students are still neglected, as schools tend to place more emphasis on improving education for the youths on the other side of the spectrum. This may be an unintended consequence of the development of disability rights litigation, which some pundits argue has led to the disabled receiving more resources than the more-than-abled. See Special education.

Controversies
There are several controversies concerning gifted education:

Definition of giftedness
Many different educational authorities define giftedness differently - even if two authorities use the same IQ test to define giftedness, they may disagree on what gifted means - one may take top 2 % of the population, another would take top 5 % of the population. The theory of Multiple intelligence would produce a different definition to the traditional IQ definition.

In Identifying Gifted Children: A Practical Guide, Susan K. Johnsen (2004) explains that gifted children all exhibit the potential for high performance in the areas included in the United States federal definition of gifted and talented students:

The term "gifted and talented" when used in respect to students, children, or youth means students, children, or youth who give evidence of high performance capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop such capabilities." (P.L. 103–382, Title XIV, p. 388)

This definition has been adopted in part or completely by the majority of the states in the United States. Most have some definition similar to that used in the State of Texas, whose definition states:

[The phrase] "gifted and talented student" means a child or youth who performs at or shows the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment, and who: The major characteristics of these definitions are (a) the diversity of areas in which performance may be exhibited (e.g., intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership, academic), (b) the comparison with other groups (e.g., those in general education classrooms or of the same age, experience, or environment), and (c) the use of terms that imply a need for development of the gift (e.g., capability and potential).
 * exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area;
 * possesses an unusual capacity for leadership; or
 * excels in a specific academic field." (74th legislature of the State of Texas, Chapter 29, Subchapter D, Section 29.121)

The theory of positive disintegration
The theory of Positive Disintegration has been a popular theme in many gifted circles over the past twenty years.

What form of education is appropriate
This is the most hotly debated aspect of gifted education. They usually fall into the following categories:
 * 1) Separate classes - Gifted students are educated in either a separate class or a separate school.
 * 2) Acceleration - Pupils are advanced to a higher-level class which is covering material that is more suited to the pupils' abilities. Some colleges offer early entrance programs that give gifted younger students the opportunity to attend college early.
 * 3) Pull-out - Students spend a portion of their time in a gifted class, with the rest of their time with their peers.
 * 4) Enrichment - Students spend all class time with their peers, but receive extra material to challenge them.
 * 5) Homeschooling - An umbrella term encompassing myriad educational options for gifted children: part-time schooling; school at home; classes, groups, mentors and tutors; and unschooling. In many states, the population of gifted students who are being homeschooled is rising quite rapidly, as school districts responding to budgetary issues and standards-based policies are cutting what limited gifted education program remain extant, and families seek educational opportunities that are tailored to each child's unique needs.

Impact on school
Mara Sapon-Shevin has argued that gifted programmes result in educational triage, with the gifted programme taking a disproportionate amount of school resources, leaving other pupils with much reduced resources.

Her critics have countered that her research was into a school that was untypical of gifted education programmes in general.

Over-Reliance on IQ
Some authors question the existence of the g factor and thus hold that the result of an IQ test is meaningless, thus rendering the notion of giftedness meaningless. The most famous example is The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould. In her book, Identifying Gifted Children: A Practical Guide, Susan K. Johnsen (2004) explains that schools should use a variety of measures of students capability and potential when identifying gifted children. These measures may include portfolios of student work, classroom observations, achievement measures, and intelligence scores. Most educational professionals accept that no single measure can be used in isolation to accurately identify a gifted child.

Arbitraryness of selection criteria
Even if the notion of IQ is flawless, the question of the cutoff point for giftedness is still important. As noted above, different authorities often define giftedness differently.

Canada
Alberta
 * G.A.T.E.

Ontario
 * Academy for Gifted Children
 * Turner Fenton Secondary School
 * The Woodlands School
 * Woburn Collegiate Institute
 * Northern Secondary School
 * Don Mills Collegiate Institute

United States
As of 2002, only 37 US states have laws requiring that some services be made available for the gifted. Of these, approximately 28 require that the services must be adequate to meet to the educational needs of every gifted student. There is one federal law with respect to gifted education. The Jacob K. Javits Gifted & Talented Student Education Act of 1988 was renewed as part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1994 and as part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

California
 * Education Program for Gifted Youth, Stanford University
 * North Hollywood High School Highly Gifted Magnet, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
 * Early Entrance Program, Los Angeles, California

Colorado
 * Rocky Mountain Talent Search, University of Denver

Connecticut
 * The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, a joint project of the University of Connecticut, University of Virginia, and Yale University

Florida
 * Pine View School, Osprey

Indiana
 * Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities

Illinois
 * Center for Talent Development, Northwestern University
 * Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy

Louisiana
 * Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts
 * Governor's Program for Gifted Children

Maryland
 * Center for Talented Youth, Johns Hopkins University

Massachusetts
 * Simon's Rock College of Bard

Mississippi
 * Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science

Nevada
 * Davidson Institute for Talent Development

North Carolina
 * Talent Identification Program, Duke University

Ohio
 * The Schilling School for Gifted Children
 * Willoughby-Eastlake Association for the Gifted and Talented

Texas
 * Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, University of North Texas

Virginia
 * Center for Gifted Education, College of William & Mary
 * Program for the Exceptionally Gifted, Mary Baldwin College

Washington
 * Halbert and Nancy Robinson Center for Young Scholars, University of Washington

Gifted Homeschooling (U.S.)
 * Gifted Homeschoolers Forum

Australia
New South Wales
 * Gifted Education Research, Resource and Information Centre (GERRIC), The University of New South Wales

South Australia
 * Ignite programme, Department of Education and Children's Services

Singapore

 * Gifted Education Programme (Singapore)

England & Wales

 * National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth

Critics

 * Mara Sapon-Shevin

Fictional gifted programs

 * Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted, (X-Men universe)