States and school districts have a wide variety of policies and use a wide variety of instruments, screening mechanisms, and procedures to identify gifted students. Each state, and in some cases each school district, establishes the criteria for identification of students as gifted. In part this is because federal regulation (Marland Report, 1972) established a definition and further refined it by describing the population as "those for whom the regular curriculum is not appropriate," leaving it to the states to determine the population. The definition has changed somewhat over the years, but conceptually it remains the same. The variety of policies explains why a youngster might be found to be eligible for gifted services in one school district but not need services in another district. This phenomenon often leads parents to state skeptically that their child was gifted but isn't anymore. (For more information on the Marland Report and the nature of giftedness, see ERIC EC Digest E476, Giftedness and the Gifted: What's It All About? (http://ericec.org/digests/e476.html)

States can generally be described as falling into one of three gifted education categories:

1. States that mandate gifted education, identification, and/or programming. These states generally have written policies and regulations that define the mandate and guide identification and programming decisions. Their policies and regulations may define giftedness and establish specific criteria for student identification.

2. States that provide school districts with a definition, but leave it to the school district to establish criteria for identification and/or services. If identification decisions are made at the state level, the state might define some criteria that local school districts must follow. In such cases, state policies might require school districts to use more than one instrument or test score so that a student is never eliminated from a candidate pool on the basis of one measure or score.

3. States that do not mandate gifted education and do not have policies or regulations in this area. Where gifted education is not mandated, local school districts may provide programming or services and make decisions autonomously. It is more likely, however, that if gifted education is not mandated, the school districts will not provide special programs or services for children who are gifted.

Parents and educators usually find it helpful to understand which of the above categories describes their state policy and to obtain any state or local documents that describe the gifted population or programs and services for the gifted.

To locate information on identification/screening procedures used by school districts, contact any or all of the following:

The person responsible for gifted education in your state. A list is available on the Council for Exceptional Children's Web site (http://www.cec.sped.org/fact/stateres.htm). [Editor's Note (5-9-2000): this url has changed: http://ericec.org/fact/stateres.html]

A state advocacy group (included on the above list) or a local advocacy group. Local advocacy groups might be found by asking the state group or your child's school, or by searching citizen testimony before the school board. (Parents and teachers should consider becoming members of state or local advocacy groups because these groups are the link to policy makers.)

Local school district offices that are responsible for student assessment-for example, the counseling or student services department. Ask what tests and procedures are used to select students for gifted programs.

Testing

Many school districts use standardized tests to identify gifted students. These instruments can assess a wide variety of capabilities, aptitudes, or scholastic abilities, including abstract thinking skills, academic skills, artistic ability, creative thinking/creativity, general acquired knowledge, intellectual ability, leadership, motivation, nonverbal/verbal reasoning, and problem solving ability. Examples of specific tests include the Cognitive Abilities Test (COGAT), Gifted and Talented Evaluation Scales (GATES), the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students, the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC), or Raven's Progressive Matrices. Some states have developed their own assessments; for example, ASSETS: A Survey of Students' Educational Talents and Skills has been developed by the Grand Rapids Public Schools in Michigan. Most of these tests are not considered IQ tests. Like all assessments, IQ tests vary in what they measure. However, IQ tests are usually given individually; those that are given individually are generally the most comprehensive and most reliable. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and the Stanford-Binet are examples of individually administered tests. They are administered to individuals, not groups, by a licensed psychologist or practitioner. Specific information on tests is located at the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation (http://ericae.net/testcol.htm).

Additional Measures

Often included in broad screening for a gifted program are parent and teacher checklists or recommendations, peer/student recommendations, a child's school work in a portfolio, and other checklists or rating scales of behavioral characteristics. It is important for local districts to make sure that such lists are valid and appropriate for their intended use with the district's student population. For more information on your topic of interest, you may want to search the ERIC database on the Internet. (One location to begin this search is http://www.eric.ed.gov/searchdb/index.html.)

For more information:

The ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education
The Council for Exceptional Children
1920 Association Dr.
Reston, VA 20191
Telephone: 800-328-0272
TTY: 703-264-9449
Email: ericec@cec.sped.org
Internet: http://ericec.org

National Association for Gifted Children
Internet: http://www.nagc.org

The ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education and
The National Parent Information Network
Children's Research Center
University of Illinois
51 Gerty Dr.
Champaign, IL 61820-7469
Telephone: 800-583-3135
Internet: http://ericeece.org
Internet: http://npin.org