Identification

This page provides information for parents to identify or decide whether they should investigate the gited and talented services which might be offered their child from their school district.

Of course, the first step parents should take in regards to the identification process is to conduct their own research on the observable characteristics displayed by such students either via the resources found on this site or elsewhere.

Next parents should be aware that there are no federally mandated criteria for placing a student in gifted and talented programs. The criteria differ between states and school districts, and normally children and parents have some say themselves.

The Official identification process normally consists of 2 distinct steps:

1) Some form of general aptitude test: 2) Specific Assessments:
 * Sometimes based on content knowledge; especially at the secondary level
 * Sometimes based on IQ related assessments [|IQ drawbacks]
 * Both test have their drawbacks as they main be inaccurate in assessing potential
 * //Domain based testing:// based on multiple intelligence and other theories which aim to exploit specific abilities or clusters of abilities possessed by an individual.
 * //Advanced testing:// Some tests may delve deeper into the extent of a particular ability or skill assessed during the 1st stage of testing in the attempt to identify how far the rabbit hole goes so to speak!