Are students who perform to a high degree in certain areas, including academics, leadership, writing, creative endeavors, etc. Gifted students also must demonstrate the need for special programs and services that will help them pursue their interest in their area or areas of giftedness. When selecting students to receive special services for giftedness, the criteria for eligibility usually include test scores, teacher recommendations, how quickly the student learns, and other attributes that are typical of gifted students. Even the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) has a difficult time defining giftedness. The NAGC suggests that gifted individuals exhibit or have the potential to exhibit exceptional performance in one and often more than one area of giftedness.
There are five ways in which gifted students tend to learn different from their peers:
1. They learn new material much more quickly.
2. They have a better ability to remember what they have learned, which reduces or eliminates the need for review.
3. They have ability for abstract or complex thinking that their peers do not have.
4. They become focused on specific topics and are very passionate about them to the exclusion of other topics and subjects.
5. They can take in many stimuli at once, knowing what is going on around them while concentrating on a specific task.
Using these characteristics as a guideline, approximately 6%, or 3 million, students in the
United States may be classified as gifted. Although there is little argument that gifted and talented (G and T) students must be provided with challenges that meet their academic needs, no federal regulations specifically mandate special services for G and T learners.