The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) periodically posts white papers and issues position papers that deal with issues, policies, and practices that have an impact on the education of gifted and talented students.
When a need for clarification arises on a particular issue, policy, or practice, NAGC assembles a task force of experts. They collaborate to craft a position paper to represent the official convictions of the organization and provide guidance for individuals working with gifted children.
All position papers are approved by the NAGC Board of Directors and remain consistent with the organization's position that education in a democracy must respect the uniqueness of all individuals, the broad range of cultural diversity present in our society, and the similarities and differences in learning characteristics that can be found within any group of students.
To inform the conversation and the knowledge base about gifted and talented issues, NAGC also invites the development of white papers by groups or individuals with expertise on a specific topic.
For specific guidelines on the development of white papers and position papers, access the templates below.
Position Paper Template
White Paper Template
ACCELERATION
Educational acceleration is one of the cornerstones of exemplary gifted education practices, with more research supporting this intervention than any other in the literature on gifted individuals. The practice of educational acceleration has long been used to match high level student general ability and specific talent with optimal learning opportunities.
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(AFFECTIVE NEEDS) NURTURING SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF GIFTED CHILDREN
Gifted students have the same developmental tasks as their less able age peers do (related, for example, to identity, sense of competence, career direction, peer relationships, differentiation, autonomy). However, because of characteristics associated with giftedness in clinical and research literature (e.g., sensitivity, intensity, perceptiveness, overexcitabilites, divergent thinking, precocious talent development, advanced moral development), their needs, concerns, and how they experience development may be quite different. Rapid information-processing in itself may contribute to intense emotional responses to environmental stimuli. The characteristics just mentioned may even contribute to difficulties with developmental tasks. In general, it is important that parents, educators, counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists be informed about affective development of gifted children and adolescents and apply their knowledge in their relationships with this population.
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THE ROLE OF ASSESSMENTS IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF GIFTED STUDENTS
Assessments can be used for a variety of purposes, including identifying students for gifted programs; providing ongoing feedback to guide the instructional process; and to determine to what extent students have obtained intended goals (e.g., academic, affective) within a gifted program. The purpose of this position paper is to provide parents, teachers, and other advocates of gifted students with best practices endorsed by NAGC related to the first purpose--the role of assessments in identifying students for gifted programs.
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COLLABORATION BETWEEN GIFTED AND GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS
NAGC believes in the importance of collaboration among gifted, general, and special education programs, and the subsequent need to provide support for these efforts. Collaborative efforts promote the strengths of all school programs.
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DIFFERENTIATION OF CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTIONNAGC supports the provision of appropriate quality educational experiences for all students across the spectrum of ability, background, and achievement. The learning needs of gifted students often differ from those of other students and should be addressed through differentiation, a modification of curriculum and instruction based on the assessed achievement and interests of individual students.
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eARLY CHILDHOOD
This position paper, initiated by the Early Childhood Division of NAGC, focuses on creating optimal environments for recognizing, developing, and nurturing the strengths and talents of young gifted children, age 3 through 8 .
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FINE ARTS EDUCATION
Frequently, when school resources are limited, arts education funding is reduced or eliminated. Proponents of such cuts defend the action by referring to the arts as a valuable but non-essential element of an educational program designed primarily to develop basic skills. NAGC maintains that arts education is fundamental to an excellent basic education for all students and to an appropriately challenging curriculum for gifted students.
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APPROPRIATE EDUCATION FOR GIFTED GLBT STUDENTS
Many educational groups, at the national, state, and local levels, are concerned about how best to meet the particular needs of students who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered (GLBT). NAGC, which has an organizational policy of non-discrimination toward GLBT persons, supports practices of equitable and sensitive treatment of GLBT youth and recommends that educators demonstrate understanding and equity toward gifted GLBT students in their schools.
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STANDARDS FOR GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN GIFTED EDUCATION
New Graduate Program Standards in Gifted Education have been approved by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). NAGC has been working with the Council for Exceptional Children for more than three years to revise the standards used by college and university teacher preparation programs in gifted education. Click here to learn more.
View/download PDF version of the new NCATE Standards in Gifted Education
GROUPING
Grouping gifted children is one of the foundations of exemplary gifted education practice. The research on the many grouping strategies available to educators of these children is long, consistent, and overwhelmingly positive (Rogers, 2006; Tieso, 2003). Nonetheless, the "press" from general educators, both teachers and administrators, has been consistently less supportive. Myths abound that grouping these children damages the self-esteem of struggling learners, creates an "elite" group who may think too highly of themselves, and is actually undemocratic and, at times, racist. None of these papers have any founding in actual research, but the arguments continue decade after decade (Fiedler, Lange, & Winebrenner, 2002). This position paper is intended for school board members, school administrators, teachers, parents of gifted children, and other community members with an interest in education.
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GROWTH IN ACHIEVEMENT OF ADVANCED STUDENTS (GROWTH MODELS)
The Association for the Gifted (TAG) believes that growth models should replace status models so that all students’ progress can be measured over time. Further, CEC-TAG believes that on-going assessment is necessary in planning instruction for individual students. While schools should examine a wide range of group differences to determine if students are receiving opportunities to learn such as socioeconomic status, gender, race or ethnicity, disability, or English language status, this position paper pertains to students who perform at the advanced level and the necessity for growth models that take their educational needs into account.
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STUDENTS WITH CONCOMITANT GIFTS AND LEARNING DISABILITIES
Gifted students with learning disabilities face many difficulties related to identification and services due to their dual exceptionalities. In many cases, giftedness enables a students with a learning disability to compensate for their disability -- allowing it to go undetected or unserved for years. In addition, the characteristics associated with a learning disability may mask a student's advanced abilities or talents.
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IDENTIFYING AND SERVING CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE GIFTED STUDENTS
As the nation becomes more and more diverse, gifted education programs should reflect changing U.S. demographics. Equitably identified gifted students represent cultural and linguistic diversity as well as a wide range of socioeconomic groups and geographic areas, yet these populations are too often overlooked. Reversing the underrepresentation of culturally and linguistically diverse students (CLD) in gifted education will require that educators have a thorough understanding of the reasons that CLD students have traditionally been excluded from participation in gifted programs.
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NAGC-NMSA JOINT POSITION STATEMENT
The National Association for Gifted Children and the National Middle School Association share a commitment to developing schools and classrooms in which both equity and excellence are persistent goals for each learner. Equity refers to the opportunity of every learner to have supported access to the highest possible quality education. Excellence refers to the need of every learner for opportunities and adult support necessary to maximize his or her learning potential.
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MANDATED EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR GIFTED AND TALENTED STUDENTS
NAGC supports mandating services to meet the unique needs of gifted and talented children.
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PRESERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS
In many classrooms, one-size-fits-all instruction is pervasive. At the same time, student populations are becoming more academically diverse and classroom teachers are being asked to be primary service providers for this full range of academic diversity -- including students who are advanced well beyond their age peers. The role of preservice education programs in preparing educators to work effectively in academically diverse classrooms is critical to the success of public education, and to its capacity to maximize the potential of all learners.
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REDEFINING GIFTEDNESS FOR A NEW CENTURY: SHIFTING THE PARADIGM
When a need for clarification arises on a particular issue, policy, or practice, NAGC assembles a task force of experts, which in this case was the Gifted Terminology Task Force. This task force collaborated to craft a position paper to represent the official convictions of the organization and provide guidance for individuals working with gifted children.
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RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION (RtI)
The Association for the Gifted, a division of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC-TAG) recognizes the importance and the impact of the Response to Intervention (RTI) method of identifying and serving students with diverse educational needs. The position paper on RTI issued by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) specifically addressed the needs of children who are “twice-exceptional” indicating that these needs must be met through the provision of “access to a challenging and accelerated curriculum, while also addressing the unique needs of their disability” (CEC Position Paper on RTI, 2007, p. 2). The inclusion of students who are twice exceptional within the RTI framework provided a starting point for addressing students who are gifted. In this paper we extend the application of RTI to include children who are gifted.
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TWICE-EXCEPTIONALITY
Psychologists who work in the area of special education sometimes refer to students with two disabilities as having a dual diagnosis, which may be considered to be twice-exceptional. In the field of gifted education, the more commonly used term for a gifted student with a co-occurring disability is “twice-exceptional learner”. This simple definition belies the complexity that underlies the multiple issues associated with twice-exceptionality. Whereas the concept itself is becoming more well-known both in and out of gifted education, professionals still are unsure of the prevalence of twice-exceptionality because no federal agency gathers base-rate data for this group of students. Estimates made through various sources, such as the U.S. Department of Education, suggest that there are approximately 360,000 twice-exceptional students in America’s schools (National Education Association, 2006), making the call for awareness and understanding about twice-exceptionality critical for educators nationwide. This position paper is intended for all individuals who wish to know more about this important group of gifted learners so that their multifaceted educational and personal needs can be met and there is recognition that giftedness does not preclude the presence of a disability or vice versa.
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Use of the WISC-IV for Gifted Identification
School districts use multi-faceted approaches to identify gifted students. Some states and districts employ comprehensive individual IQ tests as one of several identifiers. The most popular of these is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) (Lubin, Wallis & Paine, 1971). Even in districts where IQ tests are not used in student selection, the WISC-IV is often administered when the parents appeal the decision to deny a child services. Also, for twice exceptional children, the WISC-IV plays an important role in documenting the child’s giftedness and learning deficits, as well as revealing the giftedness of children with expressive, physical, or other disabilities. In prior versions of the Wechsler scales, the child’s Full Scale IQ score has been the primary determining factor in placement. However, the Full Scale IQ score of the WISC-IV often does not represent a child’s intellectual abilities as well as the General Ability Index. Therefore, some guidelines for test interpretation are necessary.
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