Provide the definition of gifted and talented, as adopted by Congress in 1988 . Describe how students were traditionally identified as gifted and discuss three criticisms of that method

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The term gifted and talented refers to children and youth who give evidence that they are potentially capable of high performance in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who require services or activities that schools do not ordinarily provide in order to fully develop such potential.
Traditionally, students were identified as gifted and talented on the basis of standardized test scores, especially IQ tests. Typically an IQ score of 130 was required for admission to such programs. The criticisms of this screening method are as follows:
a.The historical emphasis on IQ neglects other relevant characteristics such as motivation, creativity, leadership, and critical thinking.
b. Educators are unfamiliar with methods, other than standardized tests, for measuring human characteristics. Many argue that minorities are underrepresented in gifted classes because of this overreliance on test scores.
c. Definitions of giftedness are embedded in ethnocentric perspectives regarding which characteristics are valuable. Cultural differences regarding the value placed upon particular activities and abilities are not accounted for when giftedness is determined. Rather, the definitions and perspectives of the mainstream of society are usually applied.