National Association for Gifted
Children
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| "To assist local
school districts in examining the quality of their programming for
gifted learners, the National Association for Gifted Children
adopted a framework of requisite, or minimal, standards that
describe nominal requirements for satisfactory programs. The
exemplary, or visionary, levels of performance represent excellence
in gifted education programming. These standards may serves as: (1)
benchmarks for measuring the effectiveness of programming; (2)
criteria for program evaluation; (3) guidelines for program
development; and (4) recommendations for minimal requirements for
high-quality gifted education programming" (NAGC Standards Manual,
p. xi)
NAGC identifies seven critical and essential criteria of gifted education programming, each represented as a standard. You may click here to go to the NAGC website that further explains the standards. Pre-K through Grade 12 Gifted Program Standards |
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Who does the National Association for Gifted Children identify as gifted? "A person's giftedness should not be confused with the means by which giftedness is observed or assessed. A parent's, teacher's or student's recommendation, a high mark on an examination, a high IQ score, are not giftedness; they may be a signal that giftedness exists…We assert that there are children who demonstrate high performance, or who have the potential to do so, and that we have a responsibility to provide optimal educational experiences for talents to flourish in as many children as possible, for the benefit of the individual and the community (NAGC ParentInfo). According to NAGC, "It is generally recognized that approximately five percent of the student population, or three million children, in the United States are considered gifted" (NAGC ParentInfo). During the 04-05 school year, 2.7% of the Seattle Public Schools student population was served as academically highly gifted and 3% were served as academically gifted. Given the demographics of our community (e.g., adult education level, employers/business such as the University of Washington, Hutch, Microsoft, Boeing) it is not surprising that we are serving over the 5% identified by NAGC as a typical percentage of students served. Also of note is that some states/districts have significantly increased the number of students they identify as gifted, with as many as 20% of the student population identified and served through gifted education programs. |