Understanding the Language of Gifted Education

Common Terms and Jargon Used by Educators

Jul 20, 2009

Becoming intimidated by the words used in gifted education circles need not be a concern for the parent of a gifted child. Here is a brief overview of common terms.

Gifted education experts have a language of their own. The savvy parent who masters the vernacular of gifted program language has a distinct advantage over the lay parent. Here are some of the more common terms and phrases encountered by the newbie parent, along with some straightforward explanations of what these mean for the parent and the gifted child.

Acceleration, Assessment and Ability Groups for Gifted Children

Simply put, accelerating a child involves having him skip grades to catch him up to his intellectual development. This is frequently done by subject area, as well as by entire grade. Further, many gifted teens are accelerated into college earlier than their peers. Or, they may dual enroll in high school and some college courses simultaneously, so they are less likely to miss out on the social interaction of a high school setting.

Many parents will remember ability grouping within the classroom as early as grade school for particular subjects like math or reading. Where there is a higher number of gifted students, for example in a larger city school system, schools may ability group gifted students together for many subjects.

Assessment will be a common factor for gifted students. Many schools have their own definition of gifted, and it is most often identified by standardized test results. A common denominator is often relative to the child's Intelligence Quotient. Many schools use an IQ of 125 or 130 as a breakpoint for identifying intellectual giftedness. Note that there is no universally defined criteria to identify a gifted child.

Curriculum Compacting and Grouping

Curriculum compacting, which is commonly referred to as telescoping, involves allowing the gifted child to skip practice work which is focused on the skills she has already mastered. This gives her available classroom time to move up to more enrichment activities or more advanced concepts ahead of the group.

There are several types and variations of groupings of students, including flexible groupings, which vary by task or assignment and group kids based on interests and/or abilities. As well, heterogeneous and homogeneous groupings are frequently utilized based on the needs of the population and the philosophy of the school.

Heterogeneous grouping involves mixed-ability students learning as a team. The opposite of this is homogeneous grouping, where the like-ability kids are together. Certainly kids with similar abilities will be able to maintain a pace that is suited to the norm of the group, but they miss out on stimuli from students who are at the low and high ends of the ability spectrum.

The concept of heterogeneous mixing is believed to enrich the overall learning experience. From the perspective of the gifted child, he may be at the head of the pack and leading others with his advanced level participation, but he has an opportunity to develop an understanding of how others learn by observing their progress and hearing their questions in a heterogeneous population. A mix of groups seem to be the best scenario for the gifted child, provided he can progress to the level he desires at a speed that will maintain his interest and attention.

In summary, knowledge is power when it comes to learning about educating your gifted child. This article provides a starting point of common terms used by experts. Reading books and articles on the topic and visiting the various gifted child websites will give parents a framework to make educated choices for their child's optimal development.

The copyright of the article Understanding the Language of Gifted Education in Assessing Gifted Children is owned by Therese Haberman. Permission to republish Understanding the Language of Gifted Education in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.