Mesa Supporters
of the
Gifted and Talented
News & Highlights:
3/7/2011 application deadline for the 2011 Barrett Summer Scholars Program
|
Gifted Glossary AAGT
Arizona
Association for the Gifted and Talented. State-wide nonprofit
organization devoted to improving gifted education in Arizona and
dedicated to providing information
and guidance necessary for parents, teachers, administrators,
counselors and legislators to develop and support gifted education
in our state. Offers annual conference,
including programs for parents. Website offers excellent information
for parents. Affiliated
with NAGC. See arizonagifted.org
. Advanced
Placement (AP) A
program developed by the College Board where high schools offer
courses that meet criteria established by institutions of higher
education. In many instances, college credit may be earned
with the successful completion of an AP exam in specific content
areas. AGA
Arizona Gifted Alliance – The
informal coalition of parent group leaders Asynchrony A term
used to describe disparate rates of intellectual, emotional, and
physical rates of growth or development often displayed by gifted
children. Bloom’s
Taxonomy Developed
in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom, the taxonomy is often used to develop
curriculum for gifted children. There are six levels within the
taxonomy that move from basic to high levels of thinking. These
include knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis,
and evaluation. Ceiling
effect Compression of top scores on
a test. For example, if a group IQ test can only measure reliably to
130, then a student with an IQ of 160 (if measured by some other
test) may only score 130 due to the ceiling effect of the group
test. Group intelligence tests often have low ceilings, so a
relatively low IQ score, perhaps 115, could be accepted as evidence
of potential giftedness. Cluster
Grouping A
grouping assignment for gifted students in the regular heterogeneous
classroom. Typically, five or six gifted students with
similar needs, abilities, or interests are “clustered” in the same
classroom, which allows the teacher to more efficiently
differentiate assignments for a group of advanced learners rather
than just one or two students. Compacting Instruction
entails reduced amounts of introductory activities, drill, and
practice. Instructional experiences may also be based on relatively
fewer instructional objectives compared to the general curriculum.
The time gained may be used for more advanced content instruction or
to participate in enrichment activities. Instructional goals should
be selected on the basis of careful analyses for their roles in the
content and hierarchies of curricula. The parsing of activities and
goals should be based on pre-instructional assessment.
(Definition from A Nation Deceived, volume 2,
page 14.) DT-PI Diagnostic Testing followed
by Prescribed Instruction. Helping students learn what they do
not know, rather than teaching a subject simply following a
lock-step format. Read Helping students learn only what they
don't already know at www.gt-cybersource.org
. Dabrowski’s Overexcitibilities Research by Dabrowski showing how the gifted were extremely sensitive in five areas (a stimulus-response difference from the norms) such that a gifted person reacts more strongly than normal, for a longer period than normal, to a stimulus that may be very small. It involves not just psychological factors but central nervous system sensitivity. The five areas are:
Differentiation Modifying
curriculum and instruction according to content, pacing, and/or
product to meet unique student needs in the
classroom. Distance Learning
High-tech
alternative to correspondence courses, these classes are offered via
satellite or internet. For a list of programs, see
www.hoagiesgifted.org/distance_learning.htm
. DITD Davidson Institute for
Talent Development. Offers a Young Scholars Program. See www.ditd.org and www.gt-cybersource.org
. Dual Enrollment
Enrollment
in two levels of schooling simultaneously; application of credits
varies. Commonly used for high school students who
concurrently take college courses, for at least high school
credit. Early
Entrance
Entrance to any program
before the regularly scheduled time. This may be entrance to
Kindergarten at age 4 or 4.5, 1st grade at regular kindergarten age
5, or entrance to any other school level or college early. See
A Nation Deceived for a
discussion of the benefits. EPGY
Educational
Program for Gifted Youth. Distance learning K-8 and advanced
math program, developed by Stanford. This program is currently
available through Stanford, and through Johns Hopkins as a part of
its Math Tutorials program. Flexible
Grouping
An
instructional strategy where students are grouped together to
receive appropriately challenging instruction. True
flexible grouping permits students to move in and out of various
grouping patterns, depending on the course content. Grouping can be
determined by ability, size, and/or
interest. International Baccalaureate (IB)
Program
A
demanding pre-university program that students can complete to earn
college credit. IB emphasizes critical thinking and understanding of
other cultures or points of view. A diploma is awarded at the
completion of the IB program which allows graduates access to
universities worldwide. See www.ibo.org
. Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
A
numerical representation of intelligence. IQ is derived from
dividing mental age (result from an intelligence test) by the
chronological age times 100. Traditionally, an average IQ is
considered to be 100. NAGC
National Association for
Gifted Children. National nonprofit organization addressing the
unique
needs of children and youth with demonstrated gifts and talents as
well as those children who may be able to develop their talent
potential with appropriate educational
experiences. Website provides
excellent information for parents of gifted. See www.nagc.org .
Percentile Rank Percentiles are not the same as percent correct! Percentile is an age-based or grade-based rank indicating the percent of the norm group of students tested who scored less than the student. 85th percentile means only that 85 percent of students tested scored lower than the subject, not that the subject got 85% of the questions correct. Percentile scores are easily correlated to standard or IQ scores: 97th percentile is the same as standard or IQ score of 130 or above. For large populations, percentiles are an easy way to compare one child to age / grade peers. Note: a side effect of percentile scoring is that as more and more of the population being tested answer all the questions correctly on the test or any sub-test, thelowertheir percentile scores will become. This is particularly obvious in a small population sample such as the local percentiles, which may compare your child only to others in the same school and grade. (For complete information on testing terminology and assessment, see http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/tests_tell_us.htm and read “What Do the Tests Tell Us?”.)Perfectionism The desire to execute tasks
flawlessly. Gifted children may develop perfectionism after entering
school, as they perform better than their classmates. Later, such
perfectionism may lead to avoiding challenges so as not to appear
imperfect. See “A
Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children”, by Dr. James Webb et al, for a
full discussion of social/emotional issues of the
gifted. Pull-out
Program
A program
which takes a student out of the regular classroom during the school
day for special programming.
In most districts in Arizona, the program addresses math or
reading/language arts. Social-Emotional
Needs
Gifted
and talented students may have affective needs that include
heightened or unusual sensitivity to self-awareness, emotions, and
expectations of themselves or others, and a sense of justice, moral
judgment, or altruism. Counselors working in this area may address
issues such as perfectionism, depression, underachievement, or
career planning. Stanine Another representation of the percentile score. Stanine divides the percentiles into 9 divisions, with the 4, 5 and 6th stanine considered average, 7th and 8th stanine considered above average, and 9th stanine considered very much above average. The percentage of test scores in each stanine is as follows:
Telescoping Instruction
that entails less time than is normal (e. g., completing a one year
course in one semester, or three years of middle school in two).
Telescoping differs from curriculum compacting in that time saved
from telescoping always results in advanced grade
placement. (From A Nation Deceived, volume 2,
page 14.) Twice
Exceptional
A term
used to describe a student that is both gifted and learning
disabled. These students may also be referred to as
having dual exceptionalities or as being
GT/LD. Underachieving or
Underachievement
A term
used to describe the discrepancy between a student’s performance and
their potential, or ability to perform at a much higher
level.
|