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Glossary of Terms
This page is a glossary of terms associated
with gifted education.
This is not a complete list of terms and the
definitions are generic in nature. |
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Ability Grouping
Class
assignment based on perceived ability of the students.
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Ability Test
Instruments that measure your child's mental ability. Some
examples are Otis Lennon, WISC, CO-GAT, or K-Bit2. |
Acceleration
A strategy
which is used when a student demonstrates competencies,
knowledge, abilities, and/or skills which exceed that which is
outlined in the planned course or text for his/her chronological
or grade placement level. This can be determined by advanced
work demonstrated in the classroom and pre or diagnostic tests
in the skill areas. |
Achievement Test
Instruments that measure what your child knows academically and
what he/she can do academically. Examples: California
Achievement Test, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), American
College Test (ACT). These tests reveal strengths and weaknesses
in your child's academic abilities. They should also help
educators improve instruction, aid in forming goals and
objectives for the curriculum, and determine content and
skills. |
Advanced Level
Courses
Students
receive course content normally taught at a higher grade level.
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Advanced
Placement Program (AP Classes)
A College
Board program of college level courses taught by high school
teachers; some colleges give credit for these courses upon
successful completion of the AP exam. Students pay the exam
fee, but the courses are free where they are offered. |
Assessment
The act of
evaluating performance of a task or project. This can be
teacher made, purchased materials or formal/standardized. |
At-Risk
A student
who is: a) unable to handle the emotional, social, intellectual,
or physical demands of life or school, b) in physical or
emotional danger, or c) in danger of dropping out of school. |
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Bloom's Taxonomy
Hundreds
of gifted programs in this country use Bloom's Taxonomy as a
model for developing curriculum for gifted children. Benjamin
S. Bloom and others developed the taxonomy for educational
objectives in 1956. They divided learning into three parts or
domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. Each domain was
then divided again. For example, the cognitive domain was
further broken down into activities involving: knowledge,
comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation. The last three are considered high-level thinking
domains. |
Brainstorming
A group
activity that stimulates creative and high level thinking. The
word itself was developed and named by Alex Osborn, an
advertising executive. Children are usually given a topic and
asked to come up with as many ideas related to that topic as
possible. All ideas are accepted without criticism.
Brainstorming is designed to generate creative ideas without
immediate thought to right or wrong answers. It is the basis for many activities involving
gifted children. |
Cluster Grouping
Placing
several identified gifted students in the same classroom.
Clustering gifted students in the regular classroom allows the
teacher to differentiate learning activities for a group of
identified students rather than one or two students.
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Collaboration
Teacher
and gifted specialist work together to plan, prepare, and
implement units of study for identified students. Classroom
teacher and gifted specialists both work directly with students. |
Compacting
A three
step process that 1) assesses what a student knows about content to
be studied and what the student still needs to master, 2) plans
for learning what is not known, and 3) plans for freed-up time
to be spent in enriched or accelerated study. |
Concurrent or
Dual Enrollment
Students
at any grade level may take classes at the next school level.
For example, elementary school students take classes at junior
high; junior high students take high school classes.
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Consultation
Teacher
and gifted specialists working together to plan and prepare
materials for identified students. Only the classroom teacher
works with the students. |
Content
What
teachers teach; what they want students to learn. |
Continuous
Progress
Students
receive appropriate instruction daily and move ahead as they
master content and skills. |
Contracts
An
agreement between the teacher and the student. The teacher
grants certain freedoms and choices of how the student will
complete tasks, and the student agrees to use the freedoms
appropriately in designing and completing work. |
Convergent
Thinking
Convergent thinking focuses on a
single answer. Most intelligence tests require convergent
thinking. |
Cooperative
Learning
Refers to
a set of instructional methods in which students work in small,
mixed ability groups. The students are responsible not only for
learning the material, but also for helping their teammates
learn. |
Creativity
A complex
mental process that is very difficult to define or measure.
Creativity is more than the ability to draw well, as many people
believe. It involves putting together new, different, and
unique ideas. It is found in all children to a certain degree.
Creative thinking can be used in all content areas, not just
art. |
Cross Grade
Grouping
The
assignment of students to instructional groups based upon their
achievement in a particular subject rather than their grade
level placement. |
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Differentiated Educational Plan (DEP)
A plan that is written by
classroom teachers and shared with parents to provide information on how the school/teacher is
working to meet the needs of an identified student. A DEP
is written for identified students in grades K-8. |
Differentiated
Curriculum
A set of
activities, a program, or a plan of instruction that is designed
to meet the unique needs of special children. Gifted children
may not deserve more than other children in our public schools,
but they do deserve different educational experiences. This
means curriculum that allows for acceleration, stimulation of
high level thinking, divergent thinking, and convergent
thinking. |
Differentiation
Varied approaches to what students need to learn (content), how
they will learn it (process), and/or how they can express what
they have learned (product) in order to increase the likelihood
that each student will learn as much as he or she can as
efficiently as possible. |
Divergent
Thinking
Divergent
thinking is the opposite of convergent thinking. Divergent thinking focuses on many answers to a single question or
problem. |
Dual
Identification
Students
who have more than one educational label, such as gifted and
learning disabled. |
Enrichment
Programs
Learning
activities that go beyond the regular curricular activities.
Enrichment programs usually take the form of special classes or
special schools for the gifted. They might also involve
itinerant teachers who provide regular classroom teachers with
help for their gifted students. These special teachers might
also pull out the gifted students from the regular classroom in
order to involve them in special activities. |
Evaluation
To make
judgments about the value or worth of something. |
Exceptional
Refers to
those persons evaluated and found to be either mentally gifted
or in need of Special Education services. |
Flexible Grouping
This
occurs when students
are part of many different groups and also work alone based on
the match of the task to student readiness, interest, or
learning style. |
Flexible Pacing
Any
provision that places students at an appropriate instructional
level, creating the best possible match between students'
achievement and instruction, and allows them to move forward in
the curriculum as they achieve mastery of content and skills.
Flexible pacing may be achieved by a variety of methods.
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Gifted
A student
whose mental ability is 130 or above and whose academic ability
is above age/grade peers by a significant amount (usually at
least one to two years). |
Heterogeneous
Grouping
Grouping students by mixed
ability or readiness levels. A heterogeneous classroom is one
in which a teacher is expected to meet a broad range of student
needs or readiness levels. |
Highly/Extremely
Gifted
Children
who score 150 or above on a mental ability test. These
students are in the top 0.01% of the total population. |
Higher Level
Thinking
Emphasizes
tasks and activities that involve analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation from Bloom's taxonomy. It also includes creative
thinking skills of fluency, flexibility, originality, and
elaboration. |
Homogeneous
Grouping
One
ability or achievement level in a class. |
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Inclusion
Creating a
regular classroom environment that meets the needs of all levels
of students. |
Independent Study
A
self-directed style of learning. Independent study is usually
done with the help of a teacher; however the role of the teacher
is limited. Student and teacher identify problems or topics of
interest to the student. They develop a plan for investigation
and identify the type of product the student will produce (i.e.
paper, presentation, etc.). |
Instructional
Level
Determined
by diagnostic testing and full assessment of a child's rate of
acquisition and rate of retention of skills. Diagnostic testing
may include curriculum based assessment in reading and math
and/or standardized normed tests. |
Learning Styles
A term
used to describe personality, psychological traits, social
behaviors, developmental differences, communication styles, and
environmental preferences. There are several learning style
theories that try to match traits of the learner with teaching
methods. |
Level of Service
A variety
of services available so that each student can be served as it fits
her/his needs. The level of service for each student will be
initially determined by the placement committee. |
Mentorship
A program
where students are teamed up with an expert who can help guide
the student's growth in a particular area. The program
concentrates on advanced projects, and exploration of work
settings. The "expert" can be a teacher, media specialist,
parent volunteer, older student, or community member.
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Multiple
Intelligence
Howard Gardner developed a theory that addresses seven major
intelligence domains. Each person has a dominate
intelligence. Schools/teachers need to develop lessons
that teach through multiple intelligences to teach every student
within their dominate intelligence |
Overachiever
The
overachiever is a child who performs at a higher level than
would be normally expected. |
Peer Tutoring
A program
where students teach other students. When older students tutor
younger children, it is usually referred to as cross-age
tutoring. This is not to take the place of instruction for
gifted students. |
Problem Solving
Method
Defined by
the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics as the
process of applying previously acquired knowledge to new and
unfamiliar situations. |
Process
Taking new
information or ideas and using strategies to make sense of it.
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Product
Assignments that help students rethink, use and extend what they
have learned over a long period of time. |
Pull Out Program
Any program which takes one or more students from the regular
classroom during the school day. |
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Referral
The
process of recommending a student to be considered for gifted
services. This process can be informal (teacher, parent, and
student participation) or formal (the use of formal standardized
test scores). |
Rubric
A tool for
assessment made by the teacher. This tool explains what is
expected in the assignment and how each component of the
assignment will be assessed or graded. |
Screening
Screening
is a first step assessment process aimed at selecting students
who may have special needs. This can be done as a mass
screening or on an individual basis. |
Standards of
Accreditation
Guidelines
for school districts and schools by which the State Department
of Education will evaluate schools. If standards are met,
accreditation will be awarded to schools. |
Standards of
Learning
Curriculum
guidelines produced by the Virginia Department of Education that
are a standard of education across the state. These standards
will be tested in grades 3, 4, 5, and 8 and as end of course tests
in High School level courses. |
Talent Pool
The Talent Pool is a group of
students in grades K-3 that are working above grade level and
need additional enrichment activities. The activities are
provided through differentiation by the classroom teacher(s)
with the support of the gifted resource teacher. This Talent
Pool placement will remain in effect until a re-evaluation in
fourth grade is completed. During the fourth grade school year,
all students in the Talent Pool are re-evaluated for
eligibility in the academically gifted program. During this
re-evaluation careful consideration will again be given to test
data, checklists, portfolios, and other supportive
documentation. |
Talent Development Plan (TDP)
A plan that is written by classroom teachers and shared with
parents to provide information on how the school/teacher is
working to meet the needs of students in the Talent Pool.
A TDP
is written for Talent Pool students in grades K-4. |
Tiered
Assignments
Varied
levels of activities for the same lesson or unit that ensure
students explore ideas at a level that builds on their prior
knowledge and promotes continued growth. |
Underachiever
A child
whose school work is not consistent with his or her ability to
learn. |
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