Glossary of Useful Terms

In order to provide you with accurate information regarding the information presented in the Gifted Resource Center, the Institute for Educational Advancement has comprised a brief glossary of useful terms. You can review terms by clicking on the corresponding links below, or you can review all of the terms at your leisure.

A

Ability (Aptitude) Test
A test linked (not closely) to specific curriculum that is used to predict a student's future performance.

Ability Grouping
Grouping students of like ability to work together on a short- or long-term basis.

Acceleration
(a) Skills and/or content are addressed at a pace and a level of difficulty that are advanced from the norm. (b) Promotion to a higher grade by skipping one or two intermediate grades. Cf. The Iowa Acceleration Scale: A Guide for Whole-Grade Acceleration K-8, Manual, from the Connie Belin & Jacqueline N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development. This Manual includes the student in the decison whether or not to move to a higher grade.

Achievement
Accomplishment of performance; the realization of potental.

Achievement Test
A test that measures what students have learned or have been taught in a specific content area relative to the expected achievement of average student; does not gauge potential.

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
A medically diagnosed condition with symptoms that include being overly physically active and having difficulty sitting still or paying attention. ADHD must be distinguished from a child's high energy level and need to discharge the energy when focused to sit without moving. A child may seem hyperactive and inattentive but can easily focus attention on things of interest, a true ADHD child has little or no control. Some children focus their attention best when allowed to move around.

Advanced Placement (AP)
A formalized system that allows students to enroll in intense, high-level courses in high school and possibly gain college credit simultaneously.

Affective Needs
Specific social and emotional needs that must be addressed by both school and home. These needs differ according to psychological type and temperment of the child, e.g., those who prefer to work alone should be allowed to work alone. Children who need time to observe and to gauge an activity before joining in should be allowed the needed time to do so and not be forced prematurely to join others. Emotionally intense and sensitive children should be approached with understanding and appreciation of their feelings.

Approach to Student
The Approach to Student refers to the school’s flexibility in terms of how it responds to the students’ needs. This may include how students are grouped, how involved parents are in developing their child’s academic program, or the extent to which teaching practices are consistent across the school.

• A school that is flexible is more likely to assign its students to a class based on the students’ abilities. These schools tend to employ a more individualized approach to placement, assessment and teaching.
• A school that is structured is more likely to assign its students to a class based on the students’ ages. These schools tend to provide more structure and consistency in terms of the design of students’ academic programs.

Aptitude
Undeveloped potential or ability.

Asperger Syndrome
A condition characterized by severely impaired social skills and the occurrence of repetitive or restrictive behaviors that keep highly able children from learning some skills and developing socially.

Assessment
Traditionally, the process of evaluating student learning with standardized testing and a clearly defined portfolio of individual work samples. In gifted education, teachers attempt to evaluate student products or performance to tailor education to student needs and interests.

Asynchronous Development
Also referred to as uneven integration, this is development in which intellectual growth is ahead physical and social and/or emotional development.

Autism
A condition characterized by self-absorption, inability to interact socially, repetitive behavior, and language dysfunction.

Bloom's Taxonomy
Classification of thinking into six levels of increasing complexity: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation and synthesis. It should be noted that even though knowledge is the most basic category of terminology, it is the most extensively developed. Besides facts it includes knowledge of classifications, criteria, and methodology; and further, knowlegdge of the principles, generalizations, theories and structures, by which ideas and systems are organized.

Categorical Funds
Supplemental funding for programs that target specific groups of students (for example, gifted ESL) or specialized programs (for example, Title I reading).

Ceiling of Difficulty
The highest level of performance that a test can assess. Many tests cannot properly assess the abilities of gifted children because the test ceiling is too low. Out-of-level testing addresses the problem in the area of math and verbal skills by using the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). The SAT is designed for high school juniors and seniors but is also used with gifted 7th graders. Because its ceiling is so much higher, the SAT can reveal their true ability level. Thousands of gifted 13-year olds, or even younger, score at the senior level.

Cluster Grouping
Assigning students of the same grade level who have been identified as gifted to a small instructional group within a class of otherwise heterogeneously grouped students.

Concurrent Enrollment
Also referred to as dual enrollment, concurrent enrollment grants students both college and high school credit for a single course dependent upon state education guidelines.

Content Acceleration
The faster presentation of curriculum to more closely match the speed at which a gifted student learns.

Creativity/Creative Thinking
Artistic or intellectual ability to conceive of novel concepts, ideas, inventions, artistic works, etc. Creativity is best assessed by looking at what an individual creates.

Criterion-referenced
A score that compares a student's performance to specific standards.

Critical Thinking
Cultivated analytical skills allowing students to logically comprehend and solve complex concepts or problems.

Curriculum Compacting
Streamlining basic curriculum in order to challenge students and free their regular school day time for the pursuit of accelerated and/or enriched work.

Differentiation
Adapting the pace, level, or kind of intuitional curriculum to meet each student's individual learning needs, styles, or interests.

Early Entrance
The enrollment of children in educational programs before the common starting date or age; early entrance is most commonly associated with kindergarten, and also college.

EBD (Emotional and/or Behavioral Disorders)
Students in this group often experience academic difficulties due to an inability to maintain social relationships and a tendency toward chronic behavior problems.

Emotional Giftedness
A characteristic of children and adults whose empathy and compassion for others moves them to act on their behalf. They respond strongly to injustice and suffering inflicted on others, and try to protect and help them. Among children there are peacemakers and mediators, some who stand up to adult authority when that authority acts unjustly toward their classmates, and some who in competition whould rather lose than see their opponent be crushed by defeat.

Emotional Overexcitability
One of the five dimensions of psychic life that pertains to a great depth and intensity of emotional life. It can be expressed in a wide range of feelings, deep affection, compassion, responsibility and self-examination.

Enrichment
Experiences and activities scheduled that are above and beyond the basic curriculum offered in the classroom or the school. The emphasis is on breadth of knowledge as opposed to worrying about speed or level.

Enrichment Program
Program designed primarily for gifted students (no also used with at-risk children) intended to supplement the regular academic curriculum for students who might otherwise be bored. An alternative to acceletation and to creating entirely separate gifted classrooms. Ads value through projects, guest speakers, concerts, museum visits, etc.

ESL (English as a Second Language)
Students in this group are not native English speakers but are developing English language proficiency. Communication problems often mask these students' gifts and talents, causing them to be underrepresented in gifted programming.

Exceptional Program
A school that has exceptional programs has a tendency to offer a more extensive range of courses – both in terms of breadth and depth. For example, an exceptional foreign language department in a high school may offer students the opportunity to study German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and/or Latin, as well as the more standard languages offerings such as French and Spanish. In addition, in an exceptional foreign language department, a student may be able to take as many as 4 years of German including an AP German course.

Flexible Grouping
Grouping students based on interests and abilities on an assignment-by-assignment basis.

Formative Evaluation
Evaluation geared toward improving programming and services.

Gifted and Talented
Although sometimes these terms are used separately, together they generally are intended to signify persons who are highly capable in terms of general intellectual ability, specific academic aptitude, creative/productive thinking, leadership ability, and visual and performing arts.

Goal Orientation
Goal Orientation reflects a school’s approach to teaching and evaluation.

• A school that is outcome-oriented will place its instructional emphasis on meeting specific performance goals. For example, the school might encourage students to attain a certain score on a standardized test. These schools tend to be more structured or uniform and have clearly defined proficiency standards and goals for teachers and students.
• A process-oriented school will place its instructional emphasis on how students learn. For example, teachers might focus their instruction on the development of students’ intellectual or creative thinking rather than specific performance goals. These schools tend to employ a more individualized and student-centered approach to teaching and learning.

Grade Acceleration
Placing a student in an advanced grade or course on a full- or part-time basis.

Growth Contract
Student agreement geared toward affective rather than academic concerns.

Heterogeneous Groups
Students are grouped into classes at random without particular regard for abilities in order to represent more closely the diversity of abilities present in the workaday world.

Homework Policy
Policy established for gifted students participating in pullout programs outlining the regular classroom work that students must make up and the guidelines for its completion.

Homogeneous Groups
Sometimes called "ability grouping", these classes are arranged so that students enrolled in each one represent nearly the same types of abilities and assumed educational needs.

Honors Classes
Advanced courses with an accelerated and challenging curriculum provided by the middle or high school.

Hypersensitivity
Acute physical, sensory and emotional response to stimulation overload in the surrounding world. A child's or adults's senses may be superacute, for instance, in the case of hearing, listening to a stereo or TV is only possible when the volume is turned very low, otherwise it is painful. Noisy shopping malls exhaust hypersensitive children and adults. Cf. The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron.

IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)
Federal legislation providing for an appropriate education to students with special needs; does not include provisions for intellectually or academically gifted children.

Identification of Gifted and Talented Students
A process used by professionals that encompasses many sources of information about a child. These may include data from tests, parent surveys, teacher referrals, interviews with the child, observations, peer nominations, and any other sources from which professionals might be able to form as thorough a picture of the child's abilities as possible. Usually, these data are reviewed by a screening or identification committee composed of school district and community representatives who compare the information gathered about a child against some pre-established set of criteria for identification. Criteria can be set at the local, district, or state levels in the absence of specific federal requirements.

Imaginational Overexcitability
One of the five dimensions of psychic life that finds expression in vivid imagery, fantasies, daydreams, inventions, liking of the unusual, and use of metaphors in speech. Creativity in any field depends on having fertile imagination. Here belong dreamers, poets, writers, "space cadets" and visual-spatial thinkers.

Inclusion
Practice where students of differing abilities and conditions are grouped together in the regular classroom.

Individualized Education Program (IEP)
An educational program that is personally tailored. IEP was developed as a component of federal legislation on behalf of children who have learning disabilities.

Intellectual Overexcitability
One of the five dimensions of psychic life that goes together with the usual definition of "giftedness," characteristic of kids with a strong "logical imperative," who love brain teasers and puzzles, who enjoy following a complex line of reasoning and figuring things out, who love ideas and theoretical speculation, who search for truth and question everything because they have this urge to understand.

Intelligence Test
A test that measures children's potential for achievement in intellectual pursuits.

IQ (Intelligence Quotient)
Measure of child's cognitive ability that compares a child's mental age and actual age.

Javits Act
Passed in 1988, this Federal legislation was enacted in order to provide grant money for gifted and talented programs and research.

LD (learning difference or learning disability)
A neurological condition that interferes with the brain's ability to process information. Also a label often attached to those who process information in alternative and unconventional ways which nevertheless lead to correct results.

Learning
The act of increasing knowledge or skill.

Learning Centers/Interest Centers
Classroom stations or collections of materials students can use to explore new areas or to reinforce earlier lessons. For gifted students, interest centers should offer greater depth, breadth, and sophistication of materials.

Learning Style
A student's preferred mode of learning, such as auditory, kinesthetic, or visual-spatial.

LEP (Limited English Proficiency)
Students in this group are not native English speakers and have very little, or minimally developing, English-language proficiency. Communication problems often mask these students' gifts and talents, causing them to be underrepresented in gifted programming.

Looping
Practice where teachers from one grade level advance to the next along with their class. Teachers return to the original grade level with a new group of students after a cycle of two or more years.

Magnet Schools
Special public schools that offer a concentrated curriculum in designated areas of study (for example, fine and performing arts, science and technology, and so forth). Some charter schools and most Governor's Schools are types of magnet schools.

Mastery Learning
An instructional method where students advance through the curriculum according to ability rather than grade level, allowing them to progress at their own pace.

Mentorship
The one-on-one learning relationship between a student and an expert in a specific topic or discipline. The mentor supports and guides the student to develop in that area of interest.

Mission Statement
A concise statement of purpose that clearly describes the reasons for programming. A mission statement for a gifted education program should reflect or align with the general educational mission of the school or district and with the gifted education philosophy statement. Mission and philosopy statements are often combined. Together, they provide a compass for setting program goals.

Multiple Intelligences
Different ways of learning and processing information, as identified by psychologist Howard Gardner in his theory of multiple intelligences. Gardner's eight intelligences are linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. Each student has relative strengths within these domains.

Multipotentiality
Concept that gifted children have the ability to succeed in several areas of work or study, making career selection difficult.

Needs Assessment
Process of examining educational programs and curriculum to locate specific student needs that are going unmet with the intention of establishing the focus for additional programming.

Off-track Programs
Learning opportunities available to students during periods when they are not attending school.

Overall Philosophy
A school’s Overall Philosophy is determined based on how a school administrator describes the school on a variety of topics related to teaching, learning and assessment. While most schools utilize a mixture of philosophies, it is possible to differentiate schools based on the degree to which teachers use more traditional (versus less traditional) methods of teaching and evaluation.

• A school with a more non-traditional philosophy will use alternative methods of assessment including portfolios, open-ended exams or other types of non-standard forms of evaluation. These schools also emphasize a wide range of skills and abilities including artistic abilities, practical skills or emotional and/or spiritual development.
• A school with a more traditional philosophy generally uses multiple-choice exams and standardized tests for assessment. The achievement standards focus on core subjects (e.g. writing, math, science and language).

Overexcitability (OE)
An intensified manner of experiencing, feeling, thinking and imagining conceptualized as five dimensions of psychic life: psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational and emotional. See the glossary entries for each.

Perfectionism
A drive for excellence, an intrinsic motivation that through striving for perfection leads to outstanding accomplishments. This is healthy perfectionism. Perfectionaism that tends to be disabling is extrinsically motivated by a belief that one is worthless in the eyes of others unless one can present one oneself and one's work perfectly.

Philosophy Statement
A concise focus statement helpful in identifying and descibing a programming approach based on specific needs the program seeks to address. A philosophy statement for a gifted education program should reflect or align with the general educational philosophy of the school or district and with the gifted mission statement. Philosophy and mission statements are often combined. Together, they provide a compass for setting program goals.

Portfolio Assessment
A collection of student products used to demonstrate and measure achievement, abilities, and talents, often toward the purpose of placing the student in a gifted program or evaluating work done in a gifted program.

Precocious
Term generally used to describe children who have developed certain abilities and aptitudes earlier than is usual.

Problem-based Learning
An instructional method that compels students to think critically, analytically, and cooperatively, individually or in groups, toward finding solutions to real-world problem or imaginary scenarios (based in truth) using appropriate learning resources.

Program Evaluation
A systematic of the impact and value of the services a program provides.

Psychomotor Overexcitability
One of the five dimensions of psychic life that pertains to the individual's level of energy. It is expressed as frequent need for movement, restlesness, drivenness, athleticism- an overall increased capacity for being energetic.

Pull-Out Program
Also referred to as a send-out class or resource-room program, this is a part-time program where gifted children leave the regular classroom for a limited time to attend specialized classes with a resource teacher.

Resource Center/Resource Room
A designated location in the school or district where special program services are provided for gifted students. Sometimes called the pull-out classroom.

School Culture
School Culture refers to a school’s approach to student conduct (including dress code, discipline, and social or emotional issues), instruction and methods of evaluation, discipline, dress code and nature of student-teacher relations

• A school culture that is considered conservative might have explicit rules and regulations for student behavior and rigid consequences for not abiding to those rules.
• A progressive school culture might not have clearly defined rules for student behavior or discipline, but instead determine the consequences for a student’s actions on a case-by-case basis.

School-within-a-school
A program with concentrated offerings in designated curricular areas that, rather than occupying a different building, operates within the walls of a general education facility.

Self-contained Program
An arrangement where students are grouped on a full-time basis with intellectual peers, often for consecutive years, to promote high achievement and reduce the social and emotional problems that can come with giftedness.

Sensual Overexcitability
One of the five dimensions of psychic life, essentially a heightened responsiveness to sensuous stimuli, usually expressed in refined sensory and esthetic experience, for instance, the delight in various scents or tastes, in touching fur, silk, skin, appreciation of beautiful things, desire for luxury, etc.

Sports & Extracurricular Activities
Some schools will prioritize Sports & Extracurricular Activities and provide a wide range of options or advanced levels of coaching and/or instruction relative to other schools. These schools are also likely to have greater levels of student participation, event attendance or higher levels of student performance in these activities. Schools with standard extracurricular programs simply have less emphasis on extracurricular activities, sport teams, clubs and societies.

Standardized Testing
Testing of students under identical conditions that allows for results to be statistically compared to a standard.

Summative Evaluation
Assessing the quality of programming and measuring success in light of program goals.

Tiered Assignments
Varied levels of activities to ensure that students explore ideas at a level that builds on prior knowledge and prompts continued intellectual growth.

Tracking
Permanently grouping students by ability, such as in the "low", "middle", or "high" math or reading group.

Twice Exceptional
Quality of being both gifted and having a physical, an emotional, or a learning disability.

Twice Special
A person who is both gifted and handicapped, for example, gifted and learning disabled.

Underachievement/Underperformance
A significant difference between ability and performance..

Underrepresented Populations
Groups traditionally excluded from many gifted education programs, including gifted girls, ethinic and cultural minorities, economically disadvantaged students, kids who misbehave, and those with learning differences. Also referred to as underserved populations.

Unschooling
An educational philosophy which relies on the natural desire of the child to make sense of the the real-world environment around him/her rather than the environment of school.

Visual-Spatial Learner
A child or adult who thinks in pictures rather than words. It denotes a simultaneous, often three-dimensional organization of information in vivid imagery as contrasted with auditory-sequential processing of information. Some individuals are strong in both, some in one or the other. Since reading and writing require auditory-sequential processing, the difficulty of learning reading and writing (spelling problems, letter reversal, etc.) is seen as a disability and thus overlooks the visual-spatial strength of the child, who, when properly apporached, can use this strength to master reading and writing. Cf. Linda K. Silverman: Upside-Down Brillance: The Visual-Spatial Learner.

Weighted Grades
Offering equal credit for a lower grade in a more difficult class. For example, a grade of B in Honors English is equivalent to a grade of A in Basic English.