Highly Gifted Learners

Characteristics

When looking at this population, it is easy to think that they portray many of the same characteristics that all gifted learners showcase, and to an extent, that would be correct. However, there are some unique characteristics that pertain to this special population, which qualify them as highly, exceptional, or profoundly gifted. This population is typically recognized by their "astonishing and extraordinary intellect, exceptional talent, and unique developmental trajectories, atypical psychosocial development, distinctive patterns of motivation, communication, and achievement" (Castellano & Frazier, 2011, p. 125). But what does that truly encompass? Does it just mean they have higher IQs than their fellow peers, and "do better" on assignments and tests than average? Obviously not. Instead, some more specific characteristics could include a need for communion (being with other peers), not being satisfied with inconsistent, meaningless exchanges, fear rejection or possible dismissal of their unique ways of knowing, or can become overwhelmed with understanding and questions that seem to appear out of nowhere (Castellano & Frazier, 2011, pp. 140-141). Besides the communion characteristic, however, they all seem to be negatively based. But for students that are considered exceptional or profound, one would think the characteristics should express positivity and exceptionalities. Hence, why I liked the two lists of characteristics I was able to find in other resources. The first one comes from the Davidson Academy Online, and the second comes from the book fundamentals of gifted education, by Carolyn Callahan and Holly Hertberg-Davis. With both of these lists it shines a more positive spotlight on the wonderful traits highly gifted learners portray and gives small descriptions explaining how those characteristics could be showcased in highly gifted students. I have created two lists below, side-by-side, along with a brief description for each, in order to showcase the comparisons that can be found across the two lists, but also to give a more complete picture of who highly gifted learners are. It is also important to note that when observing and identifying these traits, that we as educators, continue to watch and create learning opportunities that help develop these traits in both curriculum and instruction within the classroom.

Davidson Academy Online

Ability to see things from a variety of perspectives: they use their creativity and abstract thinking to find unique perspectives and solutions to problems
Advanced language skills: have a more advanced vocabulary and ability to use more precise language to represent their thoughts
Critical of self and others: can be less tolerant of others who are not able to understand a variety of topics at a rapid pace.
Early and rapid learning: ability to learn things early and rapidly. have excellent memorization skills, which aids in their ability to connect previous knowledge with new information
Intellectual curiosity: not satisfied with simply hearing that something is a known truth, they have an insatiable desire to understand why something is true
Overexcitability: a heightened response to a variety of stimuli. Can be psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, or emotional
Perfectionism: often hold themselves to a very high standard
Quirky and/or keen sense of humor: have an advanced sense of humor. are more likely to enjoy punny humor or sarcasm.
Strong empathy and sense of justice: often have a difficult time processing real or perceived injustices and they feel deeply for those around them. Understand equity and fairness on a personal level and often struggle with others who don't.

(10 Characteristics, 2021).

Fundamentals of Gifted Education

Unusually long attention span: superior attention span, may not be held if the material does not attract - or demand - their engagement
Advanced reading ability: a significantly enhanced capacity to access high-level and often highly abstract material
Advanced cognitive strategies: can be observed to use, spontaneously, skills of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation
Ability to handle abstract ideas: may often question other students' ideas if they themselves are "further on" in their thinking about a topic/issue.
Speed of learning: can learn at a truly remarkable pace with very little need for review
Strong feelings and opinions: may appear argumentative and sometimes insensitive to the opinions of others
Alert but subtle sense of humor: often seem to respond to and engage in humor that is more generally characteristic of older students
"Immersion" learning: tend to dislike subject boundaries when they perceive them as having been arbitrarily imposed. have the capacity to synthesize material from several different sources and truly enjoy "putting it all together"
High level of personal commitment: have strong feelings of responsibility towards their personal performances. can be very self-critical.
Single-mindedness: may be reluctant to accept the status quo and will strive assiduously to persuade their classmates to follow their particular way of doing things
Preference for older friends: tend to gravitate either towards age-peers who are also gifted or towards older children who are at the developmental stages they themselves have reached

(Callahan & Hertberg-Davis, 2018, pp. 430-432)

Effectiveness of Current Programming Options

There are four main types of programming that I have identified as being successful/beneficial for students that are highly gifted. They are the Integral Practice (IP) and Radical Programming (RP) frameworks, enhanced curriculum, ability grouping, and acceleration. Below are little sections about each one which include more information about the different programs and how it can be beneficial for highly gifted learners.

IP and RP Frameworks

The Integral Practice model outlines a comprehensive developmental framework, with a counseling model as well as specific educational and developmental guidelines in order to best support the growth of highly gifted learners (Castellano & Frazier, 2011, p. 126). The Radical Programming simply is one of the educational programs implemented within. In order to do this, it must be responsive and flexible enough to meet the developmental needs of each learner. This includes all spheres such as cognitive, psychosocial, creativity, morals, communication, self-identify, and spirituality (Castellano & Frazier, 2011, p. 127). In other words, this entire framework is dedicated to the child, or self. For example, the things that drive the child to learn will determine the direction, pace, and nature of the best possible resources that the child could need. These can be figured out by interviews, conversations, portfolios, or simply observations. The potential resources could include radical acceleration or even differentiation of content within subject areas (Castellano & Frazier, 2011, p. 128). By doing this, highly gifted learners could develop deep self-efficacy, will, self-discipline, self-care, and contribution while fostering deep trust in their developmental awareness since they are the ones essentially driving the learning (Castellano & Frazier, 2011, p. 139).

Enhanced Curriculum

For highly gifted students, it is important that the curriculum is "concept-based and principle-driven, requires development of complex thinking skills and an emphasis on understanding, focuses on real-world problems and development of products or performances that address those problems, reflects the nature of the disciplines, mentors students in developing the habits of mind and work of practicing professionals in a field of study, and teaches the skills of independence in learning" (Tomlinson & Borland, 2022, p. 148) In other words, it must require enough of students that pushes them past what they have already mastered, and supports the development of their unique traits and abilities. The curriculum should also be closely influenced by what we, as educators, know about the child's existing levels of knowledge and skill in order to appropriately differentiate or scaffold materials or information (Callahan & Herberg-Davis, 2018, p. 435). Therefore, being able to determine the true level of ability and achievement from above-level assessments can help to create a challenging, complex, and fast-paced curriculum for highly gifted students which allows them to continue developing and moving forward from where they currently are.

Ability Grouping

Ability grouping allows highly gifted students to have access to age-peers who may have similar cognitive and affective characteristics. This relates back to that communion idea mentioned in the characteristics section, of being surrounded by like-minded students. This can help facilitate the development of a reward and enriching curriculum designed to respond to their specific learning styles (Callahan & Hertberg-Davis, 2018, p. 435). There are 5 different types of ability grouping:

Full-Time Self-Contained Class: This is a selection of students for homogenous class settings in which the students spend the entire school day. Every day together is generally on the basis of high levels of general intellectual/academic ability.
Cross-Grade Grouping: generally comprised of students at two or three adjacent grade levels who are housed in the same school building. May be designed to serve students with high-level aptitude in a particular academic subject (3rd grader joining a 5th grade math class)
Cluster Grouping: usually comprising approximately 6-8 students, in a mixed-ability classroom. may be comprised of students of high general academic ability or it may be constructed of students with high aptitude in one or more specific subject areas
Subject-Specific Grouping: students with high aptitude in a particular subject are homogeneously grouped for all work in that subject. Have the opportunity to work with ability-peers on a challenging, enriched curriculum in their area of specific aptitude although they might not be suited to full-time grouping
Pull-Out Classes: students leave their regular classes for a set period each week to work with ability peers in extension or enrichment programs.

(Callahan & Hertberg-Davis, 2018, pp. 436-437)

Acceleration

Acceleration is considered to be one of the most effective educational interventions used with gifted and talented students, so it is no surprise that it would work well for highly gifted students (Callahan & Hertberg-Davis, 2018, p. 437). There are 18 different types of acceleration. Obviously, not every single one needs to be used, nor will it work for every student. However, therein lies the beauty of acceleration, is that there are so many choices, that there is a possibility for all of the different needs of highly gifted learners to be met by at least one of them.

Early admission to kindergarten: Students enter kindergarten or first grade prior to achieving the minimum age for entry.
Early admission to first grade: Either skipping kindergarten or accelerating from kindergarten to first grade
Grade-skipping: given a grade placement ahead of chronological age peers
Continuous progress: The student is given content progressively as prior content is mastered
Self-paced instruction: a sub-group of continuous progress in which the student proceeds through learning and instructional activities at a faster, self-selected pace
Subject-matter acceleration/partial acceleration: students are placed with lasses of older peers for a part of the day in one or more content areas or work a their own pace on the advanced material in their homeroom classroom
Combined classes: placement of younger gifted students with older peers
Curriculum compacting: gifted student's instruction entails reduced amounts of introductory activities in recognition of their swifter mastery of concepts and skills
Telescoping curriculum: student is provided with instruction that takes less time than usual to complete
Mentoring: student is paired with "a mentor or expert tutor" who provides advanced or a more rapid pace of instruction
Extra-curricular instruction: students may enroll in after-school or summer enrichment programs that confer advanced instruction
Correspondence courses: student enrolls in coursework delivered outside normal school instruction
Early graduation: student graduates from high school/college in 3.5 years or less
Concurrent/dual enrolment: student takes a course at one level and also receives credit for a parallel course set at a higher level
Advanced placement: student takes a course that will confer college credit on completion of a standardized examination
Credit by examination: student is awarded advanced standing credit in high school or college by completing some form of mastery assessment
Acceleration in College: opportunity to earn credit by examination and/or take heavier than normal course load
Early entrance into middle school, high school, or college: student completes two or more majors in a total of four years and/or earns an advanced degree along with, or in lieu of, a bachelor's degree

(Callahan & Hertberg-Davis, 2018, pp. 438-439)

Effectiveness of Identification and Assessment Practices

Identifying this population has become increasingly difficult, especially with the demise of the Stanford-Binet L-M IQ test, and the fact that it's replacements are tests which cannot assess the cognitive abilities of those children whose IQs exceed 160 (Callahan & Hertberg-Davis, 2018, p. 432). Below is a chart that showcases different full scale IQ scores for different assessments in regards to the gifted/moderately gifted, highly gifted, exceptionally gifted, as well as profoundly gifted.

(Kottmeyer, 2020).

While it can be easy to use IQ scores as a determiner for giftedness above the average, IQ cannot be the only thing that educators are basing nominations off of. Other pieces that should be taken into consideration in the assessment process are awareness of passion areas, key questions, areas needing strengthen and support, and areas where intellectual/emotional risks would be advised (Castellano & Frazier, 2011, p. 138). This also relates to the issue of ceiling effects that can become important in achievement and aptitude testing.

In order to create that full complete profile of the student it is essential that the school further assesses students on a higher level assessment when they score close to the ceiling of those standardized tests (Callahan & Hertberg-Davis, 2018, p. 433). By doing this, students can showcase their full potential, rather than being limited to one singular score on a standardized test. It is actually more likely that teachers will recognize the capacities of students when their strong desire to fulfill their potential manifests itself in both attitude and the caliber of work (Callahan & Hertberg-Davis, 2018, p. 433). However, in order for teachers to be able to recognize those capabilities and potential, it is highly important that teachers are trained in gifted education. Otherwise teacher nomination can miss many students, especially "underachievers" that fly under the radar.

On the other hand, peer nomination can be a reliable option, more so in the higher age groups, purely because classmates can be more detailed, and more objective than younger age students (Callahan & Hertberg-Davis, 2018, p. 433). Another option could be self-nomination from the student. This can be an opportunity for students to acknowledge their abilities, similar to the Radical Programming framework, where students are able to develop awareness of their development. The last form of nomination that can be an extremely valuable component of the identification process is parent nomination. Parents should keep records of the child’s unusual development of speech and movement, as well as become aware of the child’s learning styles and any patterns of development that may have become visible (Callahan & Hertberg-Davis, 2018, p. 434). This can help both teachers and schools when creating the child's records of development history.

What is important to note is that none of the different nominations work by themselves. Similar to the idea that o single criteria should admit students into gifted programs, neither should sole nominations. Instead, when teacher, parent, and self-nomination, are combined with peer nomination, it can create a more balanced and objective perception (Callahan & Hertberg-Davis, 2018, p. 434).

Suggested Practices for Teaching

As educators, the best thing we can do for this population is to be talent producers, rather than talent refiners (Tomlinson & Borland, 2022, p. 146). In other words, we are here to help develop and support these students, not limit them into boring, mundane tasks that keep them disengaged in the classroom. These students can also benefit from an assigned academic advisor whose sole role is to provide a sounding board and be their advocator, encourager, and expediter, should they need changes in their curriculum, program, or extracurricular activities (Castellano & Frazier, 2011, p. 142).

However, it is not only students that need the support. Giving resources to teachers, advisors, consultants, and administrators are also beneficial in order to give everyone the information needed to better support the students and make sure they are aware of what is available for them. Below is a linked website with multiple different resources for profoundly gifted students. Anything from the Davidson Young Scholars program which gives services to profoundly intelligent young people between the ages of 5-18, to books on the developmental stages of the gifted population. These can be a great resource not only for educators, but also for parents who are equally helping support their students outside of the classroom.

(Profoundly Gifted Resources, 2024).

Lastly, I thought it would be good to add in some of the teaching tips given by Tomlinson & Borland about advanced learners. What I think is great about these, is that they could easily be transferred for any student in the classroom. While there are some specific teaching strategies that work better for some students than others, any of these could be utilized to better support this population and other gifted students.

Focus on and be organized to include more elaborate, complex, and in-depth study of major ideas, problems, and themes that integrate knowledge within and across the disciplines
Allow for developing and applying productive thinking skills that allow students to reconceptualize existing knowledge and to generate new knowledge
Enable the learners to explore continually changing knowledge and information and understand the value of pursuing knowledge in an open world
Encourage exposure to, selection of, and use of specialized and appropriate resources
Promote self-initiated and self-directed learning and growth
Support students’ development of self-understanding and understanding of one’s relationship to persons, societal institutions, nature, and culture
Evaluate their work with the curricula in light of these principles and stressing high-level skills, creativity, and excellence in performance and products

(Tomlinson & Borland, 2022, p. 148)

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