Glossary of Gifted Related Terms

Explore key terms and concepts related to gifted education, including grouping, acceleration, assessment, and strategies to support gifted learners' needs.

• Ability Grouping
  Placing students of similar ability or achievement level in a class or group based on observed behavior or performance. Ability grouping differs from tracking. See the NAGC position statement, Grouping.

• Acceleration
  A strategy for progressing through education at rates faster or ages younger than the norm. Examples include grade skipping or subject acceleration (e.g., a fifth-grade student taking sixth-grade math). For more, refer to A Nation Deceived and A Nation Empowered from the Acceleration Institute.

• Accountability
  Holding students, teachers, administrators, and school personnel responsible for instructional outcomes. Read NAGC's position statement on accountability for gifted student learning.

• Achievement Tests
  Tests designed to measure what students have learned in specific content areas (e.g., Iowa Tests of Basic Skills).

• Advanced Placement (AP)
  A program by the College Board where high schools offer courses meeting higher education criteria. Students may earn college credit via AP exams, though credit policies vary. Pre-AP is offered to younger students. Offering AP courses is not equivalent to a gifted program.

• Affective Curriculum
  Curriculum focused on personal/social awareness and adjustment, including values, attitudes, and self-study (often called social-emotional curriculum).

• Aptitude
  An inclination to excel in a particular skill.

• Aptitude Test
  A test predicting a student’s future performance in a domain (e.g., SAT).

• Asynchrony
  Disparate intellectual, emotional, and physical development rates, often seen in gifted children.

• At-Risk
  Describes students whose unmet economic, physical, emotional, or academic needs create barriers to talent recognition or development, risking underachievement or dropout.

• Authentic Assessment
  Evaluation using portfolios, performance, or observations instead of or alongside traditional measures. This process mimics real-world tasks. See NAGC's position statement, The Role of Assessments in the Identification of Gifted Students.

• Bloom’s Taxonomy
  Developed in 1956, this framework supports curriculum development with six levels of thinking: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (updated to remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating).

• Brainstorming
  Generating creative ideas without criticism, characterized by fluency and flexibility of thought.

• Cluster Grouping
  Assigning 5-6 gifted students with similar needs, abilities, or interests to a heterogeneous classroom for efficient differentiation.

• Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
  Academic standards in math and ELA/Literacy proposed in 2013 to outline what students should achieve by each grade. See NAGC's position statement on Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards for Gifted and Talented Students.

• Concurrent or Dual Enrollment
  Refers to high school students taking college courses (or middle school students taking high school courses), often earning credit.

• Creativity
  Developing new, uncommon, or unique ideas. Recognized as a specific component of giftedness in the federal definition.

• Criterion-Referenced Testing
  Compares a student’s test performance to mastery of a knowledge body or skill instead of comparing scores to others.

• Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students (CLD)
  Students from diverse racial, ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, often underrepresented in gifted programs. See NAGC's position paper on identifying and serving CLD students.

• Curriculum Compacting
  Adjusting curriculum for students who have mastered most outcomes to provide more challenging activities.

• Differentiation
  Adapting curriculum and instruction by content, pacing, or product to meet unique student needs.

• Distance Learning
  Students taking remote courses, often online, from a different school or teacher.

• English Language Learners (ELL)
  Students learning English as an additional language who require careful identification for gifted programs.

• Enrichment
  Activities that enhance or go beyond the existing curriculum.

• Flexible Grouping
  Grouping students dynamically based on ability, size, or interest for tailored instruction. See NAGC's position statement, Grouping.

• Gifted and Talented Students
  Defined federally as those showing high achievement capabilities needing services beyond standard offerings. For more, see What is Giftedness?

• Heterogeneous Grouping
  Mixed-ability student grouping in classrooms requiring teachers to address a broad range of needs.

• Homogeneous Grouping
  Grouping by similar needs, abilities, or interests to limit the range of readiness levels a teacher addresses.

• Identification
  Determining students qualified for gifted programs using multiple pathways (e.g., tests, nominations, portfolios).

• Inclusion/Inclusive Classroom
  A classroom that includes students of varying ability levels, often using heterogeneous grouping.

• Independent Study
  A self-directed learning strategy where the student takes an active role in designing and managing their learning, typically on a special interest topic, with the teacher acting as a facilitator.

• Individual Education Plan (IEP)
  A document outlining special education services for students with disabilities, including required classroom modifications. Note that IEPs are not generally required for gifted students.

• Intelligence
  The ability to learn, reason, and problem-solve. The nature of intelligence is debated, with many believing it is a combination of innate ability and environmental interaction.

• Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
  A numerical measure of intelligence, calculated by dividing mental age by chronological age and multiplying by 100. The average IQ is traditionally 100.

• International Baccalaureate (IB) Program
  A rigorous pre-university program offering a diploma upon completion, which allows access to global universities. The program emphasizes critical thinking and cultural awareness.

• Learning Styles/Learning Preferences
  Preferred ways individuals interact with or process new information in cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (attitude) domains.

• Magnet Schools
  Public schools with specialized programs focusing on areas like math, science, technology, or the arts, designed to meet the specific learning needs of gifted students.

• Mentor
  An experienced community member who provides guidance and expertise to a student, often in a similar career or field of study.

• Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
  Academic science standards proposed in 2013, emphasizing skills and knowledge necessary for success in college and careers. See NAGC's position statement on NGSS for gifted students.

• Norm-Referenced Testing
  Assessments that compare a student’s performance to a group’s performance (the "norming group"), such as the SAT or Iowa Tests of Basic Skills.

• Overexcitability
  A theory by Kazimierz Dąbrowski suggesting some individuals experience heightened sensitivity and intensity in one or more of five areas: psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, and emotional.

• Portfolios
  A collection of student work over time used to evaluate progress and achievement, often serving as an alternative or supplement to standardized testing.

• Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
  An instructional approach where students solve real-world, complex problems, developing research, decision-making, and critical thinking skills.

• Pull-Out Program
  A program where students are removed from the regular classroom to receive specialized services or instruction.

• Response to Intervention (RtI)
  A general education method for identifying and supporting students with diverse educational needs, particularly those with disabilities. See The Association for the Gifted/CEC’s description of RtI for gifted students.

• Rubric
  A chart outlining criteria and levels of performance, making grading transparent and standardized.

• Social-Emotional Needs
  Gifted students often experience heightened sensitivities and challenges with self-awareness, emotions, and expectations, potentially leading to issues like perfectionism, depression, or underachievement. See NAGC’s position statement on nurturing social-emotional development.

• STEM
  Refers to education in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Some include the arts (STEAM) to broaden creative expression in these areas.

• Talent Development
  Programs and curricula tailored to the strengths of gifted students, designed to foster achievement and contribute to societal advancement.

• Talent Search
  A program using above-level testing (e.g., SAT or ACT) to identify high-potential students, offering them access to enrichment courses or resources.

• Telescope
  A strategy for covering material in less time to allow more time for enrichment activities, projects, and learning that aligns with the interests and readiness of gifted students.

• Twice Exceptional
  Refers to students who are both gifted and have a disability, such as learning disabilities, ADHD, or autism. Also known as dual exceptionalities. See NAGC’s position paper on ensuring gifted students with disabilities receive appropriate services.

• Underachieving/Underachievement
  Describes the gap between a student’s potential and their actual performance, often due to lack of challenge or engagement, leading to underachievement.

Source: National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Website