After reading this, one might assume that gifted checklist identifiers, high academic achievement, and teacher recommendations should not even be considered. On the contrary, each of these should be considered but with a very large grain of salt. Gifted students are easy to spot, if that’s who you are trying to find. While gifted checklist identifiers don’t work as a single identification tool, they can be helpful. While achievement and grade data doesn’t necessarily indicate giftedness, it can provide clues about potential. For example, a gifted student might have a very low grade in one subject, but their test scores may be extremely high. Data must be thoroughly examined. Work completion, good behavior, strong motivation, and high achievement are certainly characteristics that must be considered when a teacher is trying to identify potential candidates for gifted testing, but these characteristics are also a double-edged sword. So many teachers overlook gifted students in favor of students who test positive for these character traits.

If the checklist is long enough, the majority of children will be identified as a potentially gifted student. Most gifted checklists include stereotyped character traits of gifted children that do little to truly identify them. This is a highly abbreviated list of some of the most common characteristics associated with gifted children:

. . .Is an avid reader

In reality, this characteristic has more to do with the student’s quality of education, support at home, or interest in a topic than it does giftedness.

. . . Is secure emotionally

Many, many gifted children are not emotionally secure. In fact, many gifted characteristics lists indicate that gifted children may be insecure, overly focused on fairness, or highly emotional about topics that interest them.

. . .Needs little outside control - applies self discipline

Many gifted children lack self discipline. These are often the overlooked yet gifted children.

. . .Makes good grades in most subjects

Gifted dropout rates are often higher than those associated with the general population. Grades may or may not reflect giftedness. Grades are typically a better reflection of effort, completion of work, and interest.

. . .Uses a lot of commonsense

On one hand, gifted checklists indicate that gifted students use a lot of commonsense. On the other hand, we consistently hear about the crazy, absentminded things gifted people do. Both attributes often make an appearance on gifted checklists. How can you take a checklist seriously when it so blatantly contradicts itself?



