The Selection of Gifted Students

Abstract

Both gifted educators and parents need to be vigilant as to how gifted education is characterized in the popular media. Gifted educators spend countless resources to meet the needs of gifted students using very limited fiscal resources, and it is imperative that those efforts are not undermined in the popular media by unsubstantiated statements. This study addresses one such statement and is presented as encouragement to document and defend the actions of gifted educators when the popular media attempts to discredit the field.

Birthdate Effects and Gifted Program Participation in Kindergarten

“…Schooling shares many of the same structural characteristics of children's sports programs where children are grouped based on age, rated according to achievement, and placed into programs with different curricula (O'Reilly & Matt, 2012). Even though several studies (e.g., Huang, 2014b;Stipek, 2002;Stipek & Byler, 2001) have investigated the association of birthdate effects with various academic outcomes (e.g., literacy, math, standardized tests, special education placements, retention rates), fewer studies have explored the higher prevalence of GT identification of older students.…”