Gifted Education: Identification Practices and Teacher Beliefs

Teachers are often expected to teach to the abilities of a wide variety of children. They may have a classroom mix of general education students, language learners, students with specific special needs, and those with gifts and talents. While most teacher training programs prepare teacher candidates to meet the needs of those students with language needs and identified disabilities, often the needs of gifted children are not a focus. Gifted and Talented students may remain unidentified throughout their school careers because teachers are not trained in the specific characteristics of the gifted. In this text, Dr. Cannaday discusses identification gaps within gifted and talented programs, as well as teacher perceptions of gifted students and programming.