Identifying talent and giftedness Part I

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Abstract
The process of identifying gifted and talented individuals within a given population has many components. Program planners must be knowledgeable when determining an operational definition and selection criteria. The entire process should also incorporate the values of concerned and participating persons as well as concern for available resources. The successful melding of these components is necessary if the identification process is to accurately and meaningfully uncover talent and giftedness, particularly since giftedness can be manifested in a variety of ways across culture, age, sex, and talent categories. The Guidance Institute for Talented Students has worked with gifted and talented persons since 1957. In order to facilitate the identification process, two instruments have recently been developed. The focus of Part I of this three‐part article is the GIFTS Screening Instrument and the rationale for its development. Part II focuses on the GIFTS Identification Instrument and Part III will present pertinent data and implications for the use of both instruments as part of a program designed to meet the needs of gifted and talented youngsters. A total program for meeting the needs of gifted and talented youngsters should include: Care must be exercised at each step if a program is to be functionally comprehensive, coordinated and successful. Our intent in these three articles is to focus on the identification phase of program and implementation. Once a school (or other organization) has decided upon the overall goals for program participants (e.g., foster self‐understanding, social‐responsibility and self direction), procedures must be developed to identify the gifted and talented participants. What determines giftedness? Who is qualified to assess performance and capability? How can selection be inclusive yet limited enough in scope to fit the available program resources? These questions represent a sample of issues involved with undertaking the identification of gifted and talented persons. Due to space limitations and the inclusion of the GIFTS Screening Instrument, this article only briefly presents an operational definition of giftedness and talent. Consistent with the literature and our experience we have developed the following definition both for its practical utility and universal acceptance.

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