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Assessment: Identification

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  • Guidebooks: Davidson Institute Guidebooks

    Twice-Exceptionality - Twice-Exceptionality: A Resource Guide for Parents

    The Davidson Institute is committed to supporting the profoundly gifted population including the many children who are twice-exceptional (2E) within our community. Though this isn’t an exhaustive text, this guidebook is meant to act as a launch pad for parents to learn more about twice-exceptionality, the process of identification and assessment, and how to support children who are 2E intellectually, emotionally and socially.

    This guidebook includes:

    • First-Hand Stories from 2E families to give you insights from people who have “been there, done that.”
    • Expert Q & As on a variety of specialized topics with professionals currently working in the fields of twice-exceptionality and education.
    • Resource Highlights that showcase some of the organizations parents in our community have found helpful in navigating the 2E world.
    • Side Notes that include article excerpts which dive deep into topics related to the issues discussed in each section.
    • Parent Tools created by our team to help you translate the section’s information to your own family and situation.
    • Key Takeaways that summarize the main points at the end of each section.
    Beyond the Resource Highlights, each section also cites and discusses additional helpful books, articles, organizations and other resources. All these resources have been conveniently gathered into one page on the Davidson Gifted Database: the 2E Guidebook: Resources and Bibliography page. This page has been divided by section so that you can quickly find the resources discussed as well as additional readings on that section’s main topics.

  • Organizations: International

    InterGifted
    InterGifted is an adult community and an adolescent community of nearly 1,000 gifted peers which also offers qualitative giftedness assessments, gifted coaching & mentoring, gifted therapy search & advocacy, workshops/courses, training for helping professionals working with gifted clients, and literature and advocacy on gifted personal development.

  • Organizations: Local

    Amend Psychological Services, PSC (Lexington, KY)
    Amend Psychological Services provides comprehensive psychological services including assessment and evaluation, consultations, counseling, and therapy for children, adolescents, and their families. Populations served in our practice include: students with LD, ADHD, or other learning and behavior difficulties; gifted/talented students; special needs students; twice exceptional learners; children experiencing life adjustments associated with divorce, grief and loss, and other family transitions; and, children with chronic illness or chronic pain such as migraines.

  • Organizations: National

    Alpha Omega Publications - Placement Tests
    For parents unsure of which grade level to use when starting your homeschooler in AOP's Christian homeschool curriculum, Alpha Omega Publications offers homeschool families diagnostic tests for both the upper and lower levels of LIFEPAC Math and Language Arts. Placement tests are provided for 1st through 8th grade as well as 7th through 12th grade.
    Center for Identity Potential
    The Center for Identity Potential offers specialized counseling and consultation services for gifted, talented and exceptional people. The team utilizes a group evaluation process with a systemic approach to access the various factors affecting each client’s presenting concerns and tailor support to meet these needs.
    Child Mind Institute (New York, NY)
    This organization seeks to improve the lives of children and teens struggling with psychiatric and learning disorders by integrating the following: Accessible, evidence-based clinical care for children and their families; collaborative research engaging scientists from around the world; comprehensive information and resources to educate and empower parents; and focused advocacy to destigmatize childhood psychiatric disorders and bring effective care to families around the globe.
    Family Achievement Clinic - Dr. Sylvia Rimm
    This website contains links to numerous articles are relevant to the profoundly intelligent and their parents. Dr. Rimm's Family Achievement Clinic specializes in gifted children who have problems in school as well as counseling on other gifted issues.

  • Organizations: Regional

    Center for the Gifted (Philadelphia, PA)
    The Center for the Gifted was established in 1983 to meet the needs of gifted people of all ages. Services include: Counseling and psychotherapy for gifted individuals, couples, and families; Gifted identification and psychoeducational assessment; Vocational interest testing and career guidance; Workshops and publications focusing on the special needs of people who are gifted.
    GiftedMatters4Kids.com
    Located in New York, Dr. Susan Paynter, a child advocate, award-winning educator, and nationally recognized expert on gifted learners, helps schools and families create customized strategies designed to help gifted children feel challenged, successful, and fulfilled. She works one-on-one and collaboratively to design programs that adapt teaching methods to the learning styles of these unique students, rather than trying to adapt the students to the teaching methods. Dr. Paynter offers social skills training, parent support, enrichment classes and IEP development to help gifted kids flourish.
    Summit Center (California)
    Summit Center provides educational and psychological assessments, consultations, and treatment for children, their parents, and families, as well as parent discussion groups and educational opportunities. Their specialties include managing stress and anxiety, learning differences such as dyslexia, and issues related to giftedness and twice-exceptionality.

  • Organizations: State

    Gifted Resource Center of New England (Providence, RI)
    The Gifted Resource Center of New England, located in Providence, Rhode Island, serves the needs of gifted children, adolescents and their families. Clinical psychological and educational services are offered in assessment, psychotherapy, curriculum design, school consultation and teacher in-service. Also, articles, resource lists, and suggested readings are offered. This center also engages in research about giftedness, testing techniques and interventions with gifted children and adolescents, presents at conferences on the gifted and writes about many aspects of giftedness.
    Rhode Island - Learning Beyond Grade Level (RI)
    Learning Beyond Grade Level (frequently called Gifted and Talented Education) is the identification of students who show evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity; as well as in specific academic fields, and who need services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities.

  • Printed Materials: Books

    Alternative Assessments With Gifted and Talented Students (The Critical Issues in Equity and Excellence in Gifted Education Series)
    Written by Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Ed.D., this book provides a concise and thorough introduction to methods for identifying gifted students in the school setting. Including overviews of assessment tools and alternative methods of assessment, as well as pertinent discussions concerning the need to identify gifted and talented students, this book combines research and experience from top scholars in the field of gifted education in a convenient guide for teachers, administrators, and gifted education program directors. Click here to read a review of this book.
    Assessing Special Students
    Assessment is at the center of all good teaching, and this book is designed to provide a clear, comprehensive guide to the assessment of students with mild disabilities. This book will give you both an understanding of the assessment process and the concrete, practical skills necessary to assess special students successfully so that you can teach them well.
    Assessment: In Special and Inclusive Education
    The standard for all assessment personnel, this book continues its tradition of evenhanded coverage of formal and informal assessment for the purpose of making educational decisions about students.
    Awakening Genius in the Classroom
    This book describes how popular culture, classroom and home environments can shut down the genius of children. Author Thomas Armstrong urges readers to look beyond traditional understandings of what constitutes genius and describes 12 such qualities: curiosity, playfulness, imagination, creativity, wonder, wisdom, inventiveness, vitality, sensitivity, flexibility, humor, and joy.
    Being Gifted in School: An Introduction to Development, Guidance, and Teaching
    This textbook focuses on topics educators face in program planning. Find comprehensive information on identifying, guiding the gifted and designing curriculum and more about the field of gifted education
    Being Smart About Gifted Children: A Guidebook For Parents And Educators
    Writers Dona J. Matthews and Joanne F. Foster advises the reader on how to answer the tricky questions, support gifted kids in today's "common" world, and what to tell the kids along the way. This book also examines different ways of supporting optimal development in those who have been labeled "gifted," and those who have not.
    Bright Not Broken: Gifted Kids, ADHD, and Autism
    This book is designed to shed new light on twice exceptional students by identifying who twice exceptional children are and taking an unflinching look at why they’re stuck. The first work to boldly examine the widespread misdiagnosis and controversies that arise from our current diagnostic system, it serves as a wake-up call for parents and professionals to question why our mental health and education systems are failing our brightest children.
    Bringing Out the Best: A Guide for Parents of Young Gifted Children
    This is a comprehensive resource guide from Jacquelyn Saunders for parents of young gifted children. It contains information on identification, early enrichment activities, school placement issues, and parenting strategies.
    Building a Gifted Program: Identifying and Educating Gifted Students in Your School
    This book by Monita R. Leavitt, is great for anyone building a gifted program from scratch or evaluating or changing your program. A CD is included with exciting PowerPoint slides, along with a manual to give you everything you need for staff development, allowing you to customize sessions for parents or school boards. The manual contains background material with references as well as reproducible pages that can be used as handouts.
    Challenging Highly Gifted Learners (The Practical Strategies Series in Gifted Education)
    Written by Barbara Gilman, this book focuses on many of the issues involved in assessing and challenging highly gifted learners. A thorough discussion of the ceiling problems encountered on common assessments is included, as well as strategies for teachers and parents in planning appropriate education.
    Children Above 180 IQ (Stanford-Binet): Origin and Development
    This is Dr. Leta Hollingworth's classic set of case studies of 12 children above 180 IQ. For most of the 20th century, this book was the definitive work on profoundly gifted children. It is an absolute must-read for anyone who is raising, teaching, counseling, or assessing a profoundly gifted child. The book consists of detailed case studies of the 12 children, including early childhood developmental history; school history and adjustment; test performance on a variety of measures; examples of children's work; and, as far as was possible to trace, their progress into adulthood. The book concludes with chapters that summarize the findings and raise specific issues relating to schooling, leadership, creativity, and parenting.
    Children Above 180 IQ (Stanford-Binet): Origin and Development - PDF
    This 10 MB PDF is a copy of the book, Children Above 180 IQ (Stanford-Binet): Origin and Development, by Dr. Leta Holingworth. Originally copyrighted in 1942, the copyright for this book was not renewed and this book is now in the public domain. It contains 12 case studies of children above 180 IQ. For most of the 20th century, this book was the definitive work on profoundly gifted children and includes information on early childhood development; schooling and adjustment; test performance on a variety of measures; examples of children's work; and, as far as was possible to trace, their progress into adulthood. The book concludes with chapters that summarize the findings and raise specific issues relating to schooling, leadership, creativity and parenting.
    Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education: What the Research Says (2nd ed.)
    This book is the definitive reference book for those searching for a summary and evaluation of the literature on giftedness, gifted education and talent development. The book presents more than 50 summaries of important topics in the field, providing relevant research and a guide to how the research applies to gifted education and the lives of gifted children. This second edition updates every topic with new research and introduces several critically important topics such as cluster grouping, Response to Intervention, programming standards, the Common Core State Standards, educational leadership, and legal issues. This book provides an objective assessment of the available knowledge on each topic, offers guidance in the application of the research, and suggests areas of needed research.
    Essentials of Gifted Assessment (Essentials of Psychological Assessment) 1st Edition
    This book introduces readers to the theory and practice underlying gifted assessment. Steven Pfeiffer, a leading expert in the field of gifted assessment, discusses what it means to be gifted, why we should identify gifted students, and the purposes of gifted assessment.
    Genius Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds
    This book tells the stories of gifted children who have suffered the tedium of classes years behind their ability level, and others who have excelled while learning in an enriching academic environment. Authors Jan and Bob Davidson, with Laura Vanderkam, explore the impact of gifted education policy and advocacy efforts in various locations around the United States. Click here to read a review of this book.
    Gifted Children, Gifted Education: A Handbook for Teachers And Parents
    This book by Gary A. Davis Ph. D. is a no-nonsense guide to the concept of giftedness in children, and how parents can provide opportunities to cultivate their children's gifts. Chapters address how to identify gifted children, the pros and cons of educational acceleration and common problems or counseling needs among gifted children.
    Handbook of Gifted Education, 3rd Edition
    The 3rd edition of this classic text is a comprehensive resource addressing important research-based considerations in gifted education. Many respected professionals have contributed chapters that cover the following topics: conceptions and identification; instructional models and practices; creativity, thinking skills, and eminence; psychological and counseling issues; populations of giftedness; and special topics, including technology, rural schools, and legal issues.
    How the Gifted Brain Learns
    In this book, David Sousa examines why traditional talent-identification techniques are inadequate (and often inaccurate), and presents methods that will allow you to identify giftedness and talent potential with greater accuracy than ever before.
    Identifying Gifted Students: A Practical Guide
    This practical resource by Susan K. Johnsen, Ph.D. offers up-to-date information for building an effictive, defensible identification process. It acts as a hands-on, research-based guide for identifying gifted and talented children.
    Identifying Gifted Students: A Step-by-Step Guide (The Practical Strategies Series in Gifted Education)
    Written by Susan K. Johnsen, Ph.D., this publication will provide directors and coordinators of programs for gifted and talented students with a specific step-by-step plan for developing an identification procedure in a school or school district. While the sections of this publication are laid out sequentially according to the steps, identification is an ongoing process. The goal of identification is to ensure that every gifted and talented student who needs a program that is different from the general education curriculum receives one that is matched to his or her specific characteristics.
    In the Eyes of the Beholder: Critical Issues for Diversity in Gifted Education
    By compiling a wide variety of viewpoints from many authors, Diane Boothe looks at the diversity in gifted education as it relates to race, gender, and socioeconomic status.
    International Handbook of Giftedness and Talent (2nd Edition)
    Prepared by 100 researchers and program developers from 24 countries, the chapters of this second edition provide authentic, state-of-the-art, international perspectives on all aspects of identification and development of giftedness and talent. This is a scientific book based mainly on research findings from the psychology of giftedness and talent, and supplemented by the personal opinions of the authors who are experts in the field.
    Keys to Parenting the Gifted Child
    Dr. Sylvia Rimm offers parents guidelines on how to determine if their children are unusually gifted, and how to prepare them for school. These guidelines help to ensure that gifted children are sufficiently challenged in the classroom. There is also a section, called Parenting Keys, that helps parents raise healthy, happy, productive, and well-adjusted children in the demanding contemporary environment.
    Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind
    Deborah L. Ruf divides the content of this book in to three parts dealing with: Identifying characteristics of giftedness, levels of giftedness and educational options and school issues. This reference can help someone who is not professionally trained in giftedness issues, bridge the gap between the real child and the child's IQ. Click here to read a review of this book.
    Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults: ADHD, Bipolar, OCD, Asperger’s, Depression, and Other Disorders (2nd edition)
    Gifted children and adults are frequently misdiagnosed, particularly those who are twice-exceptional (2e). This much-anticipated second edition of a best-selling book is your guide to help prevent that. Some of our brightest, most creative children and adults are misdiagnosed as having behavioral or emotional disorders such as ADD/ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or Asperger’s Disorder. Many receive unneeded medications and/or inappropriate counseling. How can this happen? Physicians, psychologists, and counselors often are unaware of characteristics of gifted children and adults that mimic pathological diagnoses. Seven prominent healthcare professionals guide parents and professionals to distinguish between behaviors that are pathological and those that are “normal” for gifted individuals. Click here to read a review of the first edition of this book.
    Parents' Guide to IQ Testing and Gifted Education: All You Need to Know to Make the Right Decisions for Your Child
    This book is written specifically for parents who wonder if their child is gifted. Author David Palmer helps parents who have little or no experience with gifted testing and programming and explains these topics in-depth. The text is written in a succinct, easy-to-understand format and answers the questions that parents most commonly ask.
    Raising Topsy-Turvy Kids: Successfully Parenting Your Visual-Spatial Child
    Alexandra Golon explains how the reader can assess and identify a visual-spatial child then offers tips to parent and educate them. This book also serves to enlighten the rest of the family as well.
    Removing the Mask: Giftedness in Poverty
    With Drs. Ruby Pane and Paul Slocumb, former president of Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented (TAGT) and an educator for 30 years, explain how standard identification tools are not the best way to identify gifted children in poverty. The authors have created new instruments that take poverty into account, which provide schools a method for achieving equity in gifted programs.
    Reversing Underachievement Among Gifted Black Students
    This book provides excellent insight into the reasons some gifted black students are not identified as such by the processes currently in place. It also provides reasons some black parents may not wish their child to be included in gifted programs. It discusses black culture and dialect. A very good book for educators who are concerned about minorities being underrepresented in our school's gifted programs.
    RTI Success
    This practical, ready-to-use resource gives teachers and administrators the tools to successfully implement RTI or strengthen an existing program to target students’ specific needs. Response to Intervention allows educators to assess and meet the needs of struggling students before they have fallen too far behind. Three expert authors explore this multi-tiered system of support (MTSS), offering over 100 research-based, instructional techniques and interventions for use in diverse settings, advice on creating personal and positive learning environments, information on co-teaching, and approaches to purposeful grouping.
    Students with Both Gifts and Learning Disabilities: Identification, Assessment, and Outcomes (Neuropsychology and Cognition)
    Authors, Tina Newman and Robert Sternberg, provide the reader with a broader conceptualization of the gifted/LD learner to include students who have gifts in other areas than high IQ and who would benefit from being identified and having their talents nurtured.
    Teaching Culturally Diverse Gifted Students (The Practical Strategies Series in Gifted Education)
    Written by Donna Y. Ford, Ph.D. and H. Richard Milner, Ph.D., this guide offers practical advice for building gifted education programs that serve a rich diversity of students. This book features an overview of multicultural gifted education, effective teaching strategies and best practices that support a diverse population of students, and an effective model for building a diverse, successful gifted program. The book also includes a sample curriculum and an extensive listing of print and Web-based recommended resources.
    Teaching Gifted Children in Today’s Preschool to Primary Classrooms: Identifying, Nurturing, and Challenging Children Ages 4–9
    These proven, practical early childhood teaching strategies help teachers identify young gifted children, differentiate curriculum, assess and document students’ development, and build partnerships with parents. Chapters focus on early identification, curriculum compacting, social studies, language arts, math and science, cluster grouping, social-emotional development, and giftedness in diverse populations. Includes real-life scenarios and extensive annotated resources. Digital content includes customizable forms from the book.
    Teaching Young Gifted Children in the Regular Classroom: Identifying, Nurturing, and Challenging Ages 4-9
    This book discusses proven, practical ways to recognize and nurture young gifted children and create a learning environment that supports all students.
    The Inconvenient Student: Critical Issues in the Identification and Education of Twice-Exceptional Students
    Twice-exceptional children are those who are both gifted and have a learning disability or an attentional or behavioral disorder. Because they have exceptionalities at both ends of the spectrum, their needs tend to go unmet. Often they are able to compensate for their disability with their giftedness, and their disability typically masks their giftedness, leaving them struggling enormously to perform at average levels, unnoticed by school systems. This book tackles the problem of identifying gifted kids who have dyslexia, dysgraphia, sensory processing disorder, auditory and visual processing disorders, ADD, autism or Asperger's, ODD, OCD, anxiety, and depression. Dr. Postma explains in detail what these children are like and how to accommodate their needs in the regular classroom so that they can strengthen their weaknesses and maximize their strengths.
    The Many Faces of Giftedness: Lifting the Mask
    Professor Alexinia Baldwin explores the many ways in which giftedness (intellectual potential) has been overlooked because of an individual's cultural group, handicap, or challenging condition. Baldwin presents the reader with practical suggestions to help provide a more appropriate education to develop the intellectual strengths of these children.
    The Spatial Child
    John Philo Dixon decribes ways to identify spatial children by addressing their cognitive perception and offers advice on methods of teaching in the classroom.
    The Survival Guide for Parents of Gifted Kids: How to Understand, Live With, and Stick Up for Your Gifted Child
    This book by authors Sally Yahnke Walker and Susan Perry offers up-to-date, authoritative information about giftedness, gifted educucation, problems, personality traits, and more. You'll learn what 'giftedness' means, how kids are identified as gifted, and what's good—and bad—about the label. You'll find out how to keep from raising a 'nerd,' how to prevent perfectionism, and how to advocate for your child at school.
    The Young Gifted Child: Potential and Promise - An Anthology
    This anthology provides a practical, informative, and wide-ranging discussion of how to meet the needs of the gifted in the early years. Click here to read a review of this book.
    To Be Young and Gifted
    This book offers insights into the intellectual and emotional development of exceptional children. Contributors explore the nature of giftedness and how to recognize it in youngsters; the complexities of the creative process; standardized tests and their effectiveness in asserting potential; and developmental theories and how they relate to the identification of gifted children. Several chapters also examine young prodigies and the diversity of personalities and talents that exist among the gifted.
    Twice-Exceptional and Special Populations of Gifted Students
    This book by editors Susan Baum and Sally M. Reis, is from the Essential Readings in Gifted Education Series and addresses how special learning needs, cultural expectations and issues of poverty greatly complicate the identification of gifts and talents among at-risk students. Key topics include strategies for identifying giftedness masked by gender, cultural, economic, and/or behavioral issues
    Uniquely Gifted: Identifying and Meeting the Needs of the Twice-Exceptional Student
    This book edited by Kiesa Kay brings together perspectives from educators, parents, researchers, and students about what works and what doesn't for twice exceptional students. Many asynchronous learners exist in the profoundly gifted population, and in addition to chapters by well-known researchers, the book contains heartfelt essays by parents and teens.
    UTAGS Complete Kit: Universal Talented and Gifted Screener
    The UTAGS offers schools a time-saving screener for identifying gifted and advanced learners. Designed to be culturally and linguistically fair, the UTAGS is ideal for schools seeking a nationally normed, statistically sound identification screener. Additionally, the UTAGS includes specific considerations for identifying twice-exceptional learners.
    Working With Gifted English Language Learners (The Practical Strategies Series in Gifted Education)
    Author Michael S. Matthews, Ph.D. introduces educators to the complexities and challenges of providing appropriate educational experiences for gifted English Language Learners. This unique, comprehensive book guides educators toward identifying gifted students in this population, including a look at nonverbal and Spanish-language testing, and gives advice for integrating these students into any gifted program.
    Your Gifted Child: How to Recognize and Develop the Special Talents in Your Child from Birth to Age Seven
    An estimated 500,000 potentially gifted children are born each year. Since most schools don't begin to test for giftedness until about age 8, it is left to parents to recognize and nurture their children's special talents and abilities in the early critical years. Written by Joan Franklin Smutny, Kathleen Veenker and Stephen Veenker, this intelligent, insightful, and useful book is a complete guide to identifying gifted children and helping them develop to the fullest.

  • Printed Materials: Online Documents

    Talent Search Opportunities
    Compiled by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, this comprehensive table provides a schedule of Talent Search programs in the United States. Much of the information is applicable to summer programs.

  • Printed Materials: Periodicals/Reports & Studies

    Critical Issues in the Identification of Gifted Students with Co-Existing Disabilities: The Twice-Exceptional
    This article addresses the problem of under-identification of 2e students for services in American schools. The article reflects the work of 17 authors in the field, including psychologists, educators, and twice-exceptional advocates.

  • Schools & Programs: College Affiliated

    Belin-Blank Exceptional Student Talent Search (BESTS) – University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA)
    BESTS is designed to identify, via above-level testing, students in grades 4-9 who need further educational challenge to fully realize their academic talent. Above-level testing is an educational procedure in which a test developed for older students is administered to younger students. BESTS students are eligible to participate in Belin-Blank Center precollege programs. The Center currently offers ten different summer programs as well as an academic-year program that takes place on selected Saturdays during the fall and spring semesters.
    Center for Bright Kids' Western Academic Talent Search (WATS) (Westminster, CO)
    Formerly known as Rocky Mountain Academic Talent Search, the Center for Bright Kids (CBK) offers K-12 enrichment and acceleration programming for high interest and high ability kids. Their focus is not only on how kids think and learn, but how they discover ways to navigate the world while thinking and learning differently. CBK has offered the Western Academic Talent Search, Summer Programs, and other youth programs for 28 years.
    Center for Talented Youth (CTY) - Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD)
    The Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at Johns Hopkins University focuses on the needs of students with exceptionally high academic abilities. These students need special attention: greater academic challenges, interaction with intellectual peers, and teaching strategies designed especially for the gifted.
    College of DuPage Talent Search Program (Glen Ellyn, IL)
    The College of DuPage offers gifted students in grades 3 - 12 the opportunity to take courses in math, science, information technology, problem solving, literature, language and writing. Located in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, this talent search admits students who score in the 95th percentile or higher on a qualifying standardized test.
    Duke Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) - Duke University (Durham, NC)
    The Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) identifies academically talented children through the 4th-6th Grade Talent Search and the 7th Grade Talent Search, providing resources, enrichment activities, and advice to ensure students reach their highest potential. TIP also offers educational programs for students in grades four through 12, including residential summer programs, weekend programs during the academic year, distance learning programs, and independent learning options.
    Northwestern University's Midwest Academic Talent Search (NUMATS), Center for Talent Development (CTD) (Evanston, IL)
    NUMATS serves students in grades 3 through 9 in the Midwest and beyond. Through above-grade-level testing, NUMATS accurately identifies student ability; matches high-achieving students with appropriately challenging programs and resources, and serves as a gateway to programs and resources for gifted students both at Northwestern University as well as nation-wide. NUMATS also provides support to the parents and educators of academically talented students.
    Robinson Center for Young Scholars at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA)
    The University of Washington is home to an internationally unique and renowned resource for gifted students, the Halbert and Nancy Robinson Center for Young Scholars. For more than 25 years, the Robinson Center has been the gateway through which some of the brightest young scholars in Washington state enter the University of Washington and/or participate in academically accelerated summer courses. The Early Entrance Program and UW Academy are the Robinson Center’s early university entrance programs. The Robinson Center also offers summer academic programs for students finishing the 5th-10th grade, as well as a Saturday Enrichment Program during the school year and the Robinson Center Online Program.
    Sacramento State Academic Talent Search (CA)
    Academic Talent Search (ATS) is sponsored by California State University Sacramento and is designed for high achieving students currently enrolled in sixth through ninth grade. The benefits of ATS include: providing students with an opportunity to accelerate their learning in traditional subjects like mathematics and to experience new topics which are not always available in regular schools; the ATS teaching staff includes University faculty, community college professors, high school instructors and industry professionals; through ATS, students have the opportunity to experience a collegiate environment.
    TRIO Educational Talent Search - Utah Valley University (Orem, UT)
    Educational Talent Search is a federally funded program that identifies and serves individuals interested in post secondary education or vocational training. Academic counseling: educational planning, (SEOP), study skills, time management, learning styles, ACT preparation, and tutoring are also available.
    University of Georgia - College of Education, Torrance Center for Creativity & Talent Development (Athens, GA)
    This service, research, and instructional center is concerned with the identification and development of creative potential and with gifted and future studies. Its goals are to investigate, implement, and evaluate techniques for enhancing creative thinking and to facilitate national and international systems that support creative development.
    Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth (WCATY), (Madison, WI)
    Residential:
    • Accelerated Learning Program (ALP)- Gifted high school students (grades 9-12) have the opportunity to participate in a three- week residential academic camp on the UW- Madison campus. Commuter option and scholarships available.
    • Summer Transitional Enrichment Program (STEP)- A head start to an accelerated high school experience for upper-middle school students (grades 7-8). Both residential and commuter options available.
    • Young Students Summer Program (YSSP)- Academic camp with a week-long focus for elementary students (grades 4-6). Residential and commuter options available.
    Commuter:
    • Precollege Academic Campus Experience (PACE)- Day program for students in grades 5-8 to experience a head start to high school academics.
    • Growing Early Minds (GEM) – Exploration day program offered in Winter and Summer sessions for students in grades 1-4.
    Wisconsin Mathematics, Engineering and Science Talent Search - University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI)
    This Talent Search creates five sets of five problems each and distributes them to high school and middle school students in the state of Wisconsin and throughout the world. Each year, top Wisconsin performers in the Talent Search will be eligible to compete for the Van Vleck Scholarship at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The scholarship will pay $6,000 per year for four years.

  • Schools & Programs: Independent

    Journeys School: Gifted and Talented/Malone Scholars Program (Jackson, WY)
    Journeys School identifies gifted and talented students using such standardized tests as CTP 4 of the ERB, PSAT, SAT and SCAT, as well as assesses student performance through their portfolio of work (including art, written pieces, performance documentation and other projects). Outstanding student performance is then identified by a committee of teachers and an Advanced Learning Plan (ALP) is developed.

  • Websites & Other Media: Commercial

    Gifted Education Press
    Gifted Education Press is one of the leading publishers of books and periodicals on identifying and teaching the gifted. The company produces numerous rigorous books in the sciences, mathematics and humanities, as well as a quarterly publication, Gifted Education Press Quarterly.

  • Websites & Other Media: Informational

    A practical system for identifying gifted and talented students
    "The system for identifying gifted and talented students described in this article is based on a broad range of research that has accumulated over the years on the characteristics of creative and productive individuals (Renzulli, 1986). Essentially, this research tells us that highly productive people are characterized by three interlocking clusters of ability, these clusters being above average (though not necessarily superior) ability, task commitment, and creativity."
    Advanced Psychology Resources - Resources for Parents of Gifted Children
    This organization contains a number of articles related to gifted education on topics such as identification, emotional complexity, asynchronous development, twice-exceptionality, and more.
    Assessing Gifted Children
    This article provides an overview of the process involved with assessing gifted children. Author Julia Osborn covers a number of issues related to assessment, including: The differences between testing and assessment; the relevance of the child's age, intellectual ability and educational ability and more. Osborn highlights the fact that there are both similarities and differences in the assessment process between gifted students and other types of children.
    Assessment 101: Choosing the Right Evaluator
    Assessment 101 is a series of three articles about developmental assessments by Dr. Aida Khan, clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist and Lecturer in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This article provides advice on choosing the right evaluator.
    Gifted? It is important for gifted children to be with other gifted children...
    In this article from the LearnNC.org website, Cathy Kroninger emphasizes the importance of understanding gifted children. She gives tips for identifying gifted learners, strategies for teaching and using resources to gain a better understanding of the gifted.
    I-Excel

    I-Excel is offered by the Belin-Blank Center as a part of the Belin Exceptional Student Talent Search and assesses aptitude in math, science, English, and reading. I-Excel is an online test that uses an online platform developed by the Belin-Blank Center for use as an above-level assessment for very capable 4th through 6th graders. I-Excel licenses content developed by ACT that was designed to measure academic progress of junior high students. From that content, Belin-Blank has been identifying the academic talents of bright 4th- 6th grade students for over 20 years.

    Abilities Tested: Assesses aptitude in math, science, English, and reading.

    Internet4Classrooms - Printable Assessments for K-8
    This website offers printable assessment tests for multiple grade levels.
    Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation (PARE)
    Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation (PARE) is an online journal that provides education professionals access to articles that can have a positive impact on assessment, research, evaluation, and teaching practice, especially at the local education agency (LEA) level.
    Recognizing the Child Gifted and Talented in Visual Art
    This article provides information on recognizing children who are gifted and talented in visual arts.
    Tests and Measurements for the Parent, Teacher, Advocate & Attorney
    This article, on Wrightslaw.com, is a useful starting point for understanding more about assessment. Authors: Peter W. D. Wright, Esq. and Pamela Darr Wright, M.A., M.S.W.
    Understanding tests and measurements for the parent and advocate
    This is such a great resource to help parents understand tests and measurements. It talks about evidence and law of testing, the process of educational decision-making, statistics and general principles. It also discusses the bell curve and understanding the test data. This is a very in-depth article.
    VeryWell: Gifted Children
    The VeryWell Family site about gifted students is filled with articles, a blog and other useful information. Topics include how to identify gifted young people, their educational needs and parenting help.