Identifying Gifted and Talented Students When I was in second grade, all the students in my elementary school took a special test one day in class. We were told it wasn't for a grade, but was to help the school get to know us better. None of us really understood what the test was, or what the school would use it for, and certainly no one in my class that day understood the implications of what these results would mean to us for the rest of our lives. The issue of gifted and talented education has always sparked debate between parents and teachers, and recent movements toward full classroom integration have fueled this debate. For many years now, “average” children, gifted and talented children, and children with learning disabilities have all been separated into different learning environments, for part or all of the curriculum. New issues have emerged due to the recent trend toward integration, but a few issues have always been questioned about it. One of these issues is the process of identifying “advanced” students, and specifically the use of IQ tests to determine placement in these programs. The test I took that day, over 13 years ago, was an IQ test, a test to determine my "Intelligence Quotient." IQ tests have long been used as placement tests and are still used today by many school systems to determine the levels of students in their schools. However, a current trend in education is to try to move away from this type of testing. JS Renzulli has long been widely recognized as an authority on gifted and talented education. In a 1996 article, Renzulli and JH Purcell discuss some of the new trends in the article medium......CitedDelisle, James R. Gifted Children Speak Out. New York: Walker Publishing Company, 1984. Morgan, Harry J., Carolyn G. Tennant, and Milton J. Gold. Elementary and secondary level programs for the gifted and talented. New York: Teachers College Press, 1980. Pegnato, Carl W. and Jack W. Birch. “Locating gifted children in high schools: a comparison of methods.” Exceptional children March 25, 1959: 300-304. Renzulli, JS and JH Purcell. “Gifted Education: A Look Around and a Look to the Future.” Roeper Review 18 (1996): 173-188. Snowman, Jack and Robert Biehler. Psychology applied to teaching. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Tuttle, Frederick B., Laurence A. Becker, and Joan A. Sousa. Characteristics and identification of gifted and talented students. Washington DC: National Education Association, 1988.