ABSTRACT

There are many ways to view gifted education. Your philosophy of education guides your beliefs about who is “gifted” and how the needs of students with gifts and talents should be addressed. The choice of a Response to Intervention (RtI) framework for identification and services flows logically from a philosophy that gifted education can only flourish within a culture that supports excellence for all learners (Brown & Abernathy, 2009). Anchors of this philosophy within RtI would include the following beliefs:

• nurturing potential as well as responding to crystallized abilities is important (Coleman & Shah-Coltrane, 2011);

• data can show the patterns of a student’s strengths and needs (Pereles, Baldwin, & Omdal, 2011);

• a range of supports and services will be needed to address the strengths of students (Johnsen, 2011); and

• collaboration and teamwork provide the best path to identifying and addressing students’ strengths and needs (Hughes & Rollins, 2009).