ABSTRACT
Identification is a formalized system that sets out to determine which students have needs that are not being met by the standard curriculum of a given school or district. The traditional model for gifted education begins with identifying gifted students. The proper role of identification is to allocate opportunity for special programming in such a way as to optimally benefit students while protecting them from needless failure. The degree to which a student can develop excellence in any given domain or demonstrates a need for advanced academic programming in a domain is not dichotomous. This categorical gifted/not gifted focus is likely one of the culprits that has led the field to focus so heavily on identification over assessment of students needing appropriate programming. Gifted education is similar to special education in that it is fundamentally concerned with students who fall outside traditional developmental stages and growth curves.
