A Critical Self-Study of Gifted Education: Healthy Practice, Necessary Evil, or Sedition?

Abstract

A critical examination of the current status of the field called gifted education reveals many paradoxes; or, perhaps more accurately, it reveals triumphs and disappointments. Hard and critical looks at the field by those of us who are advocates for gifted children are difficult at best. By examining contributions and triumphs of the field (e.g., recognition of individual differences, innovative assessment, commitment to high standards and raising the ceiling of instruction, stress on process and metacognitive skills, and real-world problem solving) in conjunction with the weakness of our field (e.g., the notion of a program, persistent narrowness of definition and identification, inappropriate adoption of measurement models as bases for curriculum development, lack of evaluation, and poor relationships with other programs), we may be able to stimulate discussions of ways to move the field forward theoretically and practically.