Evaluating Gifted Programs; the State of the Art

Abstract

This article overviews existing approaches to the evaluation of programs for gifted youth in the U.S., against a backdrop of issues germane to program evaluation and ability and intelligence testing. The author's review of selected literature on gifted program evaluation reveals that the definitions, implementations and consequence evaluations of “gifted programs” are highly diverse. This diversity does not necessarily address the varying educational wants and needs of the heterogeneous society of the U.S. Instead, it appears to be the unplanned, disorganized and sporadic offering typical of under-funded and theoretically weak public programming. The overall national picture that a combination of these programs provides is one of little central planning, low social priority, and scanty conceptual organization.