Understanding Giftedness
All children have unique strengths and talents and require opportunities to learn, grow, and be challenged to strive for excellence. However, some children have intellectual skills and abilities that significantly differ in degree and dimension from their chronological age peers and, therefore, require the challenge of a differentiated curriculum both in depth and scope in order to maximize their potential. Gifted students perform at a remarkably high level, beyond the performance of their peers. Approximately 3-5% of the population is gifted. Many other students are high achievers, making good grades, doing very well on standardized testing, and working hard in school and their needs can be met in the regular classroom setting.