Do We Need to Know How Smart Someone Is?
Do We Need to Know How Smart Someone Is?
Evaluating and Assessing Giftedness
It matters that people be aware of typical education policy. And yet, we all go to school for at least a little while, and we hope and trust that the schools know what they’re doing. When I write about gifted children and schools, I am writing about adult readers, as well. These realities and experiences helped to form you.
But the reality is that too few people—including educators—understand the vast range of abilities, styles, and needs of our brightest students.
The Deck is Not Evenly Stacked
Over the past 20 years since creating the 5 Levels, I continued to learn about the state of education—and the policies and processes that affect it—in the United States. So, although the early milestones and behaviors that make up the 5 Levels of Gifted haven’t changed significantly, I discovered that some of the intake forms from the gifted families I served in my consultancy, there are sometimes circumstances where caregivers are not in a position to notice as much of the early milestones as stay-at-home parents do. This also means that there are families who don’t have the ability, for a variety of reasons, to provide as much readiness training or intellectual stimulation during the years before school, even if they have a child of great intellectual promise.
In the past, I assumed all smart people have a similar ability to access opportunities to meet their interests and needs. When I started to interview the subjects and write a follow-up book, I had no idea how significant socioeconomic status is in the educational process and how it impacted some of these subjects in the book. It also became clear that socioeconomic status often isn’t related to how hard any one person works or how smart the person is.
Some of the initial content from the first book, early handouts, and personal presentations about the Five Levels of Gifted showed my lack of awareness about the degrees to which some families are impacted by poverty, systemic racism,[i] and lack of access to testing, guidance, and appropriate schooling, compared to some other families in the study and throughout the United States. Socioeconomics and access issues related to the subjects and their families are included in the stories I will continue to share with readers.
Before we review the characteristics—in the form of early milestones, interests, and behaviors—of the 5 Levels of Gifted, it is important for readers to have some background on public school services for gifted learners in the United States. If you live in another country, seek out information on what rules exist where you live and blend them into the advice given here so that it functions better for you and your family.
Background on Gifted Education Services in the United States
To understand why finding a best fit for the gifted child’s school years is often problematic, difficult, and expensive, one needs to know several things:
(1) there are usually no guaranteed services for gifted children,
(2) there are no federal mandates and little financial support of programs for the education of gifted students,
(3) it is only through decisions made in each state—and each school district—that any programming, rules, or requirements for gifted students might be available,
(4) such programs, if they exist, are usually funded by each locality’s tax base for the educational budgets.
This last one is particularly problematic for underserved populations who have been impacted by systemic racism that relegates many to neighborhoods with poorer functioning schools. For a current list of states that help with gifted education funding or have mandates, see the Davidson Institute website[ii] and Hoagies.[iii]
Why Aren’t There Uniformly Effective Practices for Serving the Gifted Population?
In the 1970s, several different iterations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act[iv] were passed. Called IDEA, the legislation guaranteed children free access to screening, testing, support, and appropriate remediation for their learning disabilities through age 21 at both federal[v] and local district expense.
Because high intelligence is not technically a disability, proponents of gifted services did not want giftedness included in these bills, mandates, or access to funding. The exception to IDEA’s coverage is when the gifted child also has a learning or other disability.[vi] This is why many parents look for 2e (twice-exceptional) disabilities or learning difficulties to get their children more of what they need.
Children in low socioeconomic households and communities often cannot afford or have access to the kinds of testing, classes, schools, social norms, social capital of generational knowledge, and support about higher education, etc. This, I believe, is a primary reason many people have come to believe there are no gifted children in many of our schools. But children who are hungry, who may live in unsafe neighborhoods, who have to move often, or have parents with untreated drug or mental health issues, or those who can’t find time or space for homework or school activities because they must share in raising and caring for family members, often do not appear to be gifted but “street smart.”
There are many indicators of giftedness that do not include being a good student.
I will keep adding more information on this topic as we move through the book. I have also occasionally invited other people with more experience and expertise than I in some of the areas to add their thoughts.
And, for those interested in more background on previous longitudinal studies about how gifted children turn out as adults, there are several good sources. I recommend the summary by Miraca Gross, Tips for Parents: What we Know from Longitudinal Studies of E/PG Children.[vii] She gives references to finding numerous studies in their entireties. For readers interested in learning more about what is available from past studies, I recommend an Internet search with the keywords “longitudinal studies of exceptionally and profoundly gifted.”
[i] Generally, systemic racism is when institutions, legal authorities, or systems have policies and views that harm the people in a racial group other than their own. For more information see https://www.racialequitytools.org/.
[ii] https://www.davidsongifted.org/gifted-blog/gifted-education-in-the-u-s-state-policy-legislation/
[iii] http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/mandates.htm.
[iv] https://www.understood.org/articles/en/individuals-with-disabilities-education-act-idea-what-you-need-to-know
[v] https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R44624.pdf
[vi] For more information see https://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources/frequently-asked-questions-about-gifted-education
[vii] See the Davidson Institute website: https://www.davidsongifted.org/gifted-blog/tips-for-parents-what-we-know-from-longitudinal-studies-of-e-pg-children/
My current published and coming books about the gifted:
The Five Levels of Gifted Children Grown Up: What They Tell Us (2023). https://www.amazon.com/Levels-Gifted-Children-Grown-Up/dp/B0C9SHFRLH or https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-5-levels-of-gifted-children-grown-up-phd-deborah-l-ruf/1143719859?ean=9798988323709. This is an 18 year longitudinal study follow-up about the original gifted child subjects in 5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options (2005, 2009).
Keys to Successfully Parenting the Gifted Child (2023). Keys to Successfully Parenting Gifted Children (2022, 2023)
Losing Our Minds: Too Many Gifted Children Left Behind (Oct. 2024). Available for pre-order now. Follow this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DHV6QT6F
5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options in 2009. Here are links to the 5 Levels of Gifted book on Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/5-levels-of-gifted-deborah-ruf/1126358834 and Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Levels-Gifted-School-Educational-Options/dp/0910707987 or directly from the publisher: https://www.giftedunlimitedllc.com/store/p12/5_Levels_of_Gifted.html
Environmental, Familial, and Personal Factors That Affect the Self-Actualization of Highly Gifted Adults: Case Studies (D. Ruf, 1998) doctoral dissertation. Free PDF https://dabrowskicenter.org/ruf
Dr. Ruf is available for the following services.
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One-Hour Test Interpretation
Gifted Child Test Interpretation & Guidance
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