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| Controversies | Appropriateness of forms of gifted education
This is the most hotly debated aspect of gifted education.
Impact on school
Somebody guided by research data claims: gifted programs result in educational grading, consuming disproportionate sums of school expenses on account of gifted curriculum, and leaving other students with considerably decreased means.
But the opponents instantly raise an objection against conclusion of this kind. In all probability the research had been carried out at school alien to gifted education programs on the whole, – such a response can be heard.
It is frequently happen that gifted programs face the challenge of separating out gifted students by normal students. Programs for gifted students that perform in the same school but under a special curriculum can be the cause of problem with bullying, as a certain group of targets of persecution, already singled out for an intelligence that might provoke a bully's vulnerability (above average mental performance), exist there to smooth down his resentment. Such a program for reasons given rise a scornful attitude to gifted students from the outside. Obviously, it has negative pressure on the students as well, perhaps not just limited according to a gloomy representation of “normal” students.
Impact on pupils
Over-Reliance on IQ
Many psychologists now question the simple identification of IQ with ability, which the old model of human intelligence posits. They believe that abilities are too broad and too complex to be measured by the kind of IQ test. They also believe that environment and genetics play a part and, furthermore, that abilities are not a fixed quantity: They can be modified by education and experience.
Some of authors call in question the existence of "the g factor" and thus hold the opinion that the result of an IQ test is meaningless, hence rendering the notion of giftedness is idle too. Some uphold the idea that schools should use a number of criteria for measurement of students’ capability and potential when identifying gifted children. These criteria may include portfolios of student work, classroom observations, achievement measures, and intelligence scores. Most professionals of educational branch find impossible to use any single criterion of measure in isolation so as to identify a gifted child accurately.
Arbitrariness of selection criteria
Even if the notion of IQ is a good one, the question of the cutoff point for endowments is still weighty. As evidenced by the foregoing, different authorities often define giftedness differently. It is very likely that people who study abilities and those who study expertise are really talking about the same thing. What we are measuring when we administer a Whechsler Intelligence Scale (WISC) or an Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) or an SAT are the same. They are not different in kind but only in the point at which we are measuring them.
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