There are several controversies relative to gifted education.
Definition of giftedness
Conceptions of various educational specialists concerning giftedness are diverse – even if two authorities use the same IQ test to define giftedness, it is quite possible that they’ll disagree on what gifted means – one may take top 2% of the population, another would take top 5% of the parent entity. The theory of multiple intelligence would produce a definition dissimilar to the traditional IQ definition.
 Certain of the authorities subscribe to an opinion that gifted children all exhibit the potential for high performance in the areas included in the United States federal definition of gifted and talented students:
"The term “gifted and talented” when used in respect to students, children, or youth means students, children, or youth who give evidence of high performance capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop such capabilities." (P.L. 103–382, Title XIV, p. 388)
They adopted this definition by the majority of the states in the USA partly or completely. Most have some definition similar to that used in the State of Texas, whose definition reading as follows:
"The phrase “gifted and talented student” means a child or youth who performs at or shows the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment, and who:
• exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area;
• possesses an unusual capacity for leadership; or
• excels in a specific academic field."
(74th legislature of the State of Texas, Chapter 29, Subchapter D, Section 29.121)
The outstanding features of these definitions are: (a) the diversity of scopes of activity in which performance may be exhibited (e.g., intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership, academic), (b) the comparison with other groups (e.g., those in general education classrooms or of the same age, experience, or environment), and (c) usage of terms which implicate a need for developing of the gift (e.g., capability and potential).
The theory of positive disintegration
In the course of the past twenty years overexcitability has been a popular matter of dispute in many gifted circles. Overexcitability is an element of developmental potential, a part of Dabrowski's theory of Positive Disintegration, a theory of personality development. The application of TPD to gifted education is one of several (other applications comprise psychotherapy, personality theory, philosophy of Man, etc.).
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