“Gifted Students Deserve More”. Really? Yes. And …

"Gifted Students Deserve More Opportunities", that's the title of a New York Times article from two days ago. The title is sure to make many of you cringe and wonder, "really, gifted students need more? Aren't they already gifted and talented? They'll make it everywhere."

"Giftedness" in K-12 students is identified with an IQ test, using a metric that assesses a narrow band of abilities. That's the nature of IQ tests — they test a specific, narrow band of cognitive abilities. Cognitive abilities don't represent the full spectrum of human abilities or intelligence. Much of human intelligence is invisible. It is not all grounded in cognitive abilities. And, it cannot be measured. The results of an IQ test and the quantified measure of a specific type of intelligence measured by them is not representative of the complexity and the wholeness that makes a child rich and unique. I think we need a broader lens for understanding giftedness. The design of this broad lens does not need to be limited to understanding only "gifted" learners. 

Doesn't this variety remind you of many other groups of children? Intelligence, of the head and the heart, is varied and it manifests in unique ways in each child. "Gifted" child, "Average" child, "Bright" child, child with "learning difficulties", call her or him what you will, each one needs to be seen for who she or he is. The New York Times article makes a bid for more schools that will recognize the uniqueness of "gifted" learners. I extend that bid to be for all children. A child's full growth can come from seeing her with a broader lens, a richer landscape that magnifies all her characteristics — emotional, social, intellectual, physical, creative, naturalistic, spiritual and others that we cannot even name.