Editing Intellectual giftedness (section)

=== Identification methods ===

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:small" align="right" summary="Sortable table showing actual I.Q. scores of twelve students on three different I.Q. tests, with students identified by pseudonyms in cited data source."
|+ IQ scores can vary for the same person, so a person does not always belong to the same IQ score range each time the person is tested. (IQ score table data and pupil pseudonyms adapted from description of KABC-II norming study cited in Kaufman 2009.<ref>{{cite book |title=IQ Testing 101 |last=Kaufman |first=Alan S. |author-link=Alan S. Kaufman |year=2009 |publisher=Springer Publishing |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8261-0629-2 |pages=151–153 }}</ref>)
! class="unsortable" |Pupil!!KABC-II!!WISC-III!!WJ-III
|- align="right"
|Asher||90||95||111
|- align="right"
|Brianna||125||110||105
|- align="right"
|Colin||100||93||101
|- align="right"
|Danica||116||127||118
|- align="right"
|Elpha||93||105||93
|- align="right"
|Fritz||106||105||105
|- align="right"
|Georgi||95||100||90
|- align="right"
|Hector||112||113||103
|- align="right"
|Imelda||104||96||97
|- align="right"
|Jose||101||99||86
|- align="right"
|Keoku||81||78||75
|- align="right"
|Leo||116||124||102
|}

In psychology, identification of giftedness is usually based on IQ scores. The threshold of IQ = 130 is defined by statistical rarity. By convention, the 5% of scores who fall more than two standard deviations from the mean (or more accurately [[1.96]]) are considered [[Normality (behavior)#Statistics|atypical]].<ref>Fisher, Ronald (1925), Statistical Methods for Research Workers, Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, p. 47, {{ISBN|0-05-002170-2}}</ref> In the case of intelligence, these 5% are [[Statistical significance#Role in statistical hypothesis testing|partitioned to both sides]] of the range of scores, and include the 2.5% who score more than two standard deviations below the mean and the 2.5% who score more than two standard deviations above the mean.<ref>Howell, D. C. (1992). Statistical methods for psychology, 3rd ed. PWS-Kent Publishing Co.</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.tutor2u.net/psychology/reference/statistical-infrequency-definition-of-abnormality |title = Statistical Infrequency Definition of…|date = 20 April 2020}}</ref> Because the average of IQ is 100 and its standard deviation is 15, this rule places the threshold for [[intellectual disability]] at IQ = 70, and the symmetrical threshold for giftedness at IQ = 130 (rounded).<ref>Anastasi, A., & Urbina, S. (1997). Psychological testing, 7th ed. Prentice Hall/Pearson Education.</ref><ref>Urbina, S. (2014). Essentials of psychological testing, 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons Inc.</ref><ref>Cronbach, L. J. (1949). Essentials of psychological testing, 2nd ed. Harper.</ref> This arbitrary threshold is used by most psychologists<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Carman | first1 = C. A. | year = 2013 | title = Comparing apples and oranges: Fifteen years of definitions of giftedness in research | journal = Journal of Advanced Academics | volume = 24 | issue = 1| pages = 52–70 | doi = 10.1177/1932202X12472602 | s2cid = 146556870 }}</ref> in most countries.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/science/gifted-child |title = Gifted child &#124; psychology}}</ref>

While IQ testing has the advantage of providing a standardised basis for the diagnosis of giftedness, psychologists are expected to interpret IQ scores in the context of all available information: standardized intelligence tests ignore actual achievement and can fail to detect giftedness. For example, a specific learning disorder such as [[dyslexia]] or [[dyspraxia]] can easily decrease scores on intelligence tests and hide true intellectual ability.

In educational settings, many schools in the US use a variety of assessments of students' capability and potential when identifying gifted children.<ref name=Johnsen2011 /> These may include portfolios of student work, classroom observations, achievement tests, and IQ test scores. Most educational professionals accept that no single criterion can be used in isolation to accurately identify a gifted child.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Identification of Students Who Are Gifted |url=https://www.davidsongifted.org/gifted-blog/the-identification-of-students-who-are-gifted/ |website=Davidson Institute |date=4 March 2022 |quote=When we rely on the use of a single criterion such as an IQ score to act as a gatekeeper or rely on theories with little empirical grounding, our identification practices do not reflect this understanding of intelligence.}}</ref>

One of the criteria used in identification may be an IQ test score. Until the late 1960s, when "giftedness" was defined solely based on an IQ score, a school district simply set an arbitrary score (usually in the 130 range) and a student either did or did not "make the cut". This method is still used by many school districts because it is simple and objective. Although a high IQ score is not the sole indicator of giftedness, usually if a student has a very high IQ, that is a significant indicator of high academic potential.<ref name=Gottfredson2009>{{cite book |last=Gottfredson |first=Linda S. |chapter=Chapter 1: Logical Fallacies Used to Dismiss the Evidence on Intelligence Testing |title=Correcting Fallacies about Educational and Psychological Testing |editor-last=Phelps |editor-first=Richard F. |year=2009 |publisher=American Psychological Association |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-1-4338-0392-5}}</ref> Because of this consideration, if a student scores highly on an IQ test, but performs at an average or below-average level academically, school officials may think that this issue warrants further investigation as an example of underachievement.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Government of New Brunswick, Canada, Department of Education. |website=Educational Services Division |title=Gifted And Talented Students: A Resource Guide for Teachers |date=2007 |url=http://www.gnb.ca/0000/publications/ss/gifted%20and%20talented%20students%20a%20resource%20guide%20for%20teachers.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904144836/http://www.gnb.ca/0000/publications/ss/gifted%20and%20talented%20students%20a%20resource%20guide%20for%20teachers.pdf |archive-date=2011-09-04 |access-date=29 November 2014 |page=39}} (citing Davis and Rimm, 2004)</ref> However, scholars of educational testing point out that a test-taker's scores on any two tests may vary, so a lower score on an achievement test than on an IQ test neither necessarily indicates that the test-taker is underachieving nor necessarily that the school curriculum is under-challenging.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kranzler |first1=John H. |last2=Floyd |first2=Randy G. |title=Assessing Intelligence in Children and Adolescents: A Practical Guide |date=1 August 2013 |publisher=Guilford Press |isbn=978-1-4625-1121-1 |url=http://www.guilfordpress.co.uk/books/details/9781462511211/ |access-date=9 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016201213/http://www.guilfordpress.co.uk/books/details/9781462511211/ |archive-date=16 October 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[IQ classification]] varies from one publisher to another. IQ tests have poor reliability for determining test-takers' rank order at higher IQ levels,<ref name="Perleth Schatz Mönks page 301">{{cite book |last1=Perleth |first1=Christoph |last2=Schatz |first2=Tanja |last3=Mönks |first3=Franz J. |title=International Handbook of Giftedness and Talent |editor1-last=Heller |editor1-first=Kurt A. |editor2-last=Mönks |editor2-first=Franz J. |editor3-last=Sternberg |editor3-first=Robert J. |display-editors = 3 |editor4-last=Subotnik |editor4-first=Rena F. |editor3-link=Robert Sternberg |edition=2nd |year=2000 |publisher=Pergamon |location=Amsterdam |isbn=978-0-08-043796-5 |page=301 |chapter=Early Identification of High Ability |quote=norm tables that provide you with such extreme values are constructed on the basis of random extrapolation and smoothing but not on the basis of empirical data of representative samples. }}</ref> and are perhaps only effective at determining whether a student is gifted rather than distinguishing among levels of giftedness. The [[Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children|Wechsler]] test manuals have standard score [[Ceiling effect (statistics)#IQ testing|ceilings]] of 160. However, higher ceilings, including scores into the exceptionally and profoundly gifted range, exist for the WISC-IV<ref>{{cite web |last1=Zhu |first1=Jianjun |last2=Cayton |first2=Tom |last3=Weiss |first3=Larry |last4=Gabel |first4=Amy | title = WISC-IV Technical Report #7 - WISC-IV Extended Norms | url = https://images.pearsonclinical.com/images/assets/WISC-IV/WISCIV_TechReport_7.pdf}}</ref> and WISC-V,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Raiford |first1=Susan E. |last2=Courville |first2=Troy |last3=Peters |first3=Daniel |last4=Gilman |first4=Barbara J. |last5=Silverman |first5=Linda | title = WISC-V Technical Report #6 – Extended Norms | url = https://www.pearsonassessments.com/content/dam/school/global/clinical/us/assets/wisc-v/wisc-v-technical-report-6-extended-norms.pdf}}</ref> which were specifically normed on large samples of gifted children. Today, the Wechsler child and [[Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale|adult IQ]] tests are by far the most commonly used IQ tests in hospitals, schools, and private psychological practice.<ref name="GeorgasPreface2003pxxv" /><ref name="WechslerGold" /> Older versions of the Stanford-Binet test, now obsolete, and the Cattell IQ test purport to yield IQ scores of 180 or higher, but those scores are not comparable to scores on currently normed tests. The Stanford-Binet Third Revision (Form L-M) yields consistently higher numerical scores for the same test-taker than scores obtained on current tests. This has prompted some authors on identification of gifted children to promote the [[Stanford-Binet]] form L-M, which has long been obsolete,<ref>{{cite book |author=Freides, D. |chapter=Review of Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Third Revision |title=Seventh Mental Measurements Yearbook |editor=Oscar Buros |location=Highland Park, NJ |publisher=Gryphon Press |year=1972 |pages=772–773 |quote=The Binet scales have been around for a long time and their faults are well known. . . . Requiescat in pace |isbn=0803211600 }}</ref> as the only test with a sufficient ceiling to identify the exceptionally and profoundly gifted, despite the Stanford-Binet L-M never having been normed on a representative national sample.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Waddell |first=Deborah D. |year=1980 |title=The Stanford-Binet: An Evaluation of the Technical Data Available since the 1972 Restandardization |journal=Journal of School Psychology |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=203–209 |doi=10.1016/0022-4405(80)90060-6 }}</ref> Because the instrument is outdated, current results derived from the Stanford-Binet L-M generate inflated and inaccurate scores.<ref name="Perleth Schatz Mönks page 302">{{cite book |last1=Perleth |first1=Christoph |last2=Schatz |first2=Tanja |last3=Mönks |first3=Franz J. |title=International Handbook of Giftedness and Talent |editor1-last=Heller |editor1-first=Kurt A. |editor2-last=Mönks |editor2-first=Franz J. |editor3-last=Sternberg |editor3-first=Robert J. |display-editors = 3 |editor4-last=Subotnik |editor4-first=Rena F. |editor3-link=Robert Sternberg |edition=2nd |year=2000 |publisher=Pergamon |location=Amsterdam |isbn=978-0-08-043796-5 |page=302
 |chapter=Early Identification of High Ability |quote=a gifted sample gathered using IQ > 132 using the old SB L-M in 1985 does not contain the top 2% of the population but the best 10%. }}</ref> The IQ assessment of younger children remains debated.

While many people believe giftedness is a strictly quantitative difference, measurable by IQ tests, some authors on the "experience of being" have described giftedness as a fundamentally different way of perceiving the world, which in turn affects every experience had by the gifted individual. This view is doubted by some scholars who have closely studied gifted children longitudinally.<ref name="Feldman 1984">{{cite journal |author=Feldman, David
 |title=A Follow-up of Subjects Scoring above 180 IQ in Terman's Genetic Studies of Genius |journal=[[Exceptional Children]] |volume=50
 |issue=6 |pages=518–523 |year=1984 |url=http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10192.aspx |access-date=8 July 2010 |quote=Put into the context of the psychometric movement as a whole, it is clear that the positive extreme of the IQ distribution is not as different from other IQ levels as might have been expected. |doi=10.1177/001440298405000604 |s2cid=146862140 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>