Checkpoint 1: Check your understanding of giftedness and gifted students.

1.	Giftedness is something we can clearly define and specifically measure ("You're either gifted or you are not.")	T      F
2.	Gifted students are more alike than different.	T      F
3.	DoDEA maintains a quota for the number of students to be identified for gifted education services.	T      F

1.	The correct response is false. Psychologists, theorists, and educators continue to struggle with the concept of giftedness. DoDEA has selected the definition provided by the U. S. Department of Education as appropriate for Regulation 2590.1. The definition provides help in developing indicators of giftedness that we may service at school.  Dr. Linda Silverman, director of the Gifted Development Center, has written a thought-provoking Letter to Gifted Children. You may want to visit her Web site and read the letter.
2.	The correct response is false. Depending on the gifts, the age, and the environment, gifted students may express their abilities and accomplishments in many different ways. Not all gifted students are high achievers. Most gifted students have uneven profiles of accomplishment. What they do have in common is that their strengths put them at risk for underachievement and at promise for accomplishment well beyond our expectations for children of their particular age/stage.
3.	The correct response is false. Looking for gifted students is a challenging but not impossible activity. Rather than focusing on who is and who is not "gifted," we place our energies in observing students who may need gifted education services. We recognize when a child is very advanced in one or more areas or shows such strong potential that we make a professional decision to consider changes in his or her educational program.