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Many schools/districts are moving away from "identifying a child as gifted" to "identifying who qualifies for the gifted program or services".

To highlight the distinction:

A gifted individual is generally speaking a gifted individual throughout the lifespan, and once identified there is a high IQ number to go with it, generally in the 98th percentile or above. Being gifted does not necessarily describe the appropriate curriculum, gifted is not one-size-fits-all. Nonetheless, an individual who is gifted remains gifted (for example, after changing schools). Reading books such as A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children may help a parent determine if this is the type of child they have.

An individual identified as qualifying for a school's or district's gifted program or services may be an individual with the right "fit" for what the school/district has to offer in a gifted program or services. Qualifying for the gifted program anticipates a match to the curriculum offered. This may be based on a combination of achievement and IQ. The cutoff may be placed at different levels.
- On one hand, due to the small population of gifted pupils (2% of the population), extra seats in gifted classes may be filled by non-gifted students in order to reach a minimum class size to conduct the class.
- On the other hand, there may be a limited number of seats available. Quotas may apply. Lotteries may be in place if more students qualify than the number of seats available.*
- When the person identified as qualified for a school's or district's gifted program or services may move or transfer to another school, they may not necessarily qualify for the gifted program or services offered at another school, as advanced academic offerings may be different for each school's unique population of advanced learners.

There is a large difference between creating an educational plan appropriate for a child -or- selecting children for an existing plan. Matching the program to the child -vs- matching the child to the program.

* Other recent posts here and here have considered whether more seats ought to be opened to match the number of students who qualify.

This forum, the book previously mentioned, books from Great Potential Press & Prufrock Press, and articles on Hoagies Gifted Education Page and the Davidson Database are all good sources of information about being "gifted". These and more may easily be found with a web search. On the Davidson Database, you may wish to utilize the search function to look up "characteristics" and that may provide a great starting place.