I know this isn't the technical definition from any official standpoint, but I personally define gifted as a minimum of 99th percentile on a standardized test.
So, are you talking about an achievement test here? To play devil's advocate:
Would any kid who, say, hit the 99th percentile once on any achievement test be gifted? How about if he is in the 99th percentile locally but the local area is very low performing? What if he was in the 99th percentile once and then generally tracked around the 90th or 95th or even the 75th most of the time? What if he legitimately had a high average IQ (let's say 115), but was a hard worker and/or higher performer than that?
How about the opposite: What if he legitimately had a sky high IQ but was 2e and rarely or never achieved at the 99th percentile? Would that kid still be gifted?
Well, keep in mind that this is just my totally made-up and pretty arbitrary definition of gifted. I was answering the original question as asked.
Fortunately, it isn't my job to determine who is gifted or not so I don't really have to wrestle with the difficult questions. My "quick and dirty" answer is 99th percentile or above on a standardized test (including an IQ test). I would expect MOST truly gifted kids to have the 99th percentile in both academic tests AND IQ tests. But, I personally think the IQ tests are more important in determining giftedness than academic tests. As you say, a kid could just be an eager achiever and do well on academic tests but only have an average or above average IQ. I wouldn't consider them gifted.
2E kids are a totally different bag of chips, and not an area I'd even dare have an opinion on. I simply don't know enough about it. I would say, though, that the 99th percentile rule of thumb would still apply, but what kind of tests would be used is beyond me. Certainly, any kids that had an IQ that is above 99th percentile even if they scored poorly on academic tests I would consider gifted. Like I said, I think the IQ test is far more significant to telling us their intelligence than any academic achievement test. (If it was switched the the academic achievement test was high but the IQ was average I
wouldn't say they were gifted.)
But, honestly, I gave the 99th percentile answer because it is an easy rule of thumb and one that I tend to have in the back of my mind. It isn't "real". It's just my not-too-well-formed opinion. I have no authority or even business in determining if any given child is gifted or not.
In truth, the definition of giftedness might be more like the definition of pornography... you know it when you see it. There are many intangible qualities that tests cannot capture adequately. And I personally think academic achievement means very little compared to IQ tests. Many PG kids struggle with school for a variety of reasons.
