This is a great conversation to be having. I'm a "levels" girl. To me the idea that my child was going to be gifted in the regular sense of the word was have been a matter of course - what threw me was the "one giant step" beyond "normal gifted" than my son turned out to be. And I know now that many kids in the YSP program are "one giant step" beyond my kid.
I'm convinsed that the reason Gifted Education is so unpopular amoung school folks is that without an understanding of the various levels of giftedness any program, policy or position is doomed to fail, much of the time. Dottie did some math with me, and we figured that in an average population, 1 of 14 of the identified gifted kids would qualify for the YSP. So that's a lot of kids who would feel miserably out of place with accomidations aimed at the top 2%. No wonder there is so much disenchantment with gradeskipping and other gifted programming. For 1 of 14 the single skip may land them right back where they were, unchallenged at the top of the class! How un-reinforcing!
I like the Ruf levels because
1) The nature of our conversation necessitates trying to be as thoughful as possible, and being able to have a shorthand way of communicating level really helps us know what we are talking about.
2) Lots of Parents here have not had testing. They may need to decide if they want testing, and if so, can they assume that the local tester will be experienced enough to be worth the money? Must they plan on making a family travel vacation out of it? How else is one to know? Since there children are still young, they may remember the milestones better than I did. ((I've tried to get a level for my son, and I can't remember anywhere near enough detail - but I already have WISC results, and I already found out that a well-meaning local tester was almost worst than useless in our situation.))
3) Most Gifted children have gifted Parents and cousins, so it's almost as difficult for us to "get a feel" for what a true normal is like, as it is for school folks to percieve what a Level III kid is like.
What I don't like about the Ruf Levels -
1) They don't work for 2E kids. They may help detect a hidden 2E, but it's not going to every be easy to get a level on a 2E kid.
2) There is not modern IQ test to check them against. I agree with "J" that we really really don't have a way to test beyond 140. I like how Bob Davidson put it at the last Gathering: Children who are beyond the ability of IQ tests to measure.
So we'll have to wait 30 years and ask each other - Did your Level 5 have to study in College? In Graduate School? Did your Level 4 stick with her early area of giftedness? Were the skips enough or too much?
So, Do I think the Levels are the last word in identification? No, of course not, but they are a wonderful first word.
((Oh I can't wait to hear what you all think of this!))
smiles,
Trinity
