Identifying a bright child versus a gifted learner

In New York Public Schools there is a very distinctly identified Gifted and Talented program that is offered in many schools throughout the city. In Manhattan and Brooklyn the Gifted and Talented Programs begin in Kindergarten while in Staten Island, Queens and the Bronx students can enter into these programs starting in First Grade. The Department of Education tends to be a starting point for parents in order to learn about the process for getting their child tested and identified in order to increase their chances of being placed in one of the various schools throughout New York City that have programs explicitly designed for identified Gifted and Talented students. There is a specific timetable of testing parents must adhere to in order to determine whether their child qualifies for these programs and there are also enrichment programs parents must research in order to find out how to best stimulate their child beyond the classroom. What is not as easily identified, spelled-out or as clearly defined is what a gifted child looks like. Most parents have no doubt their child is amazing but remain unclear about whether their child is gifted and not bright, high-achieving, extremely intelligent, or a simply a hard-worker who puts in the effort to master tasks. 

A parent is their child’s number one advocate and the process begins with them communicating with teachers and other adults who work directly with their children about how a partnership can be developed in order to best meet the needs of their learner. Regardless of whether you are a parent who thinks their child is miles above their peer group in intelligence or a parent who has seen their child do some incredible things but would never identify their child as gifted it is important to be able to identify the difference between a bright child and a gifted learner and work as a team with your child’s educator to ensure their learning needs are being met and monitored accordingly.
Upon first glance into most classrooms bright children are the ones that respond most outwardly to the teacher and to the learning that is going on in the classroom. They know the answers, they are prepared, work hard and easily go along with the flow of the lessons and the curriculum that is being offered. Gifted students are the students easily mistaken to be daydreaming. The gifted students intermittently challenge the teachers with questions that seem to be off-topic or designed to intentionally irritate the teacher. Often they may not perform on grade-level for basic tasks, may not meet expectations or deadlines. Simple tasks seem complex to them while the most complex tasks are easily mastered. A bright child may be well-pleased with their work, eagerly receiving the accolades given; a gifted child may be self-critical to the point of perfection, shying away from extraneous praise. Gifted students tend to like more project-based options that allow them to express their individuality and take as much time as they need, asking questions and researching the entire picture before coming to a completion in their thoughts. They need the question of why to be answered in its entirety and depending on their type of giftedness may be more concerned with real-life problems than those that are educationally constructed.
It is important that as parents and as educators we are able to best service the needs of these young learners by identifying what giftedness is…and what it is not.