A PROPOSAL FOR SUBCATEGORIES WITHIN GIFTED OR TALENTED POPULATIONS

Following a survey of the literature and a critique of an earlier prop osal by Gagne (1993), the author describes a new system of categories to subdivide the gifted and talented populations into more homogeneous subgroups. Based on the metric system, each of the five levels, inclu ding the minimum threshold, selects the top 10% of the previous level; to each subgroup is attributed a qualify label: mild, moderate, high, exceptional, extreme. The author argues for its widespread adoption b y professionals in the field of gifted education.