Gifted Staffing Simulations
1. Parents of fifth-grade twins meet with gifted teacher. One twin
qualifies; one doesn’t. Mother: “I don’t think I can possibly give
permission to place only one of the girls. We must place both or
none. In our family we believe in fairness; we provide the same
opportunities for both of our children.” COGAT: 89, 73, 95, 92;
ITBS: 98, 85, 96; Motivation: 9 out of 10 points; TTCT: 91%ile
2. Third-grade son of a Board of Education member. Board member
and her husband meet with gifted teacher and administrator.
COGAT: 92, 86, 94, 93; ITBS: 80, 91, 89; Motivation: 8 out of 10
points; TTCT 62%ile. “We want what’s best for our son; without all
possible advantages, how will he every qualify for admission to
Harvard.” “It is essential that he be gifted; after all, both of us are
highly intelligent individuals.”
3. Immature fifth-grade boy, born to older parents; has grown siblings.
High creativity, motivation, and achievement scores but average to
low ability scores. Gifted teacher meets with parents to discuss
placement. COGAT: 77, 73, 43, 65; ITBS: 86, 91, 76; Motivation: 8 out
of 10 points; TTCT: 98%ile. “What will you do to prepare our son to
take the SAT?” “He must have had a bad day when he took that
ability test.”
4. Sixth-grade girl who becomes very frustrated with any type of
challenge or difficult task; gives up very easily and will not try
anything at which she cannot be assured of immediate success.
COGAT: 88, 97, 65, 89; ITBS: 50, 91, 79; TTCT 94. Informal motivation
checklist reveals problems with low motivation, but her GPA is >
than 3.5. Parents meet with gifted teacher. “I really think that her test
scores do not reflect her true ability.” “Well, we always tell her that
participating in something special is her choice. We’ll have to
discuss her placement in AIM and see what she wants to do about it.
5. Seventh-grade girl who is extremely creative, especially in visual
arts. Gifted teacher meets with single mother and math and social
studies teachers. COGAT: 93, 96, 82, 90; ITBS: 93, 91, 92; GPA: 2.5;
TTCT: 98%ile. “I don’t really put too much stock in grades these
days; her teachers really don’t like her that much. Besides, she says
she’s bored in her classes.”
6. Fourth-grade boy moves to a school from another Georgia school
system. Teacher meets with father to discuss placement. COGAT:
71, 84, 98, 91; ITBS: 63, 65, 77; Renzulli Motivation Checklist
completed by teacher at old school: 90%ile. Renzulli Creativity
Checklist completed by teacher at old school 95%ile. “He was a
model student at his old school, and I expect the same from him
here. After all, how different can two schools be?”
7. Kindergarten child qualifies on composite COGAT score but with
borderline achievement scores. Informal creativity and motivation
checklists by teacher reveal no apparent problems in either area.
Student may have problems with attention. COGAT: 97, 90, 99, 99;
ITBS: 91, 80, 75. Parents meet with gifted teacher and kindergarten
teacher. “How many other kindergarten students are you going to
place?” “Will this be difficult for her? I really am concerned about
her self-esteem and don’t want her to have to struggle.”
8. Sixth-grade girl is a perfectionist and works very meticulously and
slowly. She needs to qualify in the area of creativity in order to be
placed in the gifted program, but her score is very low on the TTCT.
Distressed mother meets with gifted teacher. COGAT: 94, 91, 82, 89;
ITBS: 92, 84, 93; grade-point average: 3.75; TTCT: 24%ile. “How
could her creativity score possible be so low? She’s always doing
very creative things at home. There must be some problem with that
score.”