Following a survey of the literature and a critique of an earlier proposal by Gagné (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, including the minimum threshold, selects the top 10% of the previous level; to each subgroup is attributed a qualifying label: mild, moderate, high, exceptional, extreme. The author argues for its widespread adoption by professionals in the field of gifted education.
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