The Problem of Evaluating Gifted Students by Their Teachers

In a previous article, we discussed the French official Vademecum as the basic training offered to teachers. However, even when teachers read it, it offers nothing more than identification and various solutions without linking them to problem analysis and knowledge evaluation.

So, how does a teacher assess the knowledge of a gifted student (EHP)?

In a typical school setting, within a class of 25 or 30 students, for the teacher to distinguish between an error on an exercise, a delay, or a lack of organization, it is essential that they understand the specificities of gifted students. Moreover, the teacher must closely engage with the student's personality and inquire about what might have happened before diagnosing the student's knowledge or problems and proposing solutions, or dismissing those that could make a difference. This is the only way the teacher can adequately explain the situation, analysis, and solutions to the parents, ensuring that everything has a purpose and an objective.

As I mentioned in another article titled "Reflection on how to encourage the desire and commitment to work of gifted children", the fundamental problem is often the analysis itself. In this context, unfortunately, since the teacher is an authority figure, they are not in the best position to ask the essential questions for their analysis, which they likely have little practice in. These questions are necessary to get as close as possible to reality. I have already mentioned this before, and I will revisit some necessary points for understanding.

A teacher needs to be trained in questioning and sensitive to personality assessment. They must ask open-ended questions and establish a trust relationship with the student to encourage them to reveal the true nature of the situation.

Would a student spontaneously tell their teacher, "I didn't want to do the exercise because I've already done five like it," or "It was too easy, so I thought it wouldn't teach me anything"?

The result of an exercise can no longer be the sole measure of a student's knowledge or difficulties.

In the literature, including documents intended for teachers about gifted students, it is frequently noted that these students often do not understand certain implicit aspects, thinking the answer couldn't be that simple.

However, we cannot view everything through this lens.

Studies have shown that exercises that are too easy do not activate cognition.

It is necessary to assess the student's mindset, motivation, and the meaning they attribute to what they are asked to do.

The teacher must adopt a perspective different from the one they are accustomed to using with other students and their results or evaluations.

The teacher must be able to differentiate between the student's actual skills and what is shown in an evaluation. A gifted student may have perfectly understood and be able to manipulate a concept to solve a problem, and yet perform poorly or skip an evaluation.

If an evaluation indicates that the knowledge is there, no further questions arise.

However, if the evaluation seems to indicate a problem with knowledge, one cannot simply stop there with a gifted student. It would be a serious mistake to assume a knowledge problem without thoroughly investigating using other elements and indicators and without a phase of open and supportive questioning.

This is also noted in the Vademecum: "While acceleration of the school curriculum is almost exclusively reserved for students with remarkable academic performance, it can also be a response for some gifted students who seem less performing. Over time, these students may have disengaged from learning and/or from relationships with their classmates, thus limiting their participation in school activities."

These are among the factors that can lead to the misidentification of a gifted student who does not lack knowledge or skills but who, due to the simplicity of the tasks, has lost interest or no longer wants to make an effort to endure repetition, to name just a few scenarios.

This approach is reductive and can have significant consequences, especially in how the student perceives the system.

Is the problem with the student, their knowledge, their motivation, or the fact of giving a gifted student the same type of evaluation as others, knowing that they already know it and find it uninteresting, or an educational and evaluation system based on constraint?

We are not here to debate all this, but can we accurately evaluate a student without considering the context or their specificities?

Parents need precise information from the institution and must be able to understand what is concluded (and what will go into the student's file) regarding evaluations that may reveal a non-existent knowledge problem. But more importantly, what will be done based on these conclusions. We exacerbate the problem if we conclude that the student lacks knowledge and needs more exercises until "it sinks in" and they make no more mistakes, when the opposite might be needed, and the problem likely lies in the lack of meaning.

To conclude this article, there remains one more aspect to address, which will be elaborated upon later: The Stake.

What is the stake when you have a gifted student who does not have critical problems and follows a correct schooling path, whether they are at the top of the class or in the middle?

Why bother requesting and fighting with the institution to ensure it respects its support commitments and protocols?

The question of the stake seems fundamental to me for a gifted student, whether they are successful or not, even if in the latter case, daily situations may seem urgent, pushing the stake to the background.