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[I wonder what are the *criteria* to be gifted or talented.

With decades of teaching under my belt, I would say, with all the kids who passed through my portal, I had ONE child who was TRULY, TRULY gifted. One out of thousands.

This school is located in a mostly white, affluent suburb in CT.]

Gifted programs are just an end run around the general prohibition on European-style tracking, where some students are funneled into vocational/technical schools and others into colleges. Some parents have bought into the propaganda and genuinely think their kids are gifted, which they are not. But the reality is more prosaic - they provide more advanced courses that are appropriate for the smarter students in a given class year without instituting tracking.

I had a boy in Newington who was a hellion. Kind of a Huck Finn type of personality.

He irritated his teachers. He should have been outside skinning his knees and climbing trees, rather than be in classroom.

I advocated for him, with the principal, for weeks upon weeks to work out a individualized program, where he could come to my classroom and work on projects.

[In other words, teacher could send him away to me, when she couldn’t stand him anymore]. The principal got tired of me being a squeaky hinge., and relented. Kid’s parents were on board too.

Huck Finn kid is my classroom....I run out to use the restroom...leaving Huck alone.

Huck finds a wig in a carton we were going to use to make a scarecrow. Huck jumps on the tables [wig on], leaping from one table to another....and guess who walks by....the principal. Poor Huck & I got a stern talking to....but fortunately, life went on.

I don’t care if your child is a genius, Huckster or low functioning. Any child benefits from extra attention.