An Exploration of Identification of Leadership for Gifted Students

Leadership has been designated a talent area in federal and state definitions of gifted students who require differentiated programs since the Marland Report came out in 1972, yet it remains the least discussed of the curricular areas for gifted students. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and attitudes of administrators of gifted programs in Colorado and Idaho concerning identifying students gifted in leadership. Public K-12 school districts in Colorado and Idaho were surveyed using a researcher-created survey including questions targeting attitudes and twelve questions specific to leadership traits. Response rate was 51%. In general, respondents indicated it was possible to identify gifted student abilities in K-12 students and the two states agreed with each other in 89% of the leadership skills questioned. Colorado showed a philosophical preference in the nurture, or the developmental philosophy of leadership, over nature, or the inherent philosophy of the construct, whereas Idaho showed no preference. The results suggest that Leadership curriculum should be planned, implemented, and evaluated along a K -12 developmental continuum with multiple opportunities given for leadership development especially in programs for the gifted