Identifying Creatively Gifted Students: Necessity of a Multi-Method Approach

The process of identifying students as creatively gifted provides numerous challenges for educators. Although many schools assess for creativity in identifying students for gifted and talented services, the relationship between creativity and giftedness is often not fully understood. This article reviews commonly used methods of creativity assessment, looking specifically at their role in identifying students as eligible for gifted and talented programs. Issues in understanding the creativity and giftedness relationship are reviewed, with special attention given to problems in assessing creatively gifted students. A multi-method best practice approach for assessing and identifying creatively gifted students is proposed.