Over the years I've seen several studies suggesting that systems that do not offer advanced placement for gifted students tend to produce better educational outcomes overall. The idea is that other students benefit from having advanced students as role models, while gifted students learn how to relate to people of all levels of ability. To add fuel to the fire, according to this article, advanced placement, which is often based on referrals, simply allows the usual prejudices to manifest themselves. It's 'the grit test' - determining "whether the student possessed things like motivation, creativity, and adaptation," which to my thinking is code for 'one of us'. A better plan is to stop treating some people as 'gifted' and to start treating all students as people.
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