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This project was a 2-year investigation of elementary school children placed in programs for high-ability learners. The primary purpose of the study was to investigate academic and affective changes in students during their first 2 years in a gifted program. Students were assessed during the fall of one year and the spring of the next year. Subjects were from 14 different school districts in 10 states and included African American and Caucasian/ non-Hispanic students. The study compared students enrolled in gifted programs (special school, separate class, pullout, within-class), high-achieving students from districts in which no program was available at the designated grade levels, and nongifted students in regular classrooms. This project focused on academic and affective student outcomes through multiple administrations of an achievement test, a self-perception survey, and a motivation inventory. In addition to comparing programs in general, an important dimension of the project was to examine characteristics of students from traditionally underserved populations. This was accomplished by including the variables of racial/ ethnic status and the social status of participants. Results revealed that there were differences in cognitive and affective outcomes across program types. Therefore, it is strongly advised that educators conduct ongoing evaluations of their programs to be better able to monitor and address all students' needs.Putting the Research to Use: The main purpose of this study was to improve our understanding of the cognitive and affective outcomes of students in gifted programs, rather than to ascertain which program was "best." Results showed that no single program fully addressed all the psychological and emotional needs of gifted students. In terms of achievement, gifted children attending special programs performed better than high-achieving peers who were not in programs. Specifically, children in special schools, separate class programs, and pullout programs for the gifted showed substantially higher levels of achievement than did both their high-achieving peers not in programs and those attending within-class programs. Policy makers should know that students from within-class grouping arrangements received the lowest scores in all areas of achievement. Given that within-class programs are a popular model in gifted education, their curricular and instructional provisions for the gifted must be carefully maintained lest they disintegrate into a no-program format. In addition, there were no differences between any groups in the study regarding their social perspectives. These elementary school students felt comfortable with the numbers of friends they had and with their own popularity. The type of grouping arrangement did not appear to influence student perceptions of their social relations, whether they were gifted, high-achieving, or nongifted. Self-perceptions were relatively low, however, for at least one group. Students from the separate class program scored at the highest levels of achieve...

This qualitative research study focuses upon 18 highly creative/productive secondary school students. Creative/ productive behavior is examined by studying characteristics of youths who pursued and completed investigations based on their interests. The data sources were the family, the school, and the student. Methods of investigation included document analysis, questionnaires, and a student interview. Reflecting on experiences in their respective programs for the gifted, students revealed insights into the ways they obtained ideas for their projects, how their interest in their investigations was sustained, and what they learned from their efforts.

Are we identifying the "truly gifted" student? How should we test the efficacy of our procedures? The authors assess research on the topics of defining and identifying exceptional potential. They propose three alternative criteria to intelligence test scores as the key criterion for identification.What are the major issues, problems, and potential research designs for conducting studies on the identification of gifted and talented students? Almost every research study dealing with the gifted and talented includes descriptive information about various types of identification procedures ; however, studies about the actual effectiveness of the identification process itself have focused almost exclusively on a single research design. This design generally has attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of various criteria for determining who is &dquo;really gifted!&dquo; At issue in such studies is the almost total use of IQ scores as the ultimate criteria (dependent variable) for evaluating the effectiveness of alternative criteria (predictor or independent variables). This article will examine some of the problems associated with this design and present three other research designs that are potentially valuable in adding to our understanding of the meaning of giftedness. Before examining these designs, however, we will review some of the major problems and issues underlying research on identification.

This article describes the results of a review of recommended practices in gifted education. Program and curricular practices are categorized into those that are clearly and uniquely appropriate for gifted students, practices requiring some additional support in order to be considered uniquely appropriate, defensible practices that are shared with general education, and some general educational practices for which there does not appear to be evidence to make a case for their uniqueness for the gifted. Implications for improving and clarifying the interface between gifted and general education are provided.