The present qualitative study was conducted in response to federal initiatives aimed at increasing the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) schools in the United States; and to better understand STEM high school administrators', teachers', and students' perceptions of the characteristics of the curricular and instructional strategies and practices representative of their schools. Six STEM high schools with diverse organizational models were purposively selected to represent varied geographical regions, socioeconomic and ethnic groups, and levels of entrance criteria. During 2-day site visits at each school, administrators, teachers, and students were interviewed. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) a common vision of a challenging and engaging learning environment, (b) a focus on applying curricular and instructional strategies and practices to real-world problems, and (c) an appreciation for academic and affective support in the challenging learning environment. Interested stakeholders might discover strategies and practices to support their respective missions.

Modern classrooms are often comprised of a heterogeneous student population with varying abilities. To address this variance, third-grade teachers implemented researcher-designed, pre-differentiated, and enriched math curricula in algebra, geometry and measurement, and graphing and data analysis. The goal of the curricula was to provide academic rigor for all students, including students with high abilities. These units prompted educators to recognize learning differences in their classrooms and provide appropriate lessons for each group. Qualitative analyses revealed the treatment teachers’ successful use of preassessments and grouping practices to accommodate students in their academically diverse classrooms. This study demonstrated the value of pre-differentiated and enriched curricula and professional development. Treatment teachers discussed how important it was that the curricula provided preassessments for each unit, and most lessons provided tiered activities directly connected to students’ preassessment performance. Providing teachers with more meaningful and cohesive tiered activities will support teachers’ efforts in academically challenging students of all levels.

Asking questions to promote higher-level thinking is often promoted as a way to challenge students, especially talented readers, to think more deeply about text and share their thinking. Recent research in a variety of educational fields has indicated that follow-up questions may be used to move all students forward in their abilities to understand and respond to such questions accessing higher-level thinking. The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to identify the types of follow-up questions frequently asked by three teachers at a small, urban elementary school in the Northeastern region of the United States and whether those types varied by students' reading readiness levels. Results indicated that the teachers asked a variety of follow-up questions accessing both higher-and lower-level thinking during reading conferences with students whose reading levels varied; the results also indicated that each teacher tended to ask a greater percentage of higher-level questions of his or her higher-level students than of other students. The identified follow-up question types may be helpful in supporting other elementary reading teachers to expand their repertoire of questions to ask students during discourse around text.

Learning in today's classrooms can be disconnected from students' real world experiences. Providing students the opportunity to address real-world problems may provide avenues for students to engage in their communities while developing academic skills and knowledge. Additionally, for students whose interests are piqued by the nature of their community's problems, these activities have the potential to offer students meaningful, motivating work in a supportive environment. This article explores how providing students with interest-based service-learning opportunities may help them develop and demonstrate gifted behaviors. In addition, methods for integrating student interests and service-learning projects are presented. C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychology in the Schools

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