This study investigated differences in the social, emotional, and behavioral adjustment of gifted and regular eighth-grade students. Three groups were identified: (a) gifted students who entered school early or skipped at least one grade K-7, (b) students enrolled in eighth-grade gifted classes, and (c) regular eighth-grade students. Data were self-reported in the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) (Ingels et al., 1989). Results indicated that accelerated students and students in gifted classes had better perceptions of their social relationships and emotional development and tended to have fewer serious school behavior problems than regular students. Contrary to commonly held beliefs, most students who entered school early or skipped elementary grades did not report unusual social isolation or experience profound emotional difficulties. They had serious behavioral problems less frequently than regular students.
The optimal school learning environment for gifted students is one where scholastic rigor is the standard. This rigor is needed both to stimulate the students intellectually and enhance their academic growth. Whether enrolled in preschool, elementary, middle, or high school, the integration of critical thinking skills into the daily content and lessons is essential for achieving this rigor (Tomlinson, 2003). This infusion, along with also taking into account student interest, readiness, and learning styles, provides the foundation and walls for raising the ceiling of students' scholastic growth and intellectual stimulation.The defining characteristic of gifted students is their advanced intellectual ability and its related needs (Sayler, 2009a). In order to appropriately address this cognitive aptitude, academic instruction must engage and inspire learners through complex curricula presented at a pace aligned to their intellectual and developmental readiness. The level of the advanced development of gifted students is often higher than their teachers suspect (Colangelo, 2007). Their readiness makes curriculum designed for most students at the typical age of the class developmentally inappropriate for those whose needs far exceed the norm.
This study examined the psychometric properties of the Personal Well-being Index for Adults (PWI-A), a measure of subjective well-being. The study used data from 533 high-ability American college students: honors students and participants in an early college entrance program. In earlier studies using the PWI-A, the instrument appeared to show differences in disaggregated aspects of well-being for these gifted college students. Unfortunately, the careful psychometric examination of the instrument done in this study showed that the PWI-A, as it currently is constituted, did not perform as hoped for assessing changes in the disaggregated aspects of well-being among groups of gifted college students. The single-factor structure of PWI-A showed support for convergent validity, but error correlations indicated lack of support for discriminant validity. The current analysis of the PWI-A scores showed good internal consistency, but the instrument lacked measurement invariance across honors and early entrance students. Four of the seven items exhibited differential item functioning across the two groups. The lack of full measurement invariance indicated room for refinement of the instrument as applied to measuring the well-being of high-ability college students. The results of the current study suggest that to measure accurately the disaggregated well-being of gifted and talented young people, a new, revised, or expanded instrument is necessary. More and diverse items per subscale in a new or revised instrument would allow a more accurate assessment of the specific aspects of the well-being of gifted and talented individuals.
Parents and schools often notice the need for addressing advanced mathematical performance in elementary students. Many gifted programs do not offer differentiated or accelerated mathematics as part of their elementary school options. In this report, the efforts of one school system to identify and serve the needs of highly mathematically able elementary students are reported. The process involved a multiple pilot program with increasing levels of involvement across the district over a 3-year period. Initially, a small group of students were allowed modest acceleration at one school. After each of the first 2 years, the identification and acceleration practices were refined. In the 3rd year, the program option was offered to students across the entire district.
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