Using data from 11 institutions, the authors investigate enrollments in intermediate microeconomics to determine characteristics of successful and unsuccessful students and follow the retake behavior of unsuccessful students. Successful students are significantly different from unsuccessful ones, and unsuccessful students differ by type…

We examine recent research across countries and cultures in regard to the issues related to the formation of gifted and talented education perspectives, policies, and practices. Many modern cultures and subcultures have developed formal and informal definitions of what it means to be gifted and talented, and when we compare the perceptions,…

Whereas equity issues are mainly discussed with respect to students at risk, this article focuses on mathematical potentials of under-privileged students and therefore elaborates a wide, dynamic and participatory conceptualization of (sometimes still hidden) mathematical potentials. An extended research review theoretically and empirically grounds…

The issue of high school dropout has long concerned policy makers, educational professionals, and the general public. In the gifted literature, this concern is no less pressing. Student engagement is becoming an increasingly discussed construct for conceptualizing the dropout phenomenon and designing appropriate interventions to prevent this…

This monograph focuses on the main populations and topics in the college readiness literature. The population of U.S. youth who are traditionally aged high school and college students dominates research; for the most part, the authors concentrate on literature about this population. Within this broad parameter, the review is centrally concerned…

Standardized testing for college admissions has grown exponentially since the first administration of the old "College Boards" in 1901. This paper surveys major developments since then: the introduction of the "Scholastic Aptitude Test" in 1926, designed to tap students' general analytic ability; E.F. Lindquist's creation of…

Giftedness researchers have long debated whether there is empirical evidence to support a distinction between giftedness and attained level of achievement. In this paper we propose a general theoretical framework that establishes scientific criteria for acceptable evidence of superior reproducible performance, which any theory of exceptional…

Discusses research related to assessment data for vocational-technical programs and categories skills as basic, transferable, and generalizable. Use of generalizable skills can identify functional learning abilities and problems of students in those programs. (JOW)

Discusses scientific literature on childhood potential to understand the dynamics of child development and childhood outcomes in the context of beneficial and deleterious genetic and environmental influences. (MKR)

A causal cognitive model illustrates that joint influence of home environment with cognitive and affective entry constitute the antecedent conditions for observed learning rate. The quality of instruction defines entry behaviors. As conditions of learning improve, the time necessary for learning decreases and the degree of learning increases. (RL)

Results of a study comparing the academic achievement of 350 teacher education graduates and 1,333 non-teacher education graduates at Clarion University (PA) challenge the view that teacher education students perform poorly. (IAH)

Discusses problems in evaluating artistic ability, changing views on the appropriate content and methods for art education, and new research that reveals relationships between artistic and other intellectual abilities; briefly notes several studies on art programs for the gifted and talented. (MCG)

High-track/low-track studies almost invariably conclude that students gain from being in high-ability groups and lose from being in low-ability groups. Track/no-track studies find achievement effects approaching zero for high, average, and low achievers. Brewer, Rees, and Argys's own data provide little evidence for maintaining ability grouping.…

A model describing three context variables hypothesized to affect measures of teacher effectiveness is presented. The variables are (1) student performance outcome; (2) student ability level; and (3) scope of teacher influence. This study investigated the relevance of scope of influence with individual students and with a group. Results are…

Examines the relation between social and academic competence of school-age children (N=163) to determine the direction of influence between these two domains across time. Results supported a reciprocal model, indicating that academic achievement directly influenced social competence, and social competence was reciprocally related to academic…