At the Center for Gifted Education at William & Mary, content-based curriculum development and dissemination of materials for teaching gifted and high-ability learners has always been central to the mission. For over three decades, curriculum materials have been developed using Joyce VanTassel-Baska's Integrated Curriculum Model (ICM) and…

Finding all the "gifted" students who would benefit from a gifted and talented service is a perpetual concern. In this article, we focus on how to effectively implement multiple criteria in identification. First, we provide some broad background before introducing three different ways to combine multiple data points (AND, OR, and MEAN)…

We talk about our spatial thinking skills all the time, maybe without knowing that there is an entire domain of cognitive skills that connect these observations. Educators can also recognize these skills in our students. These include students who seem to have an intuitive understanding of computer-aided design and create complex and efficient 3-D…

This article describes the use of clusters in facilitating inquiry and expanding learning opportunities for advanced and gifted students. Options are presented that extend or reinforce the central focus of curricular investigations. These clusters enhance the gifted students' understanding of the connections that reinforce and/or extend the impact…

William & Mary's Center for Gifted Education's mission is to foster talent development of high-ability individuals over their lifespan. This article highlights the Center for Gifted Education's programs and offerings to develop leaders in the field of gifted education and talent development. This article details professional learning programs…

As we write this paper in late 2023, Advanced Placement (AP) Black history, psychology courses and the use of diverse literature written for children and young adults is being banned by many school districts across the United States. Educators are being threatened, sanctioned, reprimanded, and fired. Despite this, some teachers stand steadfast in…

In its various forms, acceleration continues to be an evidence-based and widely used service provided to gifted students but remains controversial and unsupported in legislation in most states. Case studies, current legislation, interviews with state directors of gifted education programs, and a deep dive into the 2018-2019 State of the States in…

The impact that the practice of mindfulness has on young gifted children has yet to be fully explored in today's literature. In adults, mindfulness has been demonstrated to help reduce anxiety, depression, stress, and improve self-regulation. Children are known to struggle with these issues as well. The findings of this exploratory qualitative…

The classroom can become the primary source to introduce students to the processes that promote opportunities for self-differentiation or personal intellectual challenges. A missing component in some differentiated experiences is the need to provide gifted students with opportunities to gain the independence that fosters their abilities to assume…

Identification for gifted and talented services is governed by state and local policies. Inclusive, student-centered policies can support equity and excellence by ensuring that all students have access to appropriate levels of academic challenge. Gifted programming standards, evidence-based interventions, and emerging strategies can provide…

Advocacy is important in order to have policy that establishes best practices at the local, state, and national levels. Planning an advocacy initiative includes setting the goal, crafting the advocacy message, having a point person for coordinating communication, researching the individual or group that can make the decision to put the initiative…

Research has been conducted at The William & Mary Center for Gifted Education in a variety of subject areas, making a significant impact on the field of gifted education, particularly in the area of low-income, underrepresented high-ability students. Early research focused on curriculum efficacy and program quality. Following the retirement of…

This article focuses on the important instructional technique of integrated or interdisciplinary instruction with reference to the teaching of science but with implications for all school subjects. Readers are provided with a definition of the concept of the discipline and the importance of communicating the basic nature of a discipline to…

This article describes how intra- and interdisciplinary learning experiences can activate the interests and capabilities among children in their early years. A developmental sequence delineates a series of stage-by-stage experiences describing the skill and content to be introduced and mastered in the teaching and learning process, which include…

The author provides a checklist for educators who are selecting technically adequate tests for identifying and referring students for gifted education services and programs. The checklist includes questions related to how the test was normed, reliability and validity studies as well as questions related to types of scores, administration, and…