As documented in this special issue, all over the world hard choices must be made in education, government, business, and medicine. Intelligence tests, used intelligently and with appropriate ethical safeguards, are one tool of many that help make hard choices work out well, or at least better than the next-best alternative (Kaufman, Raiford,…

We examined the response to a phonics through spelling intervention for children with developmental dyslexia in word and pseudoword reading efficiency and word spelling. Furthermore, we investigated to what extent the response to the intervention is robust across different cognitive profiles (phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and…

Important adolescents' career-related decisions might be influenced by their beliefs about malleability of intelligence and learning (mindset). We combined quantitative and qualitative data to provide in-depth insights in the beliefs that 13- and 14-year olds hold about learning and intelligence, the factors influencing these beliefs, and the…

We examined the divergent validity and utility of the "Test for Creative Thinking--Drawing Production" (TCT-DP) in an identification protocol for high-ability students that included measures of intelligence, school motivation, inquisitiveness, creativity, and academic achievement. Data were collected from seventh-grade students across 6…

The effectiveness of a mindset intervention in secondary vocational education and training was investigated. Students (n = 55) enrolled in a mathematics course participated in an online mindset intervention for a period of 10 weeks. Both pretest and posttest scores on mindset and mathematics results were compared with students who did not get a…

Implicit theories of intelligence play a role in teacher's actions. Adaptive instruction in and out of the classroom is important to optimize learning processes, especially in the case of at-risk students. This study explored to what extent implicit theories of intelligence play a role in the actions of educational professionals around at-risk…

Mindset plays a pivotal role in academic achievement. In particular, a growth mindset is related to academic success. This study explored the role of mindset in Secondary Vocational Education and Training (VET). Participants were 1005 VET students attending eight different vocational programmes on three qualification levels in the rural southwest…

In this study, we explored the structure of pupils' creativity in primary education following the Amusement Park Theory, by investigating undiscovered linkages between the domains of writing, mathematics, and drawing. More specifically, we examined: (a) whether some domains and general thematic areas are more closely related to each other than to…

This article aims at finding the relationship between households' personality traits and their financial literacy level. The data in this research are from the household survey which can represent the population in Dutch. Using the Big Five personality traits and economic locus of control--extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional…

Intellectual abilities are consistently found to be associated to child functioning. To date, however, it is unclear how varying intellectual profiles relate to differential aspects of child functioning. We screened 513 fifth-grade children on their intellectual abilities and selected three groups of gifted children, scoring in the top 10%:…

In the present study, we compared the mindset of preuniversity students and (primary and secondary) vocational students. Participants comprised of 173 students attending preuniversity education and 101 students attending vocational education. All participants completed a mindset questionnaire. We expected, based on previous educational…

It is often assumed that students with a higher potential for excellence are less motivated to collaborate. So far, the question remains whether this is actually the case. This survey study investigated the influence of business students' (N = 389) potential for excellence on their motivation to collaborate on a business-related task. Different…

This study addresses the question as to what cognitive abilities influence performance on article choice and direct object scrambling in high-functioning Dutch-speaking children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Schaeffer (2016/2018) shows that a group of 27 high-functioning Dutch-speaking children with ASD, aged 5-14, overgenerates the…

Two explanations for resolving dyslexia were investigated, one assuming resolving underlying deficits and another assuming compensatory mechanisms based on cognitive strengths. Thirty-six Dutch gifted secondary-school students with either persistent (n = 18) or resolving (n = 18) dyslexia participated. Groups, matched on IQ, were assessed on…

The present study aims to contribute to the understanding of the effects of music education, in particular music composition as a classroom activity for fifth- and sixth-graders. The intervention (experimental condition) focused on a three-step-model for music composition, based on the Cultural Historical Activity Theory of education, and has been…