This report examines federal involvement in gifted education in the 20 years since the Marland report on needs of gifted and talented students. Noted is the passage, in 1988, of the Javits Bill which implemented the major recommendations of the Marland report including establishment of the Office of Gifted and Talented and training of teachers.…

This article summarizes Renzulli's Revolving Door Identification Model, an approach to the identification of gifted and talented students. It then investigates reasons for its popularity, addresses criticisms leveled against the model, and assesses its validity and utility for identifying and serving gifted students. (Author/JDD)

Thirty-three female early college entrants were administered a psychological inventory at the beginning and end of the first college year. Accelerants evidenced a consistent pattern of healthy personality growth over the year, which was not observed in a control group of capable nonaccelerants still attending high schools. (Author/JDD)

A major problem facing schools is lack of curricular differentiation and academic challenge for the most academically able students. Also, contemporary textbooks have been "dumbed down." Curriculum compacting is a flexible, research-based technique enabling high-ability students to skip work they already know and substitute more…

The COMET summer residential program at Purdue University (Indiana) offers gifted and talented youth in grades 4-6 a week of intensive study in a single content area. Courses stress specific problem-solving skills and development of a rich knowledge base. Extensive program evaluation by students, teachers, counselors, and parents was highly…

This interview with Joseph Bates, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University (Pennsylvania), recounts his development as a highly gifted child who entered Johns Hopkins University (Maryland) after the seventh grade. Doctor Bates describes his family background, his reaction to radical acceleration, his attitudes toward heterogeneous…

This paper discusses research on affective dimensions of foreign language instruction for gifted students, using Krathwohl's "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Affective Domain" as a framework. The paper suggests behavioral objectives and specific activities to aid foreign language instruction at five levels: receiving, responding,…

This interview with Carolyn Callahan, an expert in gifted education, examines the process of program evaluation and other topics. It discusses how often evaluations should be done, differences between evaluating a relatively new program and a well-established program, inappropriate evaluation practices, program features parents should look for,…

Ten tips are provided to help teachers of gifted students cope with the unique stressors that they face. Tips include making parents allies, putting grades in perspective, and setting realistic goals. Activities are presented for use as introductory "ice-breakers" or concluding activities for workshops for teachers and parents of gifted students.…

The effects of various gifted programs on the self-concepts and depressive symptoms of 82 gifted and talented fifth- and sixth-grade students were evaluated. Sixth-grade gifted groups (pull-out and self-contained) scored higher on self-concept than did nongifted groups. No effects on depressive symptoms were found. (DB)

Suggestions are offered for parenting a gifted child. Suggestions focus on how to deal with certain characteristics of gifted children, such as a high energy level, super sensitivity, tendency to challenge family traditions and rules, and unwillingness to accept parental authority. (JDD)

The mother of an extremely gifted boy relates her emotional response upon learning of his giftedness, especially her excitement at his potential and her fear that his uniqueness harbors hidden pitfalls. (JDD)

Analysis of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Revised) profiles of 456 grade 3 students with Intelligence Quotients of 120 and above found subtest scatter, verbal-performance discrepancy, and idiographic variability to be common and normal. Differences were identified in subgroups according to verbal or nonverbal strengths and gender. (DB)

Effects of the Future Problem-Solving Program on the ability of 29 gifted fourth graders and 32 gifted fifth graders to solve futuristic problems similar to those used in the program were studied. Results indicate a significant effect of the program on solution of this type of problem. (SLD)

It is argued that lack of sustained academic effort, not student grouping, is the major reason for differences in student performance. Ability grouping is seen as a useful tool, especially in accelerated programs for bright children, that should not be rejected in favor of approaches that ignore individual differences. (MSE)