This article attempts to introduce parents of gifted students to the basics of performance-based assessment, authentic assessment, and portfolio assessment. A list of suggested questions is provided for parents to ask educators in the areas of alternative assessment measures, evaluation criteria, grading guidelines, and other problematic issues.…

Gifted elementary and secondary students (n=254) were asked who they considered the greatest leaders of the 20th century. Students' parents ranked high, and girls often cited their teachers or grandmothers, but female and minority group leaders were generally underrepresented. Suggestions for broadening students' range of role models are provided.…

This study evaluated three models of gifted education implemented by seven elementary regular classroom teachers. All models showed a strong relationship between cognitive level of teacher queries and student responses. The Cognitive-Affective Interaction Model produced the best increases in cognitive complexity of classroom interactions and…

This study compared two teachers' levels of implementation of the DISCOVER approach to gifted education and the resulting effects on number of students identified as gifted and on problem-solving behaviors. Significant relationships were found between level of implementation and positive changes in mathematics problem solving and numbers of…

Eleven leadership measures for children, youth, and adults are reviewed in the context of current leadership theories and psychometric standards for test use. Measures for assessing leadership among children are considered inadequately normed and lacking in reliability and validity data, but leadership measures for adults are seen as more…

This article reviews use of individual education plans (IEPs) for children with disabilities and giftedness in Great Britain. The review emphasizes that IEP effectiveness depends on the contexts in which they are generated and the range and quality of the data on which they are based. The need for an effective, comprehensive review and evaluation…

This article describes three very different family environments that nurtured highly gifted children: the Brontes, George Washington Carver, and a group of contemporary siblings in Wales. All cases illustrate the importance of early stimulating environments, including the dynamic interaction of children with nurturing adults, development of the…

This article reports the results of a formative evaluation of an all boys pull-out gifted program in China. Twenty-six seventh-grade gifted students were placed in regular classes but were successfully taught a differentiated curriculum in science, mathematics, and computer science in special pull-out classes. (CR)

A survey of state directors of gifted education on teacher certification in gifted education revealed that 27 states have standards. Twenty-four states require certification, and three provide an option. Suggestions are offered for the establishment and/or upgrading of certification/endorsement in gifted education. A chart illustrates current…

From case study articles drawn from four journals in gifted education, two are identified as exemplars of qualitative case study research. The works of Coleman (2001) and Hebert and Beardsley (2001) are used to illustrate how researchers can plan qualitative case studies so that the perspectives of gifted students are included. (Contains…

This article argues that the adoption of schoolwide enrichment options has resulted in the broadening of services to all children and a paucity of services for gifted children and that the theory of multiple intelligences has been used as a legitimate-sounding reason for administrators to dismiss gifted programs as superfluous. (Contains…

This article lists common pitfalls in parents' gifted advocacy attempts: believing exceptionality is synonymous with entitlement; responding to stated boredom without determining the meaning; waiting for a crisis before advocating; pushing for a response before agreeing on the issue; and advocating from their own issues. Strategies for developing…

Students (n=128) enrolled in 8 summer intensive physics courses for academically gifted students participated in a study to assess the effectiveness of such courses compared to ordinary year-long high school physics courses. Average gains achieved by students were comparable to those achieved by students in the ordinary-length courses. (Contains…

A range of metaphors composed by gifted elementary children are presented and discussed in terms of what they indicate about their personal worlds, special talents, and emotional insights. The approach to creative writing described in the article also has the potential to assist with the identification of linguistic talent. (Contains references.)…

This article presents the case of Geoffrey, a prolific 5-year-old writer. It examines his writing and how his intrapersonal factors and propitious environment contribute to his prodigious output. Childhood precocity is presented as an age-based comparable rather than as an adult-based predictor. A developmental theory of precocity is considered.…