To raise the achievement of every student, Maryland designed "Achievement Matters Most," a plan for public schools that sets goals in the areas of achievement, teaching, testing, safety, and family involvement in schools. Achievement Matters Most supports Maryland schools' efforts to meet the goals of the federal No Child Left Behind…

This article shares findings from a research study on 14 gifted dropouts. The first author designed the study after she came in contact with four gifted young men who chose to leave school rather than put up with what they described as low-level curriculum and a culture that disrespected them. The intent of the study was to explore why gifted…

Students with special needs are increasingly taught in the least restrictive environment, which often means the general education classroom. Mainstreaming and inclusion provide the most appropriate education for each student in the least restrictive setting, considering the education needs of students rather than their clinical labels. A key…

This booklet provides a list of questions parents should entertain in assessing and choosing a school for their child. The questions apply to schools in both the public and private system and span the full range of kindergarten through twelfth-grade institutions. They are meant to assist parents in evaluating whether the school is providing a…

This theme issue of a Texas journal on gifted education focuses on future challenges and options. "A Thoughtful Look at the Concept of Talent Development" (Francoys Gagne) discusses definitions of giftedness and talent and describes a differentiated model of giftedness and talent that includes five aptitude domains: intellectual, creative,…

This report presents the evaluation findings of a 3-year project to develop a comprehensive statewide (Montana) inservice program in gifted and talented education. An introduction summarizes the project's results: regional leaders presented 172 trainings to 3,021 individuals, thereby affecting 90,124 students; conducted 36 consultations in various…

A survey examined educational aspirations and perceptions of school climate among gifted students at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics, a state-funded rural magnet school serving grades 11 and 12. Students at the magnet school completed the 84-item Grades 6-12 Aspirations Survey, returning 97 usable forms. The instrument has 12 scales: 2…

How boys and girls qualify for programs for gifted students using the Wechsler scales of intelligence was studied. The scores that most often qualify them and differences among those scores were studied. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) was used with a random sample of 120 children (60 girls and 60 boys) chosen from…

This 9-week curriculum unit on trees is designed for gifted students in grades 1-5. The lessons are designed for 40-minute classes meeting two or three times a week and stress the development of creative thinking skills, creative problem solving and decision making skills, and critical and logical thinking skills. Each of the 12 lesson plans…

Although Native American children are theoretically eligible for gifted programming, equality of opportunity does not exist. Arizona state data show that Native American students are underrepresented statewide and in 13 of 14 counties examined. Two issues related to this underrepresentation are the definition of "gifted" used for…

This investigation examined the perceptions of competence in various domains that academically talented seventh-graders hold in comparison with peers of the same and opposite gender. Subjects included 1,294 participants in the Duke University Talent Identification Program Talent Search. A Likert-type scheme and multifactor repeated measures were…

This paper discusses the results of a survey that investigated how 69 school districts associated with the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented were implementing cluster grouping to meet the intellectual, social, and emotional needs of gifted students. Results from the survey indicate: (1) the majority of school districts did not…

This paper addresses common concerns of parents about the social development of gifted children. It stresses the importance of three key factors: (1) a responsive home environment where the child is respected; (2) opportunities to relate to other gifted children, especially during the early years, when self-concept is formed; and (3) opportunities…

Five activity booklets are presented for implementing Project EAGLE, an enrichment program for gifted and talented primary-level children. The first booklet, "Sound," contains four activity pages to accompany teaching of the concept that sound is transmitted through air to the ear. The "Groups 1" booklet provides nine…

Findings of a follow-up study that examined the experiences of the 1987 and 1988 graduates of the Center for the Arts and Sciences (CAS) program in Saginaw, Michigan, are presented in this paper. A survey mailed to a total of 78 program graduates, 36 from 1987 and 42 from 1988, elicited 21 responses, the majority of whom were from white females.…