First-year data from a longitudinal investigation of over 1,100 children receiving different types of gifted services or regular instruction indicated significant differences in achievement levels, self-concepts, and teacher ratings of students selected for different services, with achievement fostered by special school and class options and…

Describes Woodlands Mountain Institute's leadership program, which helps exceptional West Virginia high school students get into good colleges and serve home communities after finishing college. Describes cases of low-income students assisted by program in college selection and financial aid. Describes colleges' cooperation, peer-counseling…

This paper describes longitudinal studies on three cohorts of students accelerated academically as part of the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth. Results do not support critics' contentions that acceleration produces academic gaps and early "burn out" but instead show positive psychosocial outcomes and high levels of participant…

This study of the college experiences of 1,724 academically talented (upper 2%) high school seniors in Wisconsin did not support suggestions of a "brain drain" out of Wisconsin. The study also found that 82% of males and 72% of females majored in math-science areas and 60% felt ill prepared in foreign languages. (DB)

This study found that accelerated students (n=365) and students (n=334) in gifted classes had better perceptions of their social relationships and emotional development and fewer behavior problems than did regular students (n=323). The accelerated eighth graders who entered school early or skipped elementary grades did not report social isolation,…

Reports on a study of the free response essays in the Advance Placement U.S. history test from 1963-92. Asserts that there were four significant transition years: 1964, 1965, 1973, and 1976 and predicts another in 1994. Presents data indicating trends toward social history, cultural pluralism, and economic/business topics. (CFR)

This article discusses the resistance of many students who have taken Advanced Placement English in high school to college freshman-year English composition requirements. Concepts of adherence and opposition to authority are applied to help understand these students. Recommendations for helping these students develop their thinking and writing are…

The Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) was administered to 219 Czech adolescents, 132 of whom were mathematically gifted. Two distinct orthogonal constructs of perfectionism were identified, indicating that healthy and unhealthy perfectionism are not opposite poles on a single continuum but are independent constructs. Perfectionism was…

A study involving 233 academically talented adolescents investigated ethnic group differences in self-concept and the contribution of domain-specific self-concept to global self-concept. White students had significantly higher scholastic and job self-concepts than Asian American students, and physical self-concept was a substantive contributor to…

A study investigated the influence of self-concept and perceived family environment on psychosocial adjustment among 180 early-entrance college students (ages 14-17). Family cohesion, conflict, and expressiveness and overall self-concept were predictive of adjustment to college. Family cohesion, organization, control, conflict, and overall…

Gifted elementary students need exposure to advanced concepts and materials without being segregated from classmates. Educators should avoid labeling students as gifted; assign independent projects, real-world problems, and high-quality literature; promote guided exploration and self-discovery; consider alternative settings; and find suitable…

Foreign language instruction is known to develop better critical thinking skills in children. Therefore, the teaching of foreign languages should be promoted so that "all" students may attain better creative, divergent, critical, and analytical thinking skills. Research done in past years on cooperative learning models has consistently shown that…

The impact of summer science-enrichment programs on high-school students' science motivation and confidence was evaluated in a 7-month period following program completion. The programs took place on a college campus. The splashdown effect was defined as program-related changes the program graduates recognized in themselves that became apparent to…

In order to better understand contributing factors of moral judgment development, gifted youth and college students were compared. Moral judgment development, ACT scores, attributional complexity, and descriptors of personality were assessed among 140 college students and 97 gifted youth. Important distinctions favoring the gifted sample were seen…

In a survey study, we investigated teacher attitudes toward acceleration and accelerated students in the Netherlands. Teachers (N = 334) from 31 secondary schools gave their opinion about gifted education and acceleration, and evaluated statements about accelerated students. Most teachers considered a special approach for gifted students advisable…