This study, involving 158 prospective and experienced teachers' reactions to hypothetical students' patterns of giftedness, found differential predictions of success, recommendations for programing, and trait ratings for various patterns of giftedness and talent, suggesting sensitivity to "multiple intelligences." The influence of gender, race, or…

Gifted elementary students at the Center for Gifted Education in Columbia, Missouri, participated in a seminar designed to teach them the fundamentals of chess and other strategy board games. Students learned that beginning chess is accessible to everyone, learned problem solving and concentration, and created their own strategy board games. (JDD)

This paper describes two Department of Education reports on gifted education--1972's Marland Report and 1993's "National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent." It relates report findings to findings from a survey of states' policies. The paper calls for states to design programs that nurture talent potential of all students…

Five scales measuring self-esteem, social isolation, locus of control, alienation, and anxiety were used along with personal interviews to test the relationship between gender and adjustment in 88 gifted adolescents in Singapore. Gifted girls were found to have difficulty reconciling their giftedness with societal notions of femininity. (78…

This article examines available literature on a variety of options for accelerated learning in middle school. Different forms addressed include concurrent enrollment, guided independent study, combined enrollment, out-of-school acceleration, self-paced instruction, grade skipping, and differentiated or advanced class enrollment. A list of…

Describes a plan to split a problematic second-grade gifted class into two parts, fill the remaining seats with mainstream ESL children, and collaborate in teaching the classes. From the start, the children mingled socially and academically; student teachers could not tell which were from the initial gifted group. Heterogeneous grouping also paid…

This study followed 96 gifted students from kindergarten through high school and found that students who qualified for the gifted program on the basis of verbal or quantitative reasoning abilities performed better in academic subjects than did students who qualified only on the basis of nonverbal abilities. (Author/JDD)

Definitions and lists of critical thinking abilities, along with guidelines for utilizing the Delphi Technique, are presented as a procedural model for districts searching for curriculum consensus. Results are reported for a study wherein 16 educators of gifted students used the Delphi Technique to reach consensus on criteria for a thinking skills…

Charleston (South Carolina) Southern University has developed a summer enrichment program for gifted and motivated middle school students focusing on the science-based and mathematics-based professions, especially engineering and research. The program provides special motivational advantages to young girls through individual attention and…

Ripon College (Wisconsin) has developed "colearner" classes as part of the Advance College Experience held each summer for academically able and motivated children. Two classes (in ornithology and computer programing/problem solving) were offered to 15 children and their adult partners (parents, other relatives, or friends). Special…

A survey of 277 white, Hispanic, and African-American parents of gifted children found few intergroup differences in either the characteristics that first indicated their child's giftedness or in current attributes of their child. More whites than others, however, requested an evaluation of their child for gifted program placement. (Author/JDD)

This study of 905 academically talented students (ages 12-16) who completed a 1-year course in high school biology, chemistry, or physics in a 3-week summer program found that the fast-paced courses effectively prepared subjects to accelerate in science and that talented students could begin high school sciences earlier than generally allowed.…

The constancy of intelligence quotients (IQs) of 161 gifted Israeli children, obtained initially in grades K-4 and retested 1-4 years later, was examined. Results indicated that 86% still qualified as gifted on the retest, with mean differences of five to eight IQ points. Performance scores tended to remain constant, whereas verbal scores tended…

To ensure quality programs in gifted education, parents, teachers, and concerned citizens should become involved in development of education policies. Influencing public policy involves determining which government structure has jurisdiction over the policy and lobbying for legislative action by attending public hearings, writing letters, working…

This introduction to a special issue on the work of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (housed at the universities of Connecticut, Georgia, and Virginia and Yale University) stresses the center's mission as conducting research that is directly relevant to the teacher/practitioner and information dissemination aimed at…