The Lack of Minority Students in Gifted Education: Hiring More Exemplary Teachers of Color Can Alleviate the Problem

When implemented well, gifted education creates opportunities for future success. However, when gifted students are not placed in gifted programs, they typically struggle in school. Unfortunately, low-income students of color are underrepresented in gifted education. A variety of causes, including a lack of teachers of color and biased methods of identifying students for these programs, contribute to this problem. This essay focuses on why teachers of color are likely to enhance the education of gifted minority students in the United States and why few teachers of color work in school settings. It also offers recommendations for increasing the percentage of students of color in gifted education.     

Program reevaluation: The gifted controversy

Gifted reevaluations consume an enormous amount of professional time and energy. The purpose of the present study was to survey gifted education teachers' and supervisors' perceptions of current gifted reevaluation practices. Results showed most gifted educators were not in agreement with the practice of using gifted reevaluations to reestablish program eligibility. Instead, they would prefer to get information relevant to program evaluation, program planning, and the need for additional services. Included among the alternatives suggested to replace the present gifted reevaluation practices were consideration of student work products, motivation, and interest; reports by parents and by regular and gifted education teachers; and monitoring the student progress made in achieving the goals of the individual educational program.     

Applications of Social Cognitive Theory to Gifted Education

Social cognitive theory emphasizes a dynamic interactive process to explain human functioning. This theory ascribes a central role to cognitive processes in which the individual can observe others and the environment, reflect on that in combination with his or her own thoughts and behaviors, and alter his or her own self-regulatory functions accordingly. The purpose of relating the theory to gifted education is to examine the implications of the theoretical extensions for planning appropriate curricular and instructional experiences for advanced learners. Some of the more commonly found gifted education service models are considered in terms of how well they align with and address what is known to be integral to student learning according to social cognitive theory.     

Ageless and Timeless: Perspectives on Giftedness Across the Life Span

Annemarie Roeper’s timeless perspectives were demonstrated throughout her long and productive life. Her prolific writings and speeches continue to influence our understanding of giftedness at all ages and stages of life, and the time I spent with her had a profound and meaningful effect on my work. Annemarie incorporated her inner view of giftedness into her definition, her collaboration with her husband George in developing the Roeper Philosophy and Roeper School, her global perspectives, and her qualitative assessment approach to understanding children and identifying those who are gifted. Direct involvement with Annemarie has been especially influential in my thinking about gifted adults, including educators and parents. The quality of agelessness that Annemarie demonstrated in the later years of her life also has been instrumental in helping me and others develop greater understanding of giftedness across the life span.     

美国数学教育改革与数学天赋学生培养的简略回顾--如何在鱼腹中发现珍珠

数学天赋教育是数学教育改革的重要分支，美国最近20多年的数学教育改革提供了关于数学天赋教育的有价值的经验，天才班并不是培养数学天赋学生的唯一选择，数学教师必须努力在一般课堂中识别数学天赋学生并开发他们的潜能；必须学会运用基本的策略来调整课堂教学以提高对天赋学生教学的能力；必须逐步建立自己的信念，调整自己的知识结构来培养数学天赋学生。     

Gifted Education and Counselling in Canada

Education in Canada is determined at the provincial level of jurisdiction. Each province and territory has a unique system of legislation and policy, although most provinces view the education of gifted students as a category of service provision under special education. The first section of this paper provides a brief, general overview of key themes that emerge from an analysis of the relevant Education Ministry documents and literature concerning gifted education and counselling within the Canadian context. Where appropriate, the particular province(s) and/or territory(s) associated with the themes is noted. The second section highlights the work of Canadian scholars most relevant to counsellors working with gifted students. A brief review of recommended counselling needs, goals, and practices for the gifted is presented in the conclusion.     

Fitting the school to the child: The mission of Leta Stetter Hollingworth,founder of gifted education

We are fond of stating that “what is valued and viewed as gifted in one culture may not be considered gifted in another culture.” This assertion appears in gifted education textbooks and in the writings of several scholars. However, beyond stating this assertion and providing a few examples to support it, scholars in gifted education, ourselves included, have not provided a substantive treatment of the concept of “culture” in their works. This void is addressed in this article where we share definitions and functions of culture, along with a theoretical model for understanding culture. The article ends with implications for gifted education.     

SPECIAL ISSUE COMMENTARY: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Consultation in Gifted Education: Focusing on Practice Issues

This article provides a response from the perspectives of a teacher of the gifted and a trainer of teachers of the gifted. Following a brief summary of the authors' collective experience, the article highlights major issues represented by the four articles and identifies common themes across the various disciplines with respect to consultation and gifted education. A call for needed research and more collaborative work among gifted educators and school support personnel is made.     

Young girls in science: Academic ability,perceptions and future participation in science

Given the lack of information in either the school counseling or the gifted education fields on how school counselors and educators of the gifted work together, research into how individuals from both professions collaborate to serve gifted students and their families becomes important. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine gifted teachers' and coordinators' experiences working with school counselors. Fourteen participants, serving in a variety of K–12 settings, engaged in interviews regarding their different experiences working with their school counselors. Five primary themes resulted from these participants' reported experiences, including educators'/counselors' training and preparation, meeting gifted students' needs through service delivery, school counselors' perceptions and beliefs, systemic barriers and facilitators of collaboration, and teacher and counselor collaborative efforts. These findings are discussed with regard to current literature on gifted education, school counseling, and professional collaboration.     

关于英才教育法律政策的国际比较

法律和政策体系的建立不仅可以引导英才教育的发展方向,而且可以为英才教育的发展提供相应的保障和支持。21世纪以来,越来越多的国家和地区普遍采取了支持英才教育的政策、计划和立法保护。总结和分析国外法律政策的特点,对我国在英才培养目标、鉴别体系、管理机构、课程设置、师资选拔与培训以及经费保障与社会资源支持方面的制度设计具有重要参考和借鉴意义。     

Mentorship: mutual benefits for ASL students and gifted students (part 1)

Postsecondary American Sign Language (ASL) students are capable of teaching short lessons related to sign language and deaf culture to gifted students in elementary school. College students who work as interest-area mentors benefit gifted students while building their own academic discipline and professional skills. In Part 1 of a 2-part series of articles, the authors explain the unique needs shared by students in gifted education programs (GEPs), the concept of interest-area mentorship, and how mentors help meet the needs of gifted students in light of National Association for Gifted Children standards. Benefits for ASL students, gifted students, and GEP teachers are discussed. College instructors also benefit, because mentoring experiences help make mentors better students and professionals. Additionally, mentoring in gifted classes facilitates recruiting of the next generation of professionals. In this case, recruiting occurs with the best and brightest: gifted students.     

Gifted ‘n the ‘hood: Gender and giftedness as predictors of social risk among low-income students

Research abounds on adolescent poverty and on gifted education, but these fields are seldom considered together. This study explores trajectories of aggressive behavior (i.e., weapon carrying) of impoverished, gifted youth. Results indicate that gifted students engage in lower levels of weapon carrying than non-gifted students. Gifted and non-gifted girls’ trajectories are parallel across age.However, weapon carrying among gifted and non-gifted boys does not differ during early and late adolescence, but it does during middle adolescence. These differences can perhaps be explained by examining impulsivity and temperament trajectories by gifted status. Impulsivity for boys and quick-temperedness for girls is lower during early and middle adolescence for gifted students than for non-gifted students, but not during later adolescence. Quick-temperedness for boys and impulsivity for girls does not differ by gifted status during early and late adolescence, but it does during middle adolescence. These findings suggest that some characteristics of giftedness are manifest during early adolescence (perhaps even before enrollment in a gifted program). However, other giftedness characteristics appear only during middle adolescence, after students have enrolled in the gifted program. Implications of these findings for how gifted education programs can impact aggression, and ways to optimally structure these programs, are explored.     

The Color of Giftedness: A Policy Genealogy Implicating Educators Past,Present, and Future

This article offers a critical rereading of gifted education in the United States using a genealogical framework as defined by postcolonial theory. Using genealogy is appropriate because it sets the education profession within a family research tradition, implies the close connection between past and present, and enables us to systematically trace the evolution of exclusionary practices. The purpose of this article is to (a) demonstrate the utility of using historical research to undergird justice work in education, (b) show how gifted education policies and practices in the United States operate under a global context of whiteness and colonization, and (c) foster dialogue around ways educators can begin to disrupt taken-for-granted assumptions and work toward establishing more equitable schooling processes and outcomes.     

Gaining a future through self‐understanding

Mertens states that teachers should be trained in enrichment education not gifted education, and that the traditional school curriculum could be stretched to serve the needs of the gifted with acceleration and fast‐paced tracks.     

国际数学资优教育的研究综述

在有关数学资优教育的研究中,涉及较多的是对数学资优生的界定、特征、评估及培养途径,许多国家都形成了数学资优生的教育模式。其中的许多成果及实践经验对我国的数学资优教育都具有重要的参考价值。     

The Possibilities and Limitations of Gifted Education in Korea: A Look at the ISEP Science- Gifted Education Center

Education for gifted children is currently one of the hottest educational issues in Korea. Much money and effort are being invested in this area of education. Recent announcements by the Korean Ministry of Education state that all children should be educated to the level of which they are capable, and the current program for gifted students should be and will be extended. However, there is little attention paid to the actual substance of gifted education in Korea. What is happening in the name of gifted education? What is the meaning of giftedness and gifted education? How and in what respects can the gifted program be differentiated from general programs? What are the problems and concerns in serving gifted students? What are the effects of gifted programs? These are the main questions of the present qualitative study. For the purposes of this ethnographic study, the ISEP science gifted education center in Korea was observed for a six-month period, and 10 professors and 50 students at the ISEP were interviewed in depth. The results of the study are as follows. First of all, the ISEP science gifted education center provides differentiated learning environments and teaching methods. Second, through these differentiated learning experiences, students improve their thinking skills and creative problem solving abilities, as well as developing positive self-esteem. In addition, the formation of human net works, the special meaning of the ‘gifted’ label, and the acquisition of personal knowledge were seen to be some of the major educative possibilities on offer at the ISEP gifted education center. However, some professors’ low levels of motivation, the absence of individualized educational plans, bureaucratic management, weak student commitment to set tasks, and a lack of opportunity for students’ social activities were clearly limitations of the ISEP gifted education center. The results of this study will contribute to, specifically, the search for new ideas to improve the operation of gifted education as well as helping to surmount the hidden problems lurking beneath the surface of the current gifted education practices in Korea, and, more generally, to enhance our understanding of the diverse gifted educational practices in operation worldwide.     

Are teachers biased when nominating students for gifted services? Evidence from Kazakhstan

The purpose of this experimental, vignette study was to analyze whether certain demographic characteristics of students (i.e. gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status) influence secondary education teachers in referring students for gifted services in Kazakhstan. A sample of 132 teachers were randomly assigned to one of eight profiles describing a typical gifted student with particular demographics and requested to indicate how strongly they believed the student should or should not be recommended for gifted services. Results evidenced that gender, ethnicity, and SES did not influence the Kazakhstani teachers’ referrals. The implications of teacher nominations in students’ identification for gifted programs and the discussion on the role of gifted education as perceived by school teachers in Kazakhstan and elsewhere are provided.     

Gifted native American students: Underperforming,under‐identified,and overlooked

There has been limited focus among researchers on the nature and needs of gifted Native American students in the past 30 years, and the work that has been done frequently generalizes findings across Native American cultures. This article reviews recent literature on Native American youth and on gifted Native American students; examines the current condition of education in the Diné (Navajo) Nation through a sociocultural motivation lens and based on work with one tribal community on this reservation; calls researchers and educators to action and to recognize that, as with all ethnic groups, many individual cultures exist within Native American populations; and offers suggestions for education personnel. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Evaluating state funding for gifted education programs

As a follow‐up to a previous article in which Baker and Friedman‐Nimz (2002a) recommended that gifted education advocates should focus on improving state funding of gifted education, this article provides an overview of state school finance policies for gifted education and frameworks for evaluating those policies. The frameworks are then applied for evaluating state school finance policies as of 1998–99 and state aid allocated to local districts for gifted education in 2000. In that year, only Florida provided both sufficient and equitable support for gifted education, assuming general education conditions to be adequate as well as equitable in that state. Gifted education funding in Virginia, while less adequate than supplemental funding in Florida, continues to be a model of equitable distribution.     

Joining together with other associations: Strategies for cooperation

Presidents of professional education associations and parent organizations were surveyed in Mississippi to determine the perceived interests and needs of their members in relation to gifted education. All of the respondents reported interest in gifted education workshops at future state conferences. A mean priority of 3.9 on a scale of 1 to 6 was given to gifted education by the presidents of the surveyed associations. Strategies for working with organizations and associations interested in gaining information on the gifted are discussed.