GIFTED EDUCATION IN JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS

Although there are many Jewish day schools within the United States, relatively few offer gifted programs. The schools that do offer programs differ from each other, offering various forms of enrichment. We discuss the exemplary standards for gifted programs established by the National Association for Gifted Children and illustrate how the standards could be applied to Jewish day schools. The information provided can be useful for decision making, implementing and improving gifted programs in Jewish day schools.     

THE EFFECT OF IDENTIFICATION AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT OF GIFTED ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PUPILS

Within the framework of a comprehensive research project entitled “The effects of identification and specific treatment of gifted pupils”, this paper deals with the problem of the effects of such a procedure on the attitudes of pupils, their parents, and teachers regarding giftedness and gifted individuals. Attention was mainly directed towards the effects of identification on the development of personality characteristics of the gifted pupils, on relations between gifted and other pupils, on the characteristics of teachers necessary for work with the gifted, on the controversy about separation of the gifted into special classes or schools, and on society's obligations to the gifted. The results of this two year follow‐up study are based on a comparison of the data from the initial and the final surveys of an experimental and a control group of subjects.

     

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN MOTIVATIONAL AND COGNITIVE COMPONENTS OF THE PERSONALITY OF GIFTED PUPILS

This paper introduces results of empirical research in connection with motivational and cognitive components of gifted pupils. In all 250 pupils in the 7th and 8th grades were included in this experiment Of these pupils, 177 applied for entrance to a special school for mathematics, natural sciences and technology (research), while 73 formed the control group. The cognitive components were tested–using the Raven Matrices as well as the results of the entrance exams of the special school applicants. The motivational components were measured with tests of striving for knowledge and motivation for physics. There were significant differences between the two groups in terms of cognitive and motivational components, which favored the special school applicants. The pupils also showed a positive correlation between the mathematics and physics exam results and the extent of primary motivation and striving for knowledge.     

UNDERACHIEVEMENT IN CULTURALLY DIFFERENT GIFTED CHILDREN

The paper examines issues related to underachievement in culturally different children. For a specific cultural group, the Canadian Inuit (Eskimo) people, the inappropriateness and inadequacy of the frequently used intelligence‐achievement discrepancy for identifying underachievement are demonstrated Approaches for assessing underachievement and giftedness in culturally different children, without reliance on standardized and inappropriately normed tests, are considered As well, a number of cognitive strategies programs are noted as having potential for remediation of learning difficulties in culturally different, underachieving, gifted children. The ultimate goal is identification of culturally different children, reduction or elimination of underachievement, and development of their full potential.

     

SPIRAL OF DISAPPOINTMENT: DECLINE IN ACHIEVEMENT AMONG GIFTED ADOLESCENTS

The view that the pattern of development and the scholastic performance of potentially highly gifted children are as prone to disturbances as those of less gifted youngsters is now widely accepted. The emergence of giftedness and the unfolding of talent has been shown to be a developmental process, in which a variety of cognitive, noncognitive, and ecopsychological preconditions are involved. Whether the observed developmental patterns of a young person are harmonious or disruptive depends on what has been described in the literature as a favourable (vs. unfavourable) constellation of facilitating factors. With the help of a dynamic model, case studies of failure and refusal to perform in school among young underachievers are analyzed and related to previous school experiences.     

TASK ANALYSIS: BULIDING MODELS OF CHANGE PROCESSES IN GIFTED EDUCATION

Researchers in the field of gifted education are becoming increasingly aware that a variety of research approaches can make contributions to research on giftedness. This paper describes task analysis, a research methodology derived from counseling process research. Task analysis appears to be a useful research approach for building theoretical models of how therapeutic and educational interventions can facilitate positive changes in gifted children. The paper traces the historical development of task analysis methodology, describes the steps involved in conducting a rational‐empirical task analysis of change processes, and provides an example of how task analysis methodology might be applied to investigations of change processes in the field of gifted education.     

MORAL REASONING IN GIFTED ADOLESCENTS: COGNITIVE LEVEL AND SOCIAL VALUES

In a population of 1141 students attending the last year of secondary school (age 17‐19) in three towns of North, Central and South Italy, who were tested using four ability tests, we studied responses to six moral dilemmas, comparing subjects of low, average and high ability by means of analysis of variance and cluster analysis. Two groups of very high (5 percent of the total sample) and extremely high (2 percent) students were individually interviewed in order to explore the motivation for their choices. The gifted showed, as expected, more responses at the formal level (greater choice of items concerning general and abstract principles, greater support for law and social contracts, more coherence), but in the average and lowest groups we found a more sentimental, humanitarian orientation, with a sympathetic attitude towards other people's feelings, which can constitute the base for a more intuitive, but not inferior morality.     

HYGIENE IN SUNDAY SCHOOLS

In the Netherlands, the relation between Catholic schools and the Catholic Church was apparent during the pillarized educational system and culture of the first decades of the 20th century. In the post-pillarized decennia afterward, their connection transformed and became less recognizable. At first glance, their contemporary relation sometimes seems only superficial. This article argues that Catholic schools are connected with the Catholic religious tradition in an embodied way and in their orientation toward the common good. Furthermore, the embodied religiosity expressed in daily school life is more than both schools and church realize, intertwined with ecclesiastical reflections on Catholic education.     

EDUCATING FOR FORMATIVE PARTICIPATION IN COMMUNITIES OF FAITH

Participation is commonly desired in and out of faith communities. Garnering formative participation entails inviting and empowering others to participate in shaping and defining a community's identity. A community that invites formative participation may empower itself to likewise participate in formative ways in its wider communities. Such participation, at all levels, may be seen as participation in God's ongoing creation, part of our calling as beings created in the image of a creating God. Formative participation should and can be a central goal of education in the church. This article offers images and possibilities for educating for formative participation.     

SELF‐ACTUALIZATION IN GIFTED AND AGGRESSIVE YOUNG PEOPLE

A total of 80 students aged seventeen and eighteen (40 in each group) selected from several secondary schools took part in the study. It was assumed that the intensity of self‐acceptance among gifted young people is positively influenced by intellectual success, as well as by the following personality traits: internal locus of control, average or low level of anxiety, strong sensation seeking. There was a trend towards higher self‐actualization among gifted students (although statistically insignificant), while self‐actualizing students had an internal locus of control and a need for stimulation and varied experience. The assumption that lower anxiety and higher self‐acceptance are characteristic of young people with higher self‐actualization was not confirmed, which suggests that there is a need to intensify parents' and teachers' support for students coping with difficulties.     

AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN SENIOR SETTINGS: ON THE NEED FOR EDUCATING GRANDPARENTS

The study reported in this paper examined perception of family relations by African-American elders. Data were collected from 39 participants in senior settings using the Grandparents Strengths and Needs Inventory to identify favorable qualities and areas for further improvement. Participants also were interviewed for common themes. Grandparents rated themselves favorably on satisfaction, overall success, and teaching. They assigned themselves high scores for coping with difficulty and managing frustration and identified information needs as the least favorable rating. Greater satisfaction and ability to manage frustration correlated with a more favorably perceived rating of personal health. Recommendations are given to enhance grandparent influence through educational programs.     

MEDIA STUDIES IN THE SCHOOLS

Despite misrepresentation, serious study of the media in schools is growing apace, and not only for the less able student. One reason for this is the Bullock Report recommendation for an extension in depth and range of existing work, as well as recent technical developments that offer schools equipment to produce their own television material. The future will depend on encouraging the pioneers, particularly by improving communications between teachers and academics.