An independent study and seminar program for urban gifted youth

Student self‐documentation is an effective approach to program evaluation. It measures student growth and compares performance standards to actual learner performance.     

The new challenge: An ethnically integrated enrichment program for gifted students

The New Challenge Program was established at the University of Texas‐Pan American's School of Education to provide enrichment experience for gifted children in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. Over 125 students in grades K‐12 participate each spring in a course of their choosing designed to explore creativity or foster specialized interests, such as Videography, Engineering in the Real World, Discovering the Art in You, Blood and Guts, and Rocketry and Aviation. The majority of the gifted students in this program are Mexican Americans and are classified as economically disadvantaged. The New Challenge Program staff developed an informal system for selecting and preparing the experts who teach these courses to provide a learning environment that works for all gifted children and a curriculum that is thematic and expands upon the academic content that they learn in school.     

The GOLD program: A program for gifted learning disabled adolescents

Adolescents who are both gifted and learning disabled have unique needs. The GOLD program is a successful model which includes both resource room support and enrichment. Entrance criteria are described. The curriculum includes teaching students about learning disabilities, self‐advocacy, critical thinking, word processing, communication skills, and ethics. Time is provided for remedial and subject work. As well as the curriculum, the success of the program has resulted from intense involvement of staff, one‐to‐one tutoring, a flexible approach to timetables and attendance, and an environment that encourages hope, humor, trust, and student decision making.     

The Johns Hopkins program for verbally gifted youth

The Los Angeles Unified School district has established an evaluation process which leads to creating sound programs for the gifted and to conducting the right in‐service training for teachers.     

A reading program for gifted high school students

Many of the basic principles of future studies are closely related to the objectives and approaches of gifted education. Including future studies as an integral part of a gifted education curriculum would give added meaning to these programs.     

The role and responsibilities of the gifted program coordinator

Research on career development and counseling for gifted and talented students primarily has focused on the recurring themes of multipotentiality, career needs of females, perfectionism, and early cognitive and vocational maturity. A review of current literature, however, indicates that new perspectives on traditional concepts are needed in order to provide appropriate and adequate career counseling to all gifted and talented students. This article gives an overview of the existing issues, identifies areas for further research, and recommends an agenda for change in the nature of career counseling for the gifted and talented.     

Gender differences in identification of gifted youth and in gifted program participation: A meta-analysis

Although numerous studies have researched gender differences in gifted identification and program participation, the results of these studies are largely mixed. The goal of the present study was to synthesize data on gender differences in gifted identification and programming by combining data from multiple studies into a single meta-analysis. The combined results from 130 studies published between 1975 and 2011 indicated that boys were 1.19 times more likely than girls to be identified as gifted and included in gifted programs. Moderator analyses indicated that gender differences were particularly evident among pre-adolescents, within gifted summer programs, and for students who were identified as gifted using IQ scores and standardized tests. Recommendations for reducing gender bias include encouraging pre-adolescent girls to participate in gifted programs and using multiple assessment criteria to identify gifted students.     

Perspectives: Evaluating an early childhood gifted education program

The authors address the issues faced when evaluating an early childhood gifted education program from two fields of study representing different perspectives: early childhood and gifted education. This article describes the evaluation process as well as the resulting impact of the evaluation on the constituents and stakeholders of Oakwood Laboratory School.? The questions raised from the evaluation process lead to a critical examination of what is meant by best practices in both fields. In addition, the process of evaluation may serve as a prototype for other programs which serve similar populations of students.     

Futures education for the gifted

Futures education is an important area for educators of the gifted who are interested in leadership potential for it develops those skills which students can use to meet the issues and challenges of today's and tomorrow's world.     

Distance education for the gifted and talented: An interactive design model

In 1994, the New South Wales Board of Studies, Australia, introduced three high level Distinction Courses for gifted and talented students: comparative literature, cosmology, and philosophy. All are offered by distance education but the cosmology course employs an interactive design model and an extensive communication system that differentiates it from the other two. This article explains the model and the way it is used in practice to organize, sequence and deliver the course. Discussion addresses ways in which the model might be used to design a wider range of courses for gifted and talented students.     

The gifted migrant child: An introduction

This article discusses the need for educators of the gifted to work with educators of the migrant child in order to identify those students who are both migrant and gifted. The Federal definition of migrant, migrant streams, and typical factors that handicap the migrant student are explained. The Migrant Student Record Transfer System is described as a vehicle for nominating and identifying potentially gifted students.