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The focus of this chapter is to explore the affective states and needs of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) gifted adolescents during the acquisition of a second language and second culture. While many new immigrants arrive with some knowledge of the English language, most are unable to compete on an equal footing with their English-speaking peers in the secondary or postsecondary educational environment because of a lack of academic literacy. There is no unitary description that may address their cultural backgrounds. An English language learner (ELL) may have arrived after a childhood wholly lived in one foreign country or, instead, may be a member of an increasingly significant group of global nomads, children who have lived in multiple countries. An ELL, too, may be a member of an indigenous culture whose life has been lived within U.S. borders, but who shares many characteristics with the foreign-born. Within this group of culturally and linguistically different adolescents, it is expected that the occurrence of giftedness in the population should parallel the membership of giftedness in the majority native-speaking culture. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter begins with a discussion of the stereotype of giftedness of children of Indian origin. The main reason is, of course, the talents and hard work of the students themselves. Nothing in this chapter should be interpreted as taking away from the accomplishments of the students. However, the essence of the belief systems of parents of Indian origin is that their children can and will succeed and that no sacrifice on the part of the parents or the children is too great. These parents impart to their children a culture of hard work, clear focus, building strong credentials, and a single-minded pursuit of careers that lead to prestige and material rewards and recognition. No discussion of the "giftedness" of Indian children and the pressures on them can be complete without recognition of the role of their parents. A more complete understanding of the pressures on children of Indian origin in U.S. schools today requires an understanding of their parents and the culture in which they grew up. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

This chapter addresses the underrepresentation of certain non-Asian racial-ethnic minorities in gifted education programs. One possible explanation for the racial imbalance in gifted education is that the ways giftedness is defined and identified are biased in favor of Whites and Asians. A second possible explanation is that giftedness is not, in fact, distributed equally across all demographic groups. This chapter examines these two theories. The tradeoff between racial balance and rigor in intellectual standards has led educators of the gifted to consider evaluating participants' strengths against other, less cognitive standards. The aim is to "desegregate" gifted education by "democratizing" it, in particular, by expanding the range of skills, abilities, and achievements counted as gifts and the variety of people enlisted to identify them. By enrolling students with many different and vaguely defined kinds of personal strengths, but often weaker academic ones, educators cannot differentiate the curriculum to suit the needs of remarkably talented students of any sort. Narrowing the current large racial gaps in academic achievement is an important social goal, one that often dominates American political discourse and drives social policy. But, these gaps are precisely the reason why "racial equity" cannot be attained in gifted education at this time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

The data from our diverse sources, the normally developing gifted, as well as ordinary children, and the findings on the autistic savants support a developmental analysis in terms of an orderly sequence in the acquisition of graphic skills, especially in the early years. We also note the powerful impact of the culture on the young artist's style and infer that these children acquired the pictorial skills valued in their culture by consistently exploring the possibilities and constraints of their medium and by discovering the major rules that underlie their chosen art form. As my review has indicated, the rate of acquisition of mature representational skills was greatly enhanced in the talented children; but, beyond their precocity, their artistic achievements also differed qualitatively from that of their ordinary agemates. To what extent does prodigy status or childhood giftedness in the visual arts predict the pursuit of a career in the arts? To pursue a career in the arts requires cultural supports and at least some financial rewards. Personality factors also play a significant role. The finding that childhood giftedness is not a good predictor of adult career choices need not detract from our appreciation of artistically gifted children's talents and the roles they can play in their lives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter explores empowering and serving Hispanic students in gifted education, their curricular and instructional needs, and methods for balancing their home, school, and community worlds. Assessment alternatives for determining mastery of skills and content are also provided. This chapter is written with the understanding that the changing demographics of the United States is readily seen in its public schools, and this diversity permeates every school-based program that exists, with the exception, perhaps, of gifted education. Programs including gifted Hispanic students should be designed to nurture individual giftedness and provide a classroom climate that encourages them to use their talents in productive ways. Identifying, recruiting, and retaining Hispanic students in gifted education can provide them with a brighter future and increase their opportunity for securing a postsecondary education. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Giftedness in the narrow sense refers to a high level of general mental ability, or psychometric g. The present article pertains only to giftedness in this narrow sense, i.e., high g. Schools typically consider as gifted those pupils who score more than two standard deviations above the population mean of children their own age on certain mental tests. This is equivalent to an IQ of 130 or above, a cutoff score that includes approximately the top-scoring 2-3% of the population. Any particular IQ cutoff, however, is not essentially important for this discussion. An arbitrary point on an age-standardized and normalized ordinal scale that roughly estimates psychometric g theoretically has the same statistical and predictive properties throughout its entire range. Empirical evidence, so far, has not contradicted this theoretical conjecture. Individuals classified as gifted in the narrow sense are not uniquely different from the rest of the population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter is designed to provide an overview of gender differences found among intellectually gifted students and examine the research addressing males and females in a variety of dimensions of cognitive giftedness, but most frequently those related to manifesting quantitative gifts. This is often a controversial topic. Gender-related differences, when clearly shown by researchers, are not always embraced with enthusiasm. Men and women differ from each other in both fundamental and superficial ways. Physiological differences are well-known. Other differences are less obvious. Many of the cognitive ones are small and unimportant. A few are larger and influential, especially educationally. In this chapter, only differences on certain aptitude and achievement tests are considered, chiefly for above-average examinees. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter focuses on the cognitive components of giftedness in mathematics as postulated in Milgram's multidimensional 4x4 model of the structure of giftedness. The challenge was to develop operational definitions of domain-specific creative ability in mathematics, to assess them reliably, and to investigate their relationship to general creative thinking ability. In addition, the authors investigated the interrelationships between general and specific creative ability in mathematics and general and specific academic ability in mathematics. This required the development of two new instruments to assess domain-specific creativity in mathematics: the Multiscale Academic and Creative Abilities in Mathematics and the Tel Aviv Activities and Accomplishments Inventory: Mathematics. The authors developed two mapping sentences to provide an exact and detailed conceptual description of the postulated academic and creative abilities in mathematics at four levels of understanding. They used the two mapping sentences to guide the process of building the items to assess specific academic and specific creative thinking abilities in mathematics, respectively. In addition, a precise scoring guide was developed to operationally define differences in academic and creative abilities in mathematics between and within four ability levels. The between-level measurement refers to four qualitatively distinct levels of cognitive process ordered by level of difficulty based on an ordinal scale. The within-level measurement refers to eight qualitatively distinct levels of cognitive processes, ordered by degree of complexity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter begins by providing a brief historical overview of giftedness, with an emphasis on identifying the major figures in the field. The theoretical formulation of intelligence and the conceptual links between intelligence and giftedness are also discussed from a historical perspective. The evolution of multitrait theories of intelligence, the impact of advances in psychometrics on gifted assessment, and the increase in the number of theory-based cognitive measures are examined. A major portion of the chapter focuses on discussing special issues related to the intellectual assessment of gifted children. The importance of considering the theoretical differences among intelligence measures, and the importance of using theory-based measures, are discussed. The chapter concludes with specific recommendations on the effective use of intelligence measures in the identification of giftedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter looks at the Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT) as a developmental model of giftedness and talent. Along with giftedness and talent, the DMGT introduces four components (see Figure 7.1) that help represent more accurately the complexity of the talent development process: intrapersonal catalysts (1C), environmental catalysts (EC), learning and practicing (LP), and chance (C). Moreover, as stated in the formal definitions previously mentioned, precise thresholds quantify the meaning of "outstanding." Finally, the DMGT discusses the long-term process of talent development, proposing various dynamic interactions among the six components. The present overview is structured around the three themes previously identified: (a) the six components, (b) the prevalence issue, and (c) the dynamics of talent development. In the final section, the author briefly highlight the main differences between the DMGT and other well-known conceptions of giftedness. The second part of this chapter succinctly covers two major questions (see Gagné, 2003b, for an extended discussion). First, what relationships do the six components of the DMGT entertain among themselves? Second, is it possible to create a hierarchy of the five factors in terms of their relative causal power? In other words, where lies the difference between those who become talented and those who do not? (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

This chapter looks at giftedness and gifted education. The authors start off by giving some definitions of the word giftedness, and the theories behind those definitions. The authors then discuss how their conception of giftedness compares with other conceptions, the identification of gifted individuals, gifted education, and assessment of gifted individuals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

Since 1957, when the Soviet Union launched its satellite Sputnik, until the dissociation of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian tradition of educating gifted children had been world-renowned. However, with a restructuring of society's major domains of functioning in the early 1990's, the Soviet system of complete federal support for gifted education all but disappeared. In this chapter, the authors argue that the system, despite the challenges of the 1990's, has survived its toughest times. The authors illustrate that, by capitalizing both on past and current theories of giftedness and cognitive development, the field of gifted studies in Russia continues to develop and that it is in the process of re-creating itself in the changed social and cultural context of Russia. This chapter attempts to address questions of identifying, educating, and caring for gifted children by capitalizing on Russian psychological science and its past and present accomplishments in the field of gifted and talented research. First, based on works of multiple Russian psychologists, a systemic multidimensional model of giftedness is introduced. The model integrates extant Russian psychological research, extends available conceptualizations, and suggests directions for future research. Next, we describe current practices for the identification and education of the gifted and talented in Russia. Finally, the chapter introduces suggestions for best practices for assessment of achievement in gifted individuals and projections for future research in the field. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

What is giftedness? My short answer to this question is that giftedness, in the context of the schools, is a chimera. But, because I am an academic, there is a predictably longer answer. I believe that the concept of the gifted student is incoherent and untenable on a number of grounds. The first of these is that the concept of the gifted child in American education is a social construct of questionable validity. The second is that educational practice predicated on the existence of the gifted child has been largely ineffective. The third is that this practice has exacerbated the inequitable allocation of educational resources in this country. I elaborate on each of these assertions in this section of the chapter. The fourth component of my thesis is that the construct of the gifted child is not necessary for, and perhaps is a barrier to, achieving the goals that brought this field into existence in the first place. In other words, I argue that we can, and should, have gifted education without gifted children. I discuss this in the following section in responding to another of the questions we were asked to address, "How should gifted individuals be instructed in school and elsewhere?" (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

At a recent conference, a clinical psychologist who works with gifted students engaged the first author in an exciting and challenging conversation. As the authors discussed specific research and case studies involving gifted children, they realized that we were talking almost exclusively about the importance of context in defining and addressing giftedness. During the rest of the conference, they noticed the role of context in talent development in every session we attended. On the first author's return home, one question kept leaping into his mind: If the need to consider context comes up in most research sessions and so many practical applications, why don't we spend more time exploring its role in theories of giftedness? In this chapter, the authors explore the role of context in some classic and contemporary theories and models of giftedness, propose an alternative view, and explore the practical implications of that perspective. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

There are many ways to conceptualize giftedness, ranging from practical conceptualizations based on years of experience in working with gifted students to political conceptualizations based on moral principles. However, the distinguishing feature of the scientific study of giftedness is that theories are tested against evidence that has been collected using sound methodologies. The theme of this chapter is that there is value in the scientific study of giftedness, that is, in using an evidence-based approach to assessing the usefulness of various theories of giftedness and in assessing the effects of various academic programs for gifted students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

A decisive factor in the determination of effective gifted education is the fit between the individual cognitive and noncognitive (e.g., motivational and other personality) factors of the developmental and learning processes on the one hand and the environmental influences that are mainly from the social settings of family, school, and peers on the other hand. This chapter is based on multidimensional conceptions of giftedness and talent, such as the Munich Model of Giftedness (MMG), as well as on interaction models, such as the Aptitude-Treatment Interaction (ATI) by Cronbach and Snow (1977) and Corno and Snow (1986). When considering the MMG as an example of a multifactorial conception of giftedness, along with the recently developed dynamic process approach to this model (Munich Dynamic Ability-Achievement Model of Giftedness [MDAAM]), the following questions arise: How should gifted individuals be identified and instructed? And how should their learning outcomes or excellent performance be assessed? These and other questions will be answered according to the MMG and the MDAAM, respectively. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

In this chapter, the authors briefly review several conceptualizations of giftedness; review the scope of the underrepresentation and overprediction phenomenon for gifted students of color; elaborate on some of the causes of this national crisis; provide evidence of how the Meyerhoff Scholars Program (MSP) nurtures the academic excellence of gifted and talented students of color; discuss the theoretical constructs from the social sciences that they believe inform practices having to do with academic attitudinal and behavioral changes; and conclude with a discussion of those aspects of the program that can be transferred in efforts to reduce the overprediction phenomenon and increase the persistence and academic excellence of gifted and talented students of color. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

The research reviewed in this chapter highlights the complex choices made by talented girls and women as well as the belief that the outcomes of these choices are profound, both in the women's individual lives and for society at large. Over the last two decades, the author has studied talented girls and women from all domains across their life spans and have answered some questions, but introduced even more (Reis, 1987, 1995, 1998, 2001). The decision to identify this diverse group as talented or eminent rather than gifted stems from their collective preferences for these descriptors. Some of the complex reasons that fewer talented women with high potential achieve a high level of eminence and the characteristics of those who do are summarized in this chapter. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

This chapter looks at how conceptions of giftedness can change lives. The major obstructions to the realization of gifted potential are socioeducational, and they exist everywhere in the world in different forms. They can be summed up in just three powerful and overlapping aspects: (1) morality, (2) gender, and (3) emotion. These aspects are discussed in detail in this chapter, along with international differences in conceptions of giftedness, and the fact that strong pressure to conform to expectations--positive or negative--affects the gifted one's life paths for decades. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

In this chapter, the author outlines some of the potential complexities of giftedness and talent. His initial focus is on the innate, particularly genetic, features of giftedness. After scrutinizing the intricacies of genetic endowment, the author turns briefly to the role of the environment in converting potential giftedness into actual outstanding achievement. The chapter closes with a discussion of the more practical implications of this more complicated view of giftedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)