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A healthy understanding of a stewardship of self that is a gift of God's grace, will both promote a healthier lifestyle and help people to avoid making decisions that lead to risky behaviors by empowering them to have a more positive self image, not only as individuals, but also within the communities in which they live. This Doctor of Ministry project includes a four part study series that utilizes bible study and discussion to lead the participants, both youth and adults, to a greater understanding of stewardship and self care. Part one, "Our Baptismal Identity," guides the participants to see themselves as baptized children of God who are named and claimed as God's own. Part two, "Belonging to God," guides the participants to recognize that everything they have and everything they are belongs to God, and that stewardship of creation includes stewardship of self. In other words, caring for self is not selfish; rather it is God's will for the lives of all God's children. Part three, "Our Unique Giftedness," guides the participants to understand that all gifts, talents, and abilities come from God, given for the common good and to be used to God's glory. These gifts, talents, and abilities are not to be wasted or squandered, nor are they to be used for one's own gratification or glorification. Part four, "A Journey Toward Healthier Living," guides the participants as they put together all they have learned, understanding that no matter how hard they try, everyone will encounter twists and turns, hills and valleys, as well as breakdowns on the journey. Still, in the midst of it all, the good, the bad, and everything in-between, God is with God's people, God loves them, and no matter what, they are named and claimed by God, each one is a child of God. Through Holy Baptism, the children of God are sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever, and that is enough. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Currently, a thorough description of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other personal characteristics (KSAOs) that distinguish an exceptional surgeon does not exist. This knowledge is pertinent to the development of selection, training, and performance assessment methods that can be used to develop high performing surgeons. Expert surgeons from around the country were recruited to participate in an interview to discuss the KSAOs (i.e., the competencies) needed to be exceptional in the field. A smaller number of novice surgeons were also interviewed. The expert interview data were distilled into a competency model that consists of ten competencies and patterns within the data that distinguished between the expert and novice results were examined. Results revealed ten competencies essential for distinguishing between outstanding and typical and surgeons: Dedication to Patient Care, Integrity, Tireless Work Ethic, Preparedness, Intellectual Giftedness and Curiosity, Humility, Compassion, Devotion to Field, Rapid Decision Making, and Passion for Teaching. These results suggest that surgical training would benefit from focusing on the development and enhancement of character-based competencies. Once validated, Industrial-Organizational psychologists can use the present model to assist surgeons in creating instruments that measure and track residents' acquisition of these competencies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The overall purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between two recently revised measures of intelligence (Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability, Third Edition and Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition) and three shortened measures of intelligence (Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability, Third Edition Brief Intellectual Ability Score, Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition Abbreviated IQ, and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test IQ Composite). Specifically, this study examined the accuracy of the three shortened scores in their ability to predict giftedness based on children's scores on the two full measures, with the intention of examining the implications of using shortened measures in a screening process for gifted identification. Participants were a group of 202 third-grade students enrolled in a suburban school district located in the Midwest. These students were selected for the study based on high achievement and/or cognitive scores on a state standardized test. The participants ranged in age from 8 years, 4 months to 10 years, 11 months and were assessed during the spring of their third grade year in 2003 and 2004. These children were administered the three measures over a two day period in a counterbalanced order. A set of univariate and multivariate procedures were used to examine hypothesized relationships between full and shortened measures. Significant positive relationships were observed between all five measures examined, although the highest correlations were produced between the full measure scores and their short forms. Discriminant function analyses were conducted to determine the accuracy of the three shortened measures in their prediction of giftedness based on five separate criteria using two full scale measures of intelligence. The results of all five multivariate discriminant function analyses were significant, indicating that the three shortened measures were able to group children accurately as compared to full scale scores, with classification rates ranging between 76.7 and 90.6. These analyses further revealed that the WJ III COG BIA was best able to predict giftedness in most cases, regardless of the criteria used. These results are intended to provide educators with information about the accuracy of three different shortened measures of intelligence so that informed decisions can be made regarding the use of these measures in selection processes for gifted programming. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The present study investigated the role of the school environment in determining what adolescent populations value. The characteristics that were investigated included academic brilliance, studiousness, and athletic ability. The conceptual framework of this study was derived from A. Tannenbaum's 1962 study of adolescent attitudes as well as from the literature examining the effects of giftedness, gifted programs, as well as the effect of school environments on adolescent attitudes. Students from two suburban high schools on Long Island, New York completed questionnaires. One of these high schools had an International Baccalaureate Program, while the other high school did not. The questionnaires were based upon the questionnaire Tannenbaum used in his 1962 study. Each student was asked to read a set of eight paragraphs each representing an "imaginary pupil." Each paragraph included a sentence describing the pupil's athletic ability, level of academic brilliance, as well as his/her study habits. Each student was asked to rate each paragraph representing how he or she believed each pupil would be valued in his or her present academic environment. It was hypothesized that across both academic settings adolescents will value athleticism over non-athleticism. It was also hypothesized that students in the high school with the International Baccalaureate Program would value brilliance over average ability, and studiousness over non-studiousness. Additionally, it was hypothesized that the students in the high school without the International Baccalaureate Program would favor average ability over brilliance and non-studiousness over studiousness. The data were submitted to a repeated measures analysis of variance. However, in order to test each of the hypotheses of interest, a "custom contrast" of each of the paragraph's means was conducted. The data supported the hypothesis that students in both academic settings would value athletic abilities over non-athletic abilities. Data also confirmed that students in the school with the IB Diploma program favored studiousness over non-studiousness and academic brilliance over average abilities. However, the data did not confirm that students in the school without the IB Diploma program would favor average abilities over brilliance and non-studiousness over studiousness. In fact, the results were statistically significant in the opposite direction. The students in the school without the IB Diploma program favored studiousness over non-studiousness and brilliance over non-brilliance. Implications of the findings, limitations of the study and directions for future research were discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The under-representation of ethnic minorities in gifted education programs is a persistent problem in the American educational system. Outstanding in popularity among possible solutions to this problem is the recommendation to use multiple-measure identification procedures to increase ethnic diversity. The purpose of this study, set in a suburban school district in the northeastern United States, is to investigate group differences, between fifth and ninth grades, among students identified for participation in honors classes through the use of a multiple-measure identification process administered in the fifth grade. The questions being investigated focus on whether, in a culturally diverse setting, the adoption of a more pluralistic approach to identification of gifted learners leads to a more diverse gifted population, and will the newly-identified students find similar rates of academic success as they enter their high school years? Data were collected from student records at the district level, with the variables being studied being specifically related to the identification of giftedness and academic success. Chi Square Analyses were performed to investigate four of the five research questions, with employment of ANCOVA procedures to investigate the final research question. Through the analyses, it was found that the introduction of the multiple-measure identification procedure did not increase the ethnic diversity of the program. Notwithstanding the fact that, overall, diversity was not increased by this new protocol, it was found that minority students identified were more likely to make it into the gifted program by virtue of the new protocol, not in the traditional single-measure way, which relied on standardized test results alone. Additionally, it was found that students in both protocols experienced similar academic success rates, retention rates in honors programs in high school, and similar academic gains as reflected standardized test scores. While this particular multiple-measure identification methodology did not increase the participation of minority students in honors courses in general, it did identify students who persevered in honors courses at the same rate as their traditionally identified counterparts. This finding is meaningful as we search for ways to identify students who will benefit from special programming for gifted learners over the long-term. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

This dissertation employed qualitative ethnographic research with twelve human subjects, five female Chinese pastors and seven male Chinese pastors from the Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference, the Methodist Church in Malaysia (SCAC). The research seeks to appropriate a postmodern narrative therapy of Michael White and David Epston, Jill Freedman and Gene Combs in the pastoral guidance as a practice of pastoral counseling in SCAC. Wesleyan theology and Chinese cultural construct of SCAC were employed to critically reconstruct this therapeutic approach for its contextual application. This dissertation examines the theoretical, philosophical and ethical constructs of narrative therapy. It argued that narrative therapy may have the risk of propagating a postmodern individualism and emphasized personal agency of a customized self based on personal taste. Instead, the dissertation proposed a reconstruction affirming personal agency as giftedness of humanity with the telos of loving God and neighbor, seeking life fulfillment in the infinite possibility of God. Pastoral guidance taking this frame of reference could be considered as a means of grace empowering persons seeking help toward the telos. This research also suggested that externalizing of problems offers a possible platform for the deconstruction of shame faced by Chinese persons seeking help. It further argued that a narrative approach of pastoral guidance must seriously consider the Chinese cultural specifics of SCAC such as collectivistic-familial aspects, qing and guanxi (generally understood as relationship), of the Sarawak Chinese Methodists in order to be relevant for the local practice. This work foresees some challenges in the area of dealing with the systemic issues which persons seeking help continue to experience as they move beyond the counseling room. It is in this reconstruction and awareness that the practice of pastoral guidance taking the narrative frame of reference is made possible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

This study examined the effects of an enrichment program that used Type III activities (Renzulli, 1997) which were targeted at an identified area of cognitive strength or domain-specific area of giftedness (visual-spatial skills) on students' leadership, social skills, and attention in the classroom. The premise of the study was that providing an enrichment program in an area of students' cognitive strength would positively impact their classroom behaviors. This empirical investigation used a pre- and post-test design with random assignment to an experimental group (n=12) and a control group (n=11) of 3rd 4 th, and 5th grade elementary school students in a school district with a large number of disadvantaged and minority students. Participants of the intervention were chosen on the basis of above average visual-spatial skills as measured by the Culture Fair Intelligence Test (Cattell, 1973) and were identified by their teachers as struggling with the traditional curriculum. The intervention was an after-school enrichment program that involved building a series of eight engineering projects. Teachers of the students completed the subscales for leadership, social skills, and attention problems from the Behavior Assessment Scale for Children, Second Edition (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004) at three measurement dates (pre-test, post-test, and post-control intervention). A multivariate covariate analysis (MANCOVA) was conducted after the experimental group completed the enrichment program that compared the changes in behavior between the experimental and control groups. There was no significant measured effect noted in the experimental group, when the experimental group was compared to the control group after the intervention. However, there was a significant change in the measured behaviors of the control group following their participation in the intervention, including an increase in the behaviors associated with leadership, and a reduction in attention problems. The inconsistency of these results may be attributable to differences between the two groups and supports the need for additional research to determine the effects of domain-specific interventions. The results of this study suggest that interventions that are targeted at students' cognitive strength may help them develop better problem-solving skills, and also improve their engagement in the classroom. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

When Congress approved the Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in November of 2004, IDEA acknowledged the needs of twice-exceptional children for the first time. Gifted students with disabling conditions remain a major group of underserved and under stimulated youth (Cline, 1999). There are many obstacles to the identification of G/T learning disabled students. The first barrier to identifying gifted students who are learning disabled is that many of them are able to maintain achievement at or near grade level. Gifted students who are learning disabled may be particularly difficult to identify because their disabilities often mask their abilities. Conversely, they may have developed certain abilities to an exceptionally high degree in order to disguise or cover up their disabilities. Consequently, both the gifted and talented and the disabilities of such students may go unrecognized. This study explored the personal, behavioral, and academic development of nine male students with giftedness, and combined twice-exceptional characteristics and giftedness, and ADHD. Data was gathered from three different sources-teachers, parents, and the students themselves. The problem addressed by this study was the impact of twice-exceptional development on self-concept, learning and motivational characteristics of boys who were gifted, gifted with asynchronous development, and boys with Attention Deficit Disorder. The major research questions were addressed through qualitative design in order to explore the participants' lived experience. Twice-exceptional development was explored using interviews at the research site. The mixed-method research design was used to help us understand twice-exceptional development by converging both quantitative and qualitative data. One of the main themes emerging from this study was that the daily individual experience of every student is a function of many interacting components. Disabilities and handicapping conditions do impact and play a part in the daily lived experience of adolescent males. Recommendations are made for additional training and professional development to help educators understand the impact of clinically diagnosed conditions which are sometimes not visible, but can manifest themselves in the student's daily experience. Gifted students with disabilities and handicapping conditions are at risk because their giftedness can often mask their disability. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

This study explored the development of computer technology talent (CTT) in the field of gifted education. Based on Feldman's (1994) co-incidence theory, the four time frames have crystallized at the end of the 21st century to produce conditions for CTT to emerge: (1) individual life span, (2) development of the field, (3) historical and cultural trends, and (4) evolutionary time. Within this framework the research question was asked: "What cognitive and affective qualities and life events mark the development of CTT?" Using qualitative study methods, interview data were collected from four different age groups and time periods: Historical (Sample 1), Snapshot (Sample 2), Longitudinal (Sample 3), and Contemporary (Sample 4). Gagne's (2003) Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT) was used after the initial analysis to structure the data into the categories of natural abilities, intrapersonal catalysts, environmental catalysts, and talent activities. Findings were discussed in terms of developmental patterns and recurring trends between samples, reflected in their histories with computing, environmental support, and key educational experiences. Results provide evidence that CTT should be recognized as a distinct talent area within the gifted field. Suggestions for educational policy and practice are made for teachers and parents of children with CTT. Alternative assessments and resources need to be made available in schools to recognize this new way of thinking in the digital age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

This dissertation focused on optimal development in adulthood, in particular how such development was conceptualized in the personality theories of Maslow (1954/1970) and Loevinger (1976). Loevinger's theory of ego development mapped the entire developmental spectrum into nine stages and likened the highest stages to self-actualization. Past research has shown that the majority of adults fail to achieve the most advanced stages of personality development. This study is concerned with how exceptional development to the most advanced stages, postconventional ego development, unfolds, focusing on the nature of such development and its assessment. Loevinger's assessment instrument, the Washington University Sentence Completion Test, was used to find 22 participants, who, on a scale of 1 to 9, all scored at stage 7 or above. Written narratives and semistructured interviews with the participants inquired into the developmental pathways, including the participants' own views about what constitutes optimal development and about life-changing activities and values. The transcribed interview materials were analyzed using grounded theory procedures as delineated by Strauss and Corbin (1990) and holistic narrative analysis (Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach, & Zilber, 1998). The findings demonstrate that persons at postconventional stages of development define development and talk about their growth in significantly different ways than persons in the conventional tier of development. Postconventional participants evidenced greater complexity in their narratives. Furthermore, they valued growth, joined discourse communities, and took an interest in their inner world. Minor elements that distinguished postconventional participants from those scoring in the conventional range included giftedness, unconventionality, and cross-cultural exposure. No single factor can be seen as accounting for advanced ego development; instead, a complex interaction of factors seems to be required to advance to a stage of development that is not supported by the dominant cultural norms. The author demonstrates that Loevinger's instrument with recent additions by Cook-Greuter (1999) shows limited validity, and an unequivocal acceptance of this instrument for the assessment of higher development cannot be supported. The findings are placed in the context of the existing literature, and possible future directions for the exploration of this subject matter are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Experts in the field of gifted education have developed thorough and comprehensive program models for educating gifted students. Students are provided gifted education services through the combined efforts of administrators, gifted education specialists, and regular classroom teachers. Little is known about the perceptions of gifted programming held by those who deliver services to students. The investigator mailed surveys to a national sample of 900 educators to determine beliefs about a wide-ranging array of topics central to gifted education. These topics include definitions of giftedness, factors influencing who receives services, identification methods, characteristics of gifted students, the need for resources/supports to teach gifted children, the responsibility for developing the talents of diverse gifted students, the appropriateness of certain accelerative practices, and which options should be included in a continuum of services. This study focused around three research questions: (1) What perceptions do administrators, gifted education specialists, and regular classroom teachers have regarding key beliefs in gifted education? (2) Are there differences of perceptions regarding key beliefs of gifted education across these groups? and (3) What are some of the differences within each of the groups as related to independent variables (ethnicity, free & reduced lunch, experience)? Responses to surveys were received from 411 educators, including 148 administrators, 115 gifted education specialists, and 148 regular classroom teachers. Descriptive statistics, ANOVAs, and post hoc tests were run to determine answers to the research questions. Findings included a determination that while educators accept many definitions of giftedness, they believe more traditional talents merit greater attention from gifted education programs. More inclusive definitions of giftedness, such as the Renzulli combination of above-average intelligence, creativity, and task commitment are the most popular with educators. Differentiation was preferred to acceleration as a strategy for dealing with gifted students and certain methods of acceleration that related to single-subjects, were endorsed over other methods, such as early entry to Kindergarten and grade skipping. Statistically significant differences were found between groups, such as, administrators favoring gifted programming options that do not require extra staff, and regular classroom teachers and gifted education specialists putting different weight on teacher nominations as a means of identification. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The purpose of the present investigation was to compare traditional and alternative assessment of "giftedness" in predicting academic success of minority elementary school children. Educational data of 87 elementary students who were assessed for giftedness using a teacher created assessment system was analyzed to compare the traditional and alternative assessment of "giftedness" in predicting academic success. It was hypothesized that students accepted into the gifted program would not differ on measures of academic achievement based on their method of eligibility for the gifted program. When grouped by eligibility method, the students were found to differ in the area of mathematics but not in the areas of reading and language. The ethnic diversity, as well as the number of students admitted to the program, increased when student eligibility decisions were determined by the use of the alternative assessment. Weaknesses of the alternative assessment were discovered during this investigation and recommendations for improving the alternative assessment are provided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' theories of giftedness using methods adapted from those used by to study theory-based reasoning in categorization research. This study sought to answer the following questions about the reasoning behind teachers' nominations of students for gifted programs: (a) Do elementary school classroom teachers use theory-based reasoning, as described by the causal status effect in classification, when nominating students for gifted programs? (b) Is there consistency in the theories/beliefs about giftedness between and among teachers with different levels of expertise in gifted education? (c) What is the structure and content of teachers' theories/beliefs about giftedness? (d) Is there a difference in the structure and content of theories/beliefs about giftedness between teachers with varying levels of expertise in gifted education? (e) What differences exist, if any, between teachers with different levels of expertise in gifted education in the inclusion of culturally diverse characteristics of giftedness in their theories of giftedness? and (f) What differences exist, if any, between the expertise groups in their judgments of culturally diverse students? The sample was 60 elementary classroom teachers with varying degrees of expertise in gifted education. Statistical analyses as well as inductive qualitative analyses were used to answer the research questions. The teachers in this study did not demonstrate theory-based reasoning as described by the causal status effect in their judgments of hypothetical student profiles. In general, the teachers in this study focused on traditional characteristics of giftedness and did not tend to include characteristics associated with diverse gifted students in their theories of giftedness. Comparisons of teachers with greater and lesser degrees of expertise in gifted education indicated that there were no significant differences between the groups. However, there was also little consistency among the teachers in their representations of the causal links among different characteristics of giftedness in their theories, suggesting that all elementary classroom teachers do not define common characteristics of giftedness in the same way. Recommendations for further research include more focus on critical analysis of individual teachers' beliefs in course and in-services for teachers seeking expertise in gifted education, continuation of this line of research with more diverse samples of teachers, and modification to the procedures used to measure theory-based reasoning in order to better model and measure teachers' reasoning processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Brazil faces the challenge of preparing teachers to work in gifted and talented education, which includes the development of a coherent conception of giftedness and a thorough understanding of students' academic and social/emotional needs. Over the past several decades, many conceptions of intelligence and creativity have been offered by researchers and practitioners. However, the relationship between these constructs is still inconclusive. In Brazil, little research has investigated the creative abilities of Brazilian students, examined how creativity might be related to intelligence, or explored people's conceptions of intelligence and creativity. Therefore, the present study investigated the relationship between intelligence and creativity test scores of identified gifted and talented students attending an enrichment program in the Federal District, Brazil, and determined how students and their resource room teachers perceived intelligence and creativity. An ex post facto design was used to investigate the correlation between intelligence and creativity test scores of 100 identified gifted and talented students, ages 9-17, and 15 teachers in grades 4 through 8 of an enrichment program for gifted students in the Federal District. A Pearson product-moment correlation was computed to determine the magnitude and the degree of relationship between students' scores on Raven's Progressive Matrices - SPM and the Urban and Jellen's Test for Creative Thinking - Drawing Production - TCT-DP. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to address students and teachers' perceptions of creativity and intelligence. Multiple case studies were used to gather data from students and their teachers; information on students' abilities, interests, learning styles, self-concept, and behavioral characteristics were coded and categorized for patterns and themes. The results of the correlational analysis indicated a significant relationship between intelligence test scores and creativity test scores (r=.21, Effect Size=.04) among Brazilian gifted and talented students (N=100), with a small practical significance. Students and teachers perceived students' creative and intellectual abilities favorably. Teachers and students defined intelligence as reasoning and knowledge; teachers also acknowledged creative thought. Both teachers and students perceived creativity as divergent-thinking ability and recognized the role of knowledge in solving problems. Students and teachers considered creativity, intelligence, and giftedness as related constructs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

This study focused on the design, development, and implementation of a high school intervention program for underachieving gifted Latinos. The first of its kind for gifted underachieving Latinos in a comprehensive urban high school; the program was an important initial step toward addressing underachievement with this specific type of student. The study hypothesized that if gifted underachieving students were monitored, given guidance and support from an adult in a forum where they could receive the support and encouragement of their peers, the work habits and achievement of participating underachieving gifted students would improve, without receiving any academic assistance. I designed and implemented an intervention of 11 sessions over 13 weeks. Using a mixed methods approach, I collected data from students, teachers and mentors, and I analyzed marks in three subject areas and for work habits, including cooperation, discipline and attendance. The analysis of data also included a pre-post survey and reflections and journals gathered from participants and mentors. Findings showed that student academic grades, and their corresponding work habits and cooperation grades, as reported by teachers, showed little statistically significant change. Further, participants revealed a poor understanding of their giftedness, which contributed to their low self-expectations. Some challenged the label of "underachiever." However, students did self-report making changes in behaviors conducive to academic improvement, and these findings were statistically significant. For example, with respect to self-regulation and motivation, students reported they were more likely to check their assignments or put effort into their work. Overall, the data showed that mentors and participants alike wanted to continue working together. This study showed that in a period of 13 weeks (through 11 sessions) the underachieving gifted Latino can learn to identify successful behaviors and self-report greater engagement in academic activities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

In Texas, economically disadvantaged students account for 57% of the total population, but comprise only 23% of the population identified as gifted according to a study conducted by the Texas Equity and Excellence Task Force (Slocumb and Olenchak, 2007). This study employed a mixed-methods research design and employed the Tomlinson and Callahan model for gifted program evaluation (1994) in order to evaluate the methods for identifying gifted students in 18 urban Title I elementary schools in Texas. Quantitative research methods were used in order to evaluate which of the research-based identification methods rated highly by a panel of experts in a prior study (Furman, 2006) were used in the gifted programs. Qualitative research methods were used in order to explore the perceptions that key school personnel involved in the identification process at the Title I campuses hold regarding how this process is implemented in their campuses. Data were collected through a questionnaire of school district gifted program directors and/or submission of electronic materials regarding the identification process, and interviews with gifted program administrators at each of the Title I campuses in the study. The results of this study suggest that campus administrators at schools with high populations of low socioeconomic students be given more authority to place students in the gifted program that may not achieve set cutoff scores on standardized testing, but show the potential to be gifted. Additionally, parent training should be provided so that parents can understand the identification process and the value of having their children in the gifted program. School personnel should also be trained in the different cultural and socioeconomic manifestations of giftedness. There should also be shift away from identifying fully-developed skills as evidenced by the results of standardized testing to the identification of gifted potential through the results of the collection of more qualitative measures. Placement decisions should be made using a case study approach where placement is made on the merits of individual students rather than by following prescribed cutoff scores. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The study of reflection and reflective thinking has a long history in research on teaching and learning. However, in the assessment of gifted students, quantitative measures are generally utilized; these tend to measure only what is observable and discount affective aspects of learning. This study argues that intellectually gifted children, in particular, are not well understood in terms of how they conceptualize or "come to know" mathematics. To explore these phenomena, the researcher applied the portraiture method with three mathematically gifted students in seventh grade. Subjects were selected who had, in the fifth grade, written mathematics autobiographies in which they described their views of mathematics. The study was conducted at the Arrow University Campus Schools (a pseudonym) for intellectually gifted students. Data collection procedures included a review of institutional and student records, a written statement by each subject and his or her parent, and open-ended, semi-structured interviews. Each subject was interviewed three times for l-2 hours each; a parent and the student's current mathematics teacher and available former mathematics teachers were interviewed once each for 30-40 minutes. Finally, the researcher observed each student during three mathematics classes. Themes emerged from the various data sources and were triangulated to yield an in-depth portrait of each subject's conceptualization of mathematics. It was found that parents equated potential for adult success to IQ measured at a very young age, and that students enjoyed and were empowered to reflect on their conceptual views of mathematics (Nickson, 2000). Emergent themes appeared to support multidimensional conceptions of giftedness and intelligence. Overall, the research supported McLeod (1992) and Lester's (2000) arguments on the importance of implementing alternative qualitative research tools to uncover students' mathematics beliefs and experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Although the underrepresentation of minority students in gifted programs has been acknowledged in the literature for many years, serious attention has only recently been directed to the educational concerns of gifted students whose native language is not English. It was hypothesized that giftedness of English language learners (ELL) will manifest in ways that are embedded within and that emphasize the students' linguistic, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Therefore, assessment and referral practices should aim at inclusiveness of culturally-based characteristics of giftedness. Research was conducted in Mexico and with Mexican immigrants in the U.S. Qualitative interviews with Mexican residents and Mexican immigrants were conducted to establish a definition of giftedness within the Mexican culture. Analysis using Grounded Theory and the Constant-Comparative approach provided three components to the definition of giftedness in the Mexican culture: cognitive, behavioral, and social. These constructs are minimally commensurate with traditional United States definitions of giftedness. Additional qualitative interviews with teachers in the United States were conducted and analyzed using consistent methodology. Teachers had limited knowledge of conceptualizations of giftedness within traditional and ELL populations, did not endorse most conceptualizations of giftedness that were endorsed by Mexican participants, had never referred ELL students for gifted identification, and viewed their role as disconnected from the teaching and identification of gifted students. The implications of the study include increased consideration of the current gifted identification and assessment procedures used by school corporations, the need to increase ELL parental awareness of gifted education services due to cultural differences between the educational systems, and the need for additional teacher training and cross-discipline collaboration related to gifted services. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Written as an autoethnography, this study explores the experience of six academically achieving gifted high school students alongside my experiences as a school counsellor working with gifted academic achievers in the Province of New Brunswick. Recent research in the area of gifted students suggests that high achieving students are at least as well adjusted as any other student in life; however, research also suggests that gifted students have a distinct set of qualities that may complicate their ability to set goals and to remain resilient against adversities. Research in the area of hope suggests that students with higher levels of hope indicate more satisfactory levels of academic achievement and greater competence in interpersonal relations than compared to students with lower levels of hope. Although hope has been studied in educational settings, researchers have not examined hope and how hope may be maintained with achieving gifted students who face the inevitable challenges that competition and high achievement in school impose on a regular basis. Interactive interviews, systematic self-introspection, and retrospective observations were used to collect data detailing accounts concerning how academically achieving gifted individuals described their educational encounters and their experiences of hope on the educational landscape. Reflections from the participants are laid alongside my own accounts of hope and giftedness in high school education. Descriptions are presented as interwoven narratives and include my current thoughts as a researcher, my past experiences and observations as a school counsellor, and my understandings of the participants' stories. Several key ideas emerged from the collection of data. Hope for these six gifted academically achieving students was described as a dynamic and energetic sense of confidence about their own futures. Early high school years (grades nine and ten) often served as a meaningless period in their educational careers that stifled their hopes. Enriched classes and independent studies in later years (grades eleven and twelve) offered students hope in their learning, because the independent learning style often focused on application and exploration of knowledge which made the learning process more meaningful. Further, these academically achieving students often felt as though their hope was challenged as they struggled to belong and fit-in with their peers, evaluated their performance against their peers on a regular basis, and attempted to manage the pressures from teachers, parents, and themselves. These struggles often led the students to believe that their marks defined them, restricted what was possible, caused the students to dissociate from the learning process, and overshadowed meaning and hope within the classrooms. Possible implications for teachers, parents, school counsellors, and academically achieving gifted students are offered and implications for further research are suggested. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

This study conducted a cross-validation of the Learning Style Inventory (LSI) version 3 - ES (Renzulli, Rizza, & Smith, 2002) and compared the preferred learning styles of gifted and general elementary students in Korea and the United States. The LSI was translated from English into Korean, translated back into English, and then submitted to a committee of experts for review. The Korean version of the LSI was administrated to 1,017 Korean students in grades 3 through 6. U.S. data was obtained from the authors of the original LSI. The results indicated that the scales possessed acceptable internal consistency estimates for both Korean and U.S. data. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for Korean and U.S. LSI scores yielded good model fit of the data. Multi-sample confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) revealed the same structure across Korean and U.S. groups for the LSI scores but did not provide evidence for perfect measurement equality across groups. The results of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) for giftedness by nationality revealed statistically significant differences between gifted and general student groups in learning style preferences, as well as nationality differences. The results of a discriminant function analysis (DFA) demonstrated that Peer Teaching, Drill & Recitation, and Instruction through Technology contributed to discrimination between the gifted group and the general group and that Instruction through Technology, Direct Instruction, Simulation, and Independent Study were statistically significant predictors between the Korean and the U.S. groups. This study suggests that LSI yields valid and reliable scores regarding the learning styles of Korean and U.S. students, and thus can be used for cross-cultural research. The results can be applied to instructional techniques on constructs important in gifted education. Additionally, this study provides data regarding how gifted and general students differ in their learning styles. Furthermore, this study may support educators’ understanding of different student responses to various cultural contexts and help them devise more effective instruction that engages a wider range of gifted students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)