Research on talent development has focused on K–12 and adult eminence. This investigation addressed the gap in knowledge regarding talent development between the ages of 18 and 27. The purpose was to explain how a group of emerging adults continued to develop their writing ability into talents valued by themselves and society. The key questions investigated the role of self-perception of high ability in writing in the process of talent development as a lived experience, and the relationship of high ability to adult identity formation. The study also investigated how changes in family relationships and the establishment of independence related to talent development in emerging adulthood. It was a multiple case study of 7 creative writers from top-20 MFA programs. The study results indicated a number of findings. Development of writing talent in emerging adulthood is related to achieving adult identity and independence. Self-perception of high ability was universal, as was creativity. Achievement represented the confluence of intention, intellect, volition, knowledge, and imagination expressed as original work. The psychological process of differentiation and integration was used in adapting to achieve individual goals. Achieving identity for these writers and poets meant finding their voices. Ability was a pervasive factor in achieving identity. Parents, teachers, and peers guided and believed in the subjects’ ability. Family support was generally unconditional. Family mental health issues did not prevent talent development and fathers had a strong impact on sons and daughters. Independence was related to identity and represented having established primacy of self-authority. Contrary to theory, participants benefited from continued institutional support.

The disproportionality of culturally and linguistically diverse learners in exceptional education is an ongoing issue (Bernal, 2002; Ford, 2012). One of these special populations is that of English learners (ELs), who are overrepresented in special education programs and underrepresented in gifted and talented programs (Ford, 2012).The extant literature suggests that a rapid rate of growth in English language proficiency (ELP) may be one of the characteristics used to indicate giftedness in English learners (Brulles, Castellano, & Laing, 2011; Harris, Plucker, Rapp, & Martinez, 2009). However, no studies have analyzed English Language proficiency (ELP) growth trajectories of gifted ELs. This study explored the growth in English language proficiency of 4,558 ELs, of which 118 were identified as gifted. Scores from the Comprehensive English Language Learning Assessment (CELLA), were used to determine their typical English language proficiency growth trajectories of ELs. This was done using latent growth curve modeling. The growth trajectories were then analyzed to determine if differences existed in the trajectories of ELs identified as gifted. The findings were that differences did exist in the English language proficiency growth of ELs identified as gifted, particularly in the areas of listening/speaking and writing, where gifted ELs seem to grow at a more rapid rate than their non-identified peers.

As part of a comprehensive, multi-tiered system of support for students’ emotional, academic, and behavioral success, effective universal screenings are essential to identify students who may benefit from early intervention and targeted prevention services (Strein, Kuhn-McKearin, & Finney, 2014). Although many screening procedures and methods have been developed and evaluated for general education populations, more research is needed on screening procedures designed for one traditionally underserved population in school-based mental health services—students in accelerated curricula (namely, students in Advanced Placement classes or in the International Baccalaureate program; AP/IB). When teachers are involved in universal screening procedures, regardless of student population served, training strategies to improve teacher accuracy in identifying students at-risk have resulted in gains in teacher knowledge of mental health disorders, but not improvements in accuracy (Deacon, 2015; Moor et al., 2007; Veira et al., 2014). This study examined prevalence of academic and emotional risk among 352 9th grade AP/IB students (enrolled in AP Human Geography or IB Inquiry Skills) in seven schools. Within a subgroup of 245 students (from five schools) who also participated in a teacher nomination procedure, this study also examined the accuracy of teachers (N = 6) in identifying the students who demonstrate signs of risk academically (defined by low grade in class or overall GPA) or emotionally (defined by high levels of perceived stress and low school satisfaction). Almost one in four students (24.17%) were designated as at-risk academically for either low course grades or GPA, and almost one in three students in the sample (28.88%) met at-risk criteria for emotional risk for either low school satisfaction or high perceived stress. In terms of teacher accuracy, teachers were found to have a high sensitivity and specificity identifying students with academic risk (90% sensitivity and 90.32% specificity across all 6 teachers). Mirroring previous research, teacher accuracy identifying students at-risk emotionally was lower (42.42% sensitivity and 76.14% specificity across all 6 teachers). The study also explored patterns in at-risk students missed by teachers, based on student characteristics such as gender, race, socio-economic status, risk severity, and risk type. Due to a low sample size of teachers, analyses were unable to detect differences in the rate of students missed across different student variables. Finally, the study advanced and evaluated the effects of a brief teacher training and feedback intervention intended to increase accuracy in identifying students at-risk. Low sample sizes again precluded identification of meaningful statistical differences. Although statistical findings were limited, quantitative and qualitative acceptability measures indicated high participant acceptability and feasibility for the new intervention. Conclusions from the study may be used within a population-based framework of student mental health services, to best inform early identification methods of students in accelerated curricula at-risk for diminished academic and emotional success, and working with teachers in screening efforts. Further, future research points to continued need to evaluate the brief teacher intervention with larger sample sizes to evaluate any possible intervention effects.

Syftet med denna studie var att se om det går att påverka attityderna till ämnet matematik i positiv riktning hos elever med stort matematiskt kunnande genom ett matematikprojekt som ger utmaningar. Metoden bestod i att eleverna fick anmäla sig till projektet och fick en enkät innan projektet startade. Sedan följde åtta lektionspass i matematik och efter att dessa var slutförda fick eleverna fylla i en ny enkät. Resultatet visar helt klart en förändring i positiv riktning av elevernas attityder till matematikämnet. Enligt min uppfattning beror det positiva resultatet på bl.a. att eleverna fick vara med och påverka innehållet i undervisningen och matematikprojektet gav dem utmaningar. Dessutom arbetade de i mindre grupper med större möjlighet till lärartid och de som valt projektet var intresserade av matematik. Av detta kan man dra slutsatsen att även en mindre insats för elever med stort matematiskt kunnande kan leda till att dessa elevers attityder till matematikämnet kan öka i positiv riktning. Därför är det viktigt att även denna grupp av elever får utmaningar i matematik i eller utanför klassrumssituationen.

<p>Syftet med denna studie var att se om det går att påverka attityderna till ämnet matematik i positiv riktning hos elever med stort matematiskt kunnande genom ett matematikprojekt som ger utmaningar.</p><p>Metoden bestod i att eleverna fick anmäla sig till projektet och fick en enkät innan projektet startade. Sedan följde åtta lektionspass i matematik och efter att dessa var slutförda fick eleverna fylla i en ny enkät.</p><p>Resultatet visar helt klart en förändring i positiv riktning av elevernas attityder till matematikämnet.</p><p>Enligt min uppfattning beror det positiva resultatet på bl.a. att eleverna fick vara med och påverka innehållet i undervisningen och matematikprojektet gav dem utmaningar. Dessutom arbetade de i mindre grupper med större möjlighet till lärartid och de som valt projektet var intresserade av matematik.</p><p>Av detta kan man dra slutsatsen att även en mindre insats för elever med stort matematiskt kunnande kan leda till att dessa elevers attityder till matematikämnet kan öka i positiv riktning. Därför är det viktigt att även denna grupp av elever får utmaningar i matematik i eller utanför klassrumssituationen.</p>

Utilizing elements of Lightfoot and Davis’s (1997) portraiture method and life history interviews, this qualitative research study explores the portraits of four Mexican-origin scholarship boys. Two Mexican-origin students and two professors were selected from a snowball sample. A snowball sample consisted of gathering referrals from graduate students and faculty who contacted me through email to comment on their personal identification with the scholarship boy themes discussed in the essay I authored, "Lost in Degree: a Chicano PhD Student’s Search for Missing Clothes" (2007). I use the term “Mexican-origin” as a concept that identifies the subjects of this study as being of Mexican descent. All of the participants were born and raised in low SES, urban settings in the United States and they are children of Mexican-born parents. Hoggart’s (1957/2006) scholarship boy framework serves as the primary theoretical lens guiding this work. Rodriguez’s (1982) seminal work on this topic, Hunger of Memory, enumerates how this concept may apply to Mexican-origin scholarship boys. This study also utilizes Dubois’s (1903) double consciousness and Anzaldúa’s (1999) mestiza consciousness to analyze the ways in which Mexican-origin scholarship boys used culturally situated constructions of giftedness, “ghetto nerd” (Diaz, 2007) masculinities, and philosophical perspectives related to “home” to pursue academic excellence and cope/challenge the microgressions they experienced in K-12 schooling and higher education. The scholarship boys in this research provide critical information germane to the struggles and strategies used by academically successful Mexican-origin students as they negotiate the experiences related to the contrasting working-class culture of their upbringing and the middle-class culture of academia. While studies often focus on academically low-performing Latino students, this work explores the narratives of working-class Latino students who attained a graduate level education. Moreover, this research complicates clean “victory narratives” by unearthing various aspects of loss and gain inherent to the Mexican-origin scholarship boy trajectory. Findings inform scholarship in the areas of pedagogy, education reform, philosophy of education, education policy, curriculum, and revisionist conceptualizations of giftedness and human development. / text

Intelligence and creativity are concepts used to describe the efforts of human beings to achieve the highest aspirations of the human brain-mind-spirit system.Howard Gardner, intelligence and creativity researcher, applied his Multiple Intelligence theory to case studies of creative masters from seven intelligence domains developing a template for research: Life Course Perspective: A Framework for Creativity Analysis. The framework consists of four sections: Child and Master, Creation of a Work, an Analysis of Creativity, The Creator and the Field, and Fruitful Asynchronicity. This case study uses Gardner's framework in examining cognition and creativity in a Navajo/Dineh university student creating in fine arts and nominated in bodily-kinesthetic and intra-personal intelligence. This explorative case study reveals that he also excels in other intelligence domains: linguistic and spatial. Meta-cognitive interviews with the case study subject, and his notebooks provide the data sources concerning his cognition and his creativity.Indigenous educators and researchers assert that there is a discernible difference in perspectives concerning western science conceptions and Indigenous experience. This research discovered points of resonance as well as tangential trajectories of cultural difference from Gardner's research conclusions. Discoveries in this exploration confirm the importance of culture and zeitgeist in knowledge development, pedagogy, schoolingand the creativity process. Emerging themes emanating from these discoveries areChild of the Holy People, Sacred Geography, and Fruitful Asynchronicity from an Indigenous Perspective.Conclusions from this inductive research support Gardner's framework in the cultural study of cognition and creativity, underscores the value of Multiple Intelligence theory, and provide examples of praxis consonant with Indigenous learning processes for Gifted & Talented Education. The American Indigenous symbiotic and synergetic perspectives are novel in the examination of intelligence and creativity in the American education system. The American Indian perspectives are possibly prophetic as they proceed beyond culture and Gifted education intersecting and informing other fields: psychology, educational anthropology, philosophy, and Indigenous studies both in American populations as well as Indigenous gifted students worldwide.

Promoting Mathematical Understanding Through Open-Ended Tasks; Experiences of an Eighth-Grade Gifted Geometry Class by Carol H. Taylor Gifted students of mathematics served through acceleration often lack the opportunities to engage in challenging, complex investigations involving higher-level thinking. This purpose of this study was to examine the ways mathematically gifted students think about and do mathematics creatively as indicators of deep understanding through collaborative work on four open-ended tasks with high-level cognitive demand. The study focused on the mathematical thinking involved in students’ construction of mathematical understanding through the social interaction of group problem solving. This case study used ethnographic methodology within a social constructivist frame with gifted education and sociocultural contextual influences. Participants were 15 gifted students in an 8th-grade gifted geometry class. Data collection included field notes, student artifacts, student journal entries, audio recordings, and reflections. Transcribed audio recordings were segmented (Tesch, 1990) into phases of interaction, coded by function, then coded by levels of exhibited mathematical thinking from observable cognitive actions (Dreyfus, Hershkowitz, & Schwarz, 2001; Williams, 2000; Wood, Williams, & McNeal, 2006), and analyzed for maintenance or decline of high-level cognitive demand (Stein, Smith, Henningsen, & Silver, 2000). Interpretive data analysis was connected to data analysis of transcribed recordings. Results indicated social interaction among students enabled them to talk through the mathematics to understand mathematical concepts and relationships, to construct more complex meaning, and exhibit mathematical creativity, inventiveness, flexibility, and originality. Students consistently exhibited these characteristics indicating mathematical thinking at the levels of building-with analyzing, building-with synthetic-analyzing, building-with evaluative-analyzing, constructing synthesizing, and occasionally constructing evaluating (Dreyfus et al., 2001; Williams, 2000; Wood et al., 2006). The results of the study support the claim of a relationship between mathematical giftedness and the ability to abstract and generalize (Sriraman, 2003), provide evidence that given the opportunity, students can construct deep mathematical understanding, and indicate the importance of social interaction in the construction of knowledge. This study adds to the body of knowledge needed in research on gifted education, problem solving, small-group interaction, mathematical thinking, and mathematical understanding, through empirically assessed classroom practice (Friedman-Nima et al., 2005; Good, Mulryan, & McCaslin, 1992; Hiebert & Carpenter, 1992; Lester & Kehle, 2003; Phillipson, 2007; Wood, Williams, & McNeal, 2006).

<p>Programs for gifted students have been criticized for narrowly defining giftedness as merely cognitive or academic performance. Teacher referrals are usually an important component of identifying gifted students. Teacher perceptions, low expectations, and lack of cultural competence are perceived as barriers to the access of Gifted and Talented Education programs for African American students. This study examined the impact of teachers&rsquo; knowledge of Gardner&rsquo;s Multiple Intelligence Theory (Gardner, 1983, 2006, 2011) on their perception of giftedness in the referral of African American students to Gifted and Talented Education programs. Research questions were: (a) What is teachers&rsquo; knowledge of the current district criteria for referral of students to Gifted and Talented programs? (b) Are there differences in the conceptions of referral criteria of teachers with training in MI Theory vs. teachers without training in MI Theory? (c) Are there differences in teacher attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs on giftedness in teachers having training in MI Theory vs. teachers having no training in MI Theory? (d) How do cultural factors impact teacher perceptions of giftedness in African American students, in teachers with training in MI Theory vs. teachers without training in MI Theory, and the referral of African American students to Gifted and Talented Education programs? Using a mixed-methods approach, a quasi-experimental design and qualitative inquiry were utilized. Findings indicated that all teachers demonstrated limited knowledge of district referral criteria. However, teachers having MI Theory training demonstrated greater knowledge of the district&rsquo;s Alternative Referral and Identification Criteria. Conceptual differences were found in the need for alternative pathways such as peer nominations. Findings noted differences for teachers having training in MI Theory with greater knowledge of characteristics of giftedness and the impact of that knowledge on cultural factors relating to students&rsquo; use of non-standard English in the perception of giftedness. Greater focus on leadership is needed in the current federal definition of giftedness. Overall, findings suggested that training in Multiple Intelligence Theory provides a framework for greater understanding of the multifaceted attributes of intelligence, which may result in greater opportunities to identify non-traditional areas of giftedness in African American students. </p>

<p>The demographics of public schools in the United States have changed over recent years to include millions of English language learners (ELLs), students whose first language is not English and who demonstrate limited proficiency in English. During this same time period, school personnel have struggled to identify ELLs for gifted programs because of language and cultural barriers. The problem addressed in this study was that researchers do not have a clear understanding of why or how some ELLs are being identified for gifted programs despite the documented difficulty with gifted identification of ELLs. Using a qualitative method and embedded single-case study design with a school district's gifted identification process for Spanish-speaking ELLs as the main unit of analysis, the purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which three Spanish-speaking ELLs in a southeastern U.S. school district were identified for a gifted program. Data sources included in-depth interviews with nine teachers and three parents of these students, and a document analysis of state-required gifted characteristics checklists completed by these teachers during the gifted referral process. Data were analyzed and coded to identify patterns related to how these Spanish-speaking ELLs were identified for the gifted program in the school district. From the coded themes, the four patterns of rapid learner, translation abilities, problem solving and creative thinking skills, and motivation emerged as key factors in the school district's gifted identification process for Spanish-speaking ELLs based on teacher interviews, parent interviews, and document review of the gifted characteristics checklists. Recommendations based on the findings included creation of additional gifted checklists that incorporated the characteristics of translation skills, rapid progress in English acquisition, and leadership in the ESL classroom as criteria in the gifted identification process for Spanish-speaking ELLs, professional development for teachers in how to use these factors in the process of identifying gifted Spanish-speaking ELLs, and parent meetings and personal communication to ensure parents of ELLs understand the gifted referral and identification process in the district. Recommendations for future research included studies of other school districts' gifted identification processes for ELLs and studies of the gifted identification process for ELLs from other countries and cultures. </p>