Academic, general, and emotional self-concepts were measured among 140 gifted students at a residential academic summer program. The literature is conflicting concerning the positive (Humes & Campbell, 1980; Kolloff & Moore, 1989) and negative (Olszewski, Kulieke, & Willis, 1987) effects of the participation of gifted students in such programs. Three main hypotheses are posited: First, the academic, general self, and emotional self-concepts of gifted students would increase in the time spent at a summer program. Second, there would be no gender differences found in the areas of academic and general self-concept, but predicted gender differences for emotional self-concept. Third, previous participation in a summer program would result in differences between groups for academic, general, and emotional self-concept. Self-concept was measured using the Self-Description Questionnaire II (Marsh, 1990). Results were analyzed using a series of repeated measures ANOVAs. Application of the results, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

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Chimamanda Adichie (2009), Nigerian novelist, warns the “danger of a single story” is that it becomes the only story. Current scholarly research often features the stories of culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students through deficit-lens while focusing on underrepresentation, underachievement, and undernomination. This deficit experience unfortunately becomes the “single story” for many high-ability and high-potential culturally diverse children in school. This phenomenological study aimed on centering the personal stories of middle school high-ability young adolescents who are members of historically underrepresented populations to answer the question: What is it like to be high-ability and a member of an underrepresented population in middle school? Using an assets-based lens, heuristic phenomenology, and arts-based inquiry; this study explores the lived experiences of historically underrepresented and high-ability middle school students (UHA). Four major thematic structures emerged from the descriptions of their experiences: (a) context, (b) curricular, (c) developmental, and (d) relationships. These thematic structures were used to create an emergent model of the intersectional experience of UHA middle school students to address contextual, curricular, developmental, and relational issues for young adolescents in school. The implications of this study are applicable to families, educators, policy actors, and researchers who are invested in creating culturally sustaining policies and pedagogical practices for high-ability historically underrepresented middle grades students.

Supporting the continuous successful talent development of high-ability individuals from various backgrounds has been one of the main goals and issues in gifted education. However, the lack of resources, enrichment supports, and opportunities for talent development often inhibit realization of potential of precocious students. Exploration of successful academic talent development experiences of high-ability international young adults from developing countries offers a unique perspective and highlights universal supports necessary for continuous development of expertise. Internationalization of education, brain circulation, and talent development have been studied in the fields of education, psychology, and sociology. However, no empirical study to date explored the successful talent development path and opportunities in the lives of high-ability doctoral students from developing countries. The present phenomenological study focused on experiences and perceptions of high-ability international doctoral students who are successfully developing expertise in various academic fields at a selective U.S. university. Semi-structured individual and focus group interviews, demographic data and constructed academic talent development trajectories ensured thorough exploration of the participants’ successful academic talent development experiences. Analysis also provided a clearer conceptualization of the construct of opportunity as perceived by the participants. The results of this study will inform research, internationalization of higher education institutions, and academic talent development of high-ability students from various backgrounds.

This two-phase mixed-methods study applied a researcher-created instrument (Education Plan Quality Assessment) to extant documents created by teachers in a single central Florida school district. A true random sample of 337 student educational plans was drawn from a gifted population of 2,370 students. A snowball sample, which utilized the student sample to recruit a teacher sample, was created from teachers who worked on the plans and those teachers were contacted to complete the Opinions about the Gifted and their Education (OGE) opinionnaire which provided teacher opinion scores related to giftedness. Teachers were surveyed as to their opinions of giftedness to examine the relationship between teacher opinions towards giftedness and the quality of the educational plans they produce. The Educational Plan Quality Assessment (EPQA) was created and implemented to review the quality of educational plans in a sample of 337 educational plans. Relational and differential analyses were run between the quality scores of the educational plans and the teacher opinion scores. No significant association was found between the quality of plans produced and the opinions towards gifted education the teacher held for the overall sample, however, the relationship between the two scores was found to be moderated by whether the teacher held a gifted endorsement, and the number of years spent teaching gifted students. The findings were discussed from a post-positivist lens and recommendations for future research were provided.

Implicit mindset of intelligence influences teachers’ conceptions of giftedness which can influence pedagogical decision-making that relate to gifted students. Teachers implicitly view intelligence as either a limited quantity or a quality that can be developed over time (Dweck, 2008b). The mindset of intelligence that a teacher holds impacts the expectations that are placed on students. However, general education teachers may not have a solid conception of giftedness (Kaul & Davis, 2018). Thus, a gifted program which relies on general education teachers for instructional delivery may not adequately meet the academic needs of the gifted students within the program. The program evaluation used an embedded single-case, utilization-focused evaluation design to understand how general education elementary teachers within an elementary school conceptualize giftedness through the framework of Carol Dweck’s (2000) Implicit Mindset Theory and how implicit mindset of intelligence and conceptions of giftedness contribute to pedagogical decisions that are made. The mixed methods evaluation was comprised of two phases. Phase 1 included a quantitative survey. The survey produced descriptive data about implicit mindset of intelligence. Phase 2 included teacher selected lesson plans, and semi-structured interviews. Qualitative data about implicit mindset of intelligence, conceptions of giftedness, and pedagogical decision-making were collected from the lesson plans and interviews. These data taken together provided insight into how teachers’ pedagogical decisions are influenced by teacher implicit mindset of intelligence and teacher conceptions of giftedness. The implications for fostering an incremental mindset and increasing general education teacher professional learning opportunities are discussed.

This phenomenology of affective engagement experienced by advanced students in Advanced Placement (AP) courses at River City High School (RCHS)was conducted in order to better understand the potential affective experience of all enrolled and future students in AP courses. Additionally, this phenomenology sought to help improve negative affective experiences as needed and continue to enhance positive experiences of all students in advanced (TAG) programming which includes AP courses. The overall categories of Others, Stress, and Inspiration were revealed through potential themes collected from the student experience. Students experienced affective engagement relating to Others through both positive and negative interactions. In a crowded school community, it is expected that other people will influence the affective experience of students, yet, within the AP program, how is the question. The presence of others created competition, connection, and variations on comfort. Others disappointed students and isolated students physically and metaphorically. The other two categories—Stress and Inspiration—related to progress or movement. Stress impeded or slowed down; it was found to perhaps break students. Others directly influenced Stress such as through competitiveness, disappointment, and isolation. Affective themes grouped under this category show that we need to do more to support students who experience them. Inspiration propelled students forward. These are the affective experiences we want to encourage in AP programming. The themes and categories tied into the value students experienced in AP which includes immediate-, short- and long-term value.

African American students are underrepresented in gifted programs in American public schools. This is due in part to the teachers’ role in the gifted identification process. Classroom teachers are asked to refer students for evaluation for gifted services. To effectively do this, teachers must understand the unique challenges faced by gifted students from diverse populations, be able to recognize potential and be willing to explore their own perceptions about giftedness. When considering the historical plight of African Americans and their quest for an equitable education, coupled with current statistics on income, employment and educational attainment, the need to address this issue becomes clear. Students of high ability, regardless of race, must be given opportunities to realize their potential, ultimately benefiting the individual and society at large. The purpose of my study was to ascertain elementary school teachers’ perceptions of giftedness toward African American students and to determine the impact that professional development on underachievement, implicit bias, deficit mindset and recognizing giftedness in diverse populations has on teachers’ perceptions. Using an online questionnaire and activities designed to capture teacher’s perceptions of giftedness, qualitative data were collected before and after teachers participated in a series of professional development sessions. The data collected were analyzed using codes and themes. Grounded in Critical Race Theory, my action research study provided an opportunity for teachers to explore factors that contribute to inequitable trends in gifted education and provided an opportunity for teachers to reflect on their roles in perpetuating or minimizing this historical concern.

The disproportionality of Black students identified as gifted has been a hot topic of discussion in the field of education for decades. If the purpose of education is to maximize the potential of all learners, then educators are missing the mark. Although multiple factors may impact the gifted identification of Black students, one of the biggest conundrums in the field of gifted education—the process of gifted identification—may stem from the lack of common definitions of intelligence and giftedness. The purpose of this study was to examine teachers’ perception of giftedness and other factors that may be impacting the gifted identification of Black students in a small, rural school district. This comparative descriptive research design examined the role teachers play within the gifted identification process by analyzing the following data gathered from three elementary schools: teacher perception of giftedness, teacher perception of the gifted identification process, and teacher perception of factors that may provide a more equitable gifted identification process. Descriptive statistics and nonparametric data analysis were used to analyze and compare quantitative survey results. In vivo coding and inductive thematic analysis were used to analyze qualitative data from open-ended survey items and interviews. Key findings were reported to division leadership and recommendations for increasing the number of Black students identified as gifted were provided. To ensure equitable access to appropriate education for all students, especially those who have been historically underrepresented, continuous improvement of the gifted identification process through planning and policy is integral for the progression of society.

<p> Advanced Placement curricula have become significant components of instruction for high school students in the United States, consuming resources and shaping education in ways that affect high school students both within and outside the AP classroom. Educational research has documented significant gaps in educational equity for some demographic groups and substantial advantages for others. Peer reviewed literature exploring the relationship between the level of educational challenge offered within a school and educational equity within the same school is quite limited. In the absence of the appropriate research, planners and policy makers cannot properly evaluate whether educational strategies emphasizing rigorous instruction, such as is found in AP curricula, would help to address the racial gap in equity, contribute to that gap, or have no effect on educational equity. </p><p> The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between the size of a school&rsquo;s program to provide college-level instruction and the racial equity of that program. Quantitative methods were used to answer this question in a single Mid-Atlantic state, using the relative size of each high school&rsquo;s Advanced Placement program, per graduating senior, as an indicator of the size of the school&rsquo;s program to provide college-level instruction to its students. Racial equity was measured by comparing the relative numbers of AP exams per Black or Hispanic graduating senior with the corresponding numbers for all other seniors in the school. Additional qualitative data analysis investigated trends in student choice of AP exams. </p><p> Quantitative statistical tests found no statistically significant relationship between the size of a high school&rsquo;s AP program and the rate of Black or Hispanic participation in that program, or between changes in the size of a high school&rsquo;s AP program and changes in the rate of Black or Hispanic participation in that program. This neutral result implies that educational leaders can deal with AP planning and with educational gaps among subgroups of students as separate issues rather than as interrelated topics. Qualitative explorations identified several trends, including an apparent general decrease in the proportion of AP exams taken in English and Mathematics as the size of a school&rsquo;s AP program increases and an apparent changes in the proportions of certain exams, including an increase in the proportion of Science exams taken in Environmental Science, an increase in the proportion of Mathematics exams taken in Statistics, and a decrease in the proportion of Science exams taken in Biology for schools with larger AP programs.</p>