Policy research in education is a relatively new discipline which deals with the analysis of public policies governing education. The professional literature provides both a conceptual and methodological basis for defining what constitutes a public policy and the means to carry out different types of analysis. Using such a framework, this study analyzes the policy of the Government of Quebec with respect to the education of exceptional children. More specifically, the study focuses on the policy goals and legislative action of the Government. / Three separate research questions are each addressed by a systematic analytical framework using a form of qualitative content analysis. The methodology consists first of summarizing all policy data in a computerized database and then scrutinizing these summary statements to search for and analyze emergent themes and the content of policy objectives and standing decisions. The relation between these elements is then determined on the basis of specified decision rules. This analysis has also been subjected to an inquiry audit to test for the dependability and trustworthiness of the results. / The analysis reveals three emergent policy themes, over eighty specific objectives and almost 100 standing decisions, which are found in statutes, regulations, ententes and administrative documents. Various incongruencies between the goals and the legislative action are identified and discussed; implications for further research are presented, with reference to the literature.

Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

M.Ed. / A lack of optimal self-realization in the pursuit of a career does not only cause career frustration, but also implies a waste of human potential. For this reason vocational guidance at school should function in such a way that the particular needs of intellectually gifted pupils should be observed so that help and support can be given to contribute to the optimal attainment of their potential. The problems related to vocational guidance to the intellectually gifted are mainly due to the fact that these pupils are often able to choose from a large variety of professions due to their particular intellectual abilities, but that these potential do not necessarily correlate with their other personal possibilities. Seen from this point of view, the most important aim of this 'investigation' is to supply pedagogic guidelines based on an analysis and integration of the personal options and career preferences of the gifted in order to assist them in achieving more meaningful self-realization and to prevent the problem of non-optimal utilization of gifted human potential. The manifestation of intrinsic personal potential such as intelligence, ability, interest and personality was researched to determine how it operates within the development of a career image in the highly gifted. The results of the investigation indicate a correlation between different combinations of personal potential and specific career-orientated directions of study. Amore meaningful integration between personal potential and career preference is made possible with the result that the gifted can display ideals and aspirations congruent with their personal potential. Findings led to the following deductions: if the personal potential of the highly gifted is seen in totality there appears to be a combination of personal qualities related to career image development which manifest in clear career tendencies. From these findings one may be justified to assume that the highly gifted may be led to more meaningful self-realization if personal potential such as intelligence, ability, interest and personality are applied as a whole for identification purposes in terms of career recommendations. In addition to the guidelines laid down from the findings of this investigation it is recommended that individual career guidance should be given to the highly gifted in terms of the principles of the Discover system. This system can help the gifted to orientate their values in such a way that the basis for decisionmaking, which implies long-term events, may be founded on a rational basis. It will also help to highlight preferences for certain areas of work through which the attitude to, skills and interest in certain activities may become visible in highly gifted persons.

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The purpose of the study is to study child differentiations in their relation to educational growth; to emphasize a greater need, on the part of today's teachers, for constant study of the atypical child in order to determine his developmental needs; to emphasize the importance and desirability of utilizing the talents of the highly endowed pupil; to consider current educational practices in their relation to the added capabilities of superior children; and to emphasize the importance of developing whatever desirable social qualities the mentally retarded child may possess.

Scholars have long explored the lack of diversity in gifted-and-talented education and specifically the role that gifted-and-talented test performance plays as a barrier to access. However, there is limited work, particularly quantitative work, examining the ways in which policies perpetuate racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities within the education system.I build upon the extant research by examining each stage of the admissions process, employing quantitative methods, and using a comprehensive sample of longitudinal admissions and enrollment data from New York City. This dissertation explores the diversity of gifted-and-talented programs by addressing two research questions: 1) Do families who request testing, test, apply, and enroll their children in gifted-and-talented programs reflect diverse backgrounds? and 2) Do gifted-and-talented admissions criteria and priorities, specifically test score criteria and sibling priority, advantage certain students? My results suggest that from the onset, families engaging with the first step of the gifted-and-talented admission process are not representative of the student population at large. While a more diverse group of families request testing and test, as families progress further along in navigating the admissions process, at each stage the families look more like one another. The filtering nature of the admissions process leaves far lower proportions of low-income, Black, and Hispanic families enrolling in gifted-and-talented programs. I also find that admissions rules advantage certain students to varying degrees. My findings reveal that test score cutoffs severely exacerbate the lack of diversity in gifted programs, giving the already advantaged families a further advantage. Contrastingly, I find that sibling priority does not exacerbate the lack of diversity to the same extent. Overall, the likelihood of receiving an offer does not vary by most sociodemographic characteristics. However, once a child meets the test score criteria, the score plays a far less important role in determining offers to a top choice program, and sibling preferences give families a strong advantage in receiving an offer to their first choice gifted-and-talented program.

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This research was undertaken to determine the effect that computer aided design (CAD) had on the spatial visualization abilities of selected gifted adolescents. The following hypotheses was tested: Subjects receiving instruction in CAD will show improvement in spatial visualization ability, as measured by the Revised Minnesota Paper Form Board (RMPFB) test. when compared to the subjects not receiving CAD instruction. The experimental group consisted of 20 students enrolled in the CAD course offered in the 1991 Virginia Governor's School of Technology. The control group consisted of 20 Governor's School students not enrolled in the CAD course. Both groups were pretested using the RMPFB test Form AA to measure entry level spatial visualization. A treatment consisting of three weeks of CAD instruction using CADKEY 3.5 was given to the experimental group. Following the treatment both groups were post tested using the RMPFB test Form BB to determine their existing level of spatial visualization ability. The nonequivalent control group design was used in this study since the experimental group was an intact group and therefore not randomly assigned. ANCOVA statistical analysis was used to determine if there was statistical significance of the post test scores. / Ph. D.

The present study was concerned with career maturity of high school gifted students. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship of participation in three different career education programs to the career maturity of gifted students. A secondary purpose of the study was to determine the relationship of selected variables (sex, age, grade, work experience, family income, leisure, and volunteer involvement). The three career programs in which the students participated were: The Alternative (internship), the Gifted (mentorship), and the Traditional. The Gifted and Alternative Career Programs provided classroom learning experiences and experiential activities which extended beyond the Traditional classroom approach and utilized the resources of the metropolitan community. The Traditional Career Program was taught in collaboration with the English and vocational classes within the school environment. Career decision-making skills, interviewing, assessment of career interest, resume writing, high school program planning, seminars, guest speakers, occupational research, and career fairs constituted the career experiences of students in the Traditional Career Program. The significance of the difference between the groups on the Career Maturity Inventory was determined by analysis of variance using the .05 level of significance. The location of existing differences were determined by the Duncan's Multiple Range Test. An analysis of the data revealed: (1) Gifted program respondents had higher attitude maturity than the Alternative and Traditional Program respondents; (2) Alternative and Traditional Program respondents know less about occupations and career decisions than those respondents in the Gifted Career Program; (3) No differences were found for sex and grade; (4) A difference with family income on total competence scores; and (5) The variables age, sex, grade, income could be viewed independently when the scores of the respondents were considered with program interaction. / Ed. D.

Little research has been conducted on the learning styles of very young children and on the planning of specific instructional strategies to incorporate those styles. This is especially true regarding the learning styles of gifted primary grade students. Incorporating learning style information into the curriculum for the gifted is a means of providing differentiated instruction to identified children. The purpose of this study was to determine whether first grade students identified as gifted display different learning style preferences and modality strengths from nongifted first grade students. Two instruments, the Learning Style Inventory: Primary (LSI:P) and the Swassing-Barbe Hodality Index (SBMI), were administered to two groups of first grade students, gifted and nongifted. The findings of this study indicated that first grade students identified as gifted differed from nongifted students on the following variables: mobility, perception, structure, and short term memory. The groups were similar on the following variables: intake, time, motivation, responsibility and persistence, and modality strength. The study also indicated no relationship between perceptual modality preference and strength for first grade students. / Ed. D.