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The author describes what the field of gifted education has accomplished since the advent of programming in the 1920s that has been of service to gifted learners, has been growth-producing, and has had a lasting impact on research and development initiatives. She also identifies what gifted education has not accomplished and the barriers that require gifted educators' attention. The conclusion outlines three initiatives for the field of gifted education to survive.

This article explores higher education's role in supporting gifted students and how these institutions might collaborate with high schools. Multidimensional roles that universities can play include helping gifted students transition from high school through individual support from faculty such as mentorships to offering specialized opportunities and courses within the traditional structures. Collaborations encompass providing advanced opportunities for advanced learners and placements in different types of programs such as dual enrollment, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and individual courses linked to a university program. Research findings suggest that students who had access to a variety of advanced opportunities had greater success in their chosen fields.

All advanced learners deserve a content-based curriculum that will challenge them to learn more deeply and more broadly, that will enable connections to different domains of learning, and that will raise questions about the world. This article examines the reasons for educators not providing curricula to accommodate advanced learners, characteristics of a well-designed curriculum, and critical steps needed to ensure the effective implementation of such a curriculum for advanced learners.

This study assessed stakeholder perceptions across 12 gifted programs in respect to the extent to which the programs were perceived to be effective in carrying out the formal operations required of the program in the areas of identification, curriculum, instruction, and assessment. These areas were aligned to the National Association for Gifted Children's standards. Specific questions addressed included: To what extent was the program perceived to be effective by stakeholders affected by it? To what extent did the program align with best practice standards in the field? While stakeholders were positive about the overall program, they reported that the programs needed to be improved in the following areas: identifying underrepresented populations, improving differentiated curriculum and accelerative options, providing professional learning for teachers, and using assessments appropriate for gifted learners to show growth.

The World-Readiness Standards (The National Standards Collaborative Board, 2015) and the Can-Do Statements (ACTFL, 2017) promote intercultural competence and understanding through relating cultural products to perspectives and practices. In response, numerous world languages curriculum proposals have convincingly demonstrated these entanglements. The primary investigative focus, however, often rests on perspectives and practices while casting products into a mostly supportive role. Yet products are ubiquitous, tenaciously situated at the nexus of language and cultural activities. Drawing on interdisciplinary, material-culture-based perspectives, the curriculum intervention described in this article outlines an instructional module for an intermediate German course that promotes intercultural competence by guiding learners in object inquiry to decode, relate, and transform the untranslatable concept of "Heimat."

The author identifies six myths that pervade educational thinking about advanced learning and constrain educational opportunities for gifted students. These myths relate to higher-level thinking, differentiated learning outcomes, accelerated work, limitations on other students, standards, and students from low-income backgrounds. The author concludes that all students deserve to advance their learning, to find their own life themes in whatever creative area they can find or devise.

This article focuses on research findings from multiple evaluation studies on the teacher use of differentiated practices for gifted learners that have implications for best practice in gifted education internationally. Research questions centered on what specific differentiation practices were employed with gifted learners and distinctions found between levels of teaching and content areas. Using the Classroom Observation Scale-Revised (COS-R) with 329 teachers in six different school districts in four states in the Eastern United States, we report data on differentiation practices that suggest that teachers of the gifted as well as regular classroom teachers underutilized these practices, did not match them to instructional purposes, and failed to implement them as effectively as possible to have an impact on gifted student learning. Moreover, the lack of consistent use of flexible grouping practices to support instructional goals was apparent in the majority of regular classroom contexts. Findings also suggested that teachers who were using differentiated practices were using them at least somewhat effectively, suggesting that some teachers were successful in implementing best-practice strategies. The results of these multiple studies also revealed that middle school classrooms were less effective in the use of differentiation for the gifted than either elementary or high schools. A comparison of results by subject area showed that math classrooms were the most successful in implementing differentiation practices for the gifted. Overall, the study suggests that differentiated practices are underutilized in the majority of gifted program sites studied. Implications from the study suggest that more careful attention needs to be paid to the use of specific differentiation practices, found in the research literature and taught in model university gifted education training programs.

This article presents a description of the potential impacts from six different school-based evaluations, based on the perceptions of program coordinators and evaluators 1 to 3 years after the evaluation was conducted. It shares data on what recommendations of the evaluation were implemented and the rationale behind these decisions. Coordinators also commented on the perceived value and benefit of having the evaluation conducted and provided thoughts about having an evaluation conducted in the future. The article concludes with a set of lessons learned from the evaluation experience.

This article presents the results of a review of eight gifted programs, using the 2010 National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) program standards as one basis for assessing the programs. Each of the six standards is reviewed in respect to the extent that programs addressed underlying indicators. Findings showed that districts met slightly over 50% of indicators for three standards. For the other three standards, only 31% to 37% of the indicators were met through district gifted programs. Areas of greatest need for further program development include developing planning tools for curriculum implementation, monitoring of program implementation efficacy, establishing the routine use of content acceleration in all subjects, and developing counseling support for gifted learners.

The need for language programs in schools is strong among gifted students, who need the depth and complexity provided by a world language program. Gifted students can benefit from exposure to global cultures, a deepened emphasis on conceptual learning, and an appreciation of issues that shape today's world. Second language learning carries high interest and a natural connection to another symbol system that can provide high challenge and complexity, two preferences the gifted have for learning. The gifted have advanced vocabularies and love to learn new words and phrases. Second language learning provides the opportunity to learn new words, many of which directly derive from English words. Even more common are the roots and stems of words from other languages. The gifted have inquisitive minds and curiosity about the origin of things. Second language learning of the romance languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, and Latin, can enhance understanding of the history of Western Civilization and, therefore, the basis of today's society. The gifted have complex thinking abilities that are enhanced by linguistic comparative analysis. Gifted learners can enjoy the complexities of the study of a language that has many characteristics similar to English but is also different in its grammatical structure and forms. The gifted have the capacity to make connections among diverse ideas. This trait is best nurtured by the access to ideas from multiple disciplines that allow connections to be made. The study of a second language promotes interdisciplinarity in a variety of ways. Gifted students are capable of beginning formal study of a second language earlier than high school because they typically possess early verbal abilities, have general interest in words and language, often are early readers with advanced English vocabularies, and have a desire to make connections among linguistic patterns.

Much like medieval, feudal nations, professional fields such as gifted education can take shape as centralized kingdoms with strong armies controlling their compliant populations and protecting closed borders, or as loose collections of conflict-prone principalities with borders open to invaders. Using an investigative framework borrowed from an interdisciplinary group of scholars in the social sciences and humanities, four scholars of gifted education analyzed four different analytic levels of our field (practice, research, theory, philosophy) to discern whether gifted education is unified, insular, and firmly policed, or fractured, conflict-ridden, and porous. Each disciplinary structure generates unique advantages, disadvantages, and implications for scholars and practitioners. (Contains 2 figures.)

The history of the world could be told through countless biographies, as Carlyle said, and these biographies undoubtedly would represent gifted individuals and their contributions at different times in different cultures of the world. The Greeks and Romans recognized the value of talent, as did the tribes of the Bible, responding to the parables told by Jesus. The Chinese Dynasties and Confucius as a scholar saw value in educating those from all social strata according to their talents. And the history of the world and these societal contributions have occurred predominantly in cities, as Arnold Toynbee has noted in his text "Cities of Destiny." Thus, it is not surprising that cities are where gifted education began, from Hollingworth's Speyer School experiment in New York City on the East Coast, to Terman's efforts on the West Coast in large cities like San Diego, to the work of others in large Midwestern cities. Early research in gifted education was conducted in these urban sites. This article chronicles the history and evolution of urban programs in three sites--Chicago, New York, and San Diego--to profile the extensive efforts that have preceded the work in this field today and to illustrate the extensiveness of those efforts to focus on this population of learners within their largest and most diverse national settings. (Contains 1 figure.)

A longitudinal study of student growth gains was conducted in Title I schools to assess growth in reading comprehension and critical thinking. Results suggested that all students benefited from the intervention of Project Athena units of study designed for high-ability learners. In addition, the study suggested that the comparison curriculum also benefited learners. Implications for practice include the use of high-level curriculum with all learners to elevate instruction and enhance critical thinking. Implications for scholarship include the need for studies that examine the specific nature of gains for different types of learners and schools using hierarchical linear modeling techniques. (Contains 4 tables.)

This study examined the academic and affective profiles of gifted students who were classified under five prototypes, including low-income White students, low-income African American students, low-income other minority students, high nonverbal and low verbal students, and twice-exceptional students. A total of 37 vignettes were developed and analyzed based on interviews with selected students, their teachers, and parents. Within and cross-prototype themes were derived. The results suggested a long-term gifted program impact on special needs students identified through both traditional and alternative assessment. Both cognitive and affective impacts were found, suggesting the power of gifted program membership on enhancing self-confidence and building higher level skills of communication and thinking. (Contains 4 tables.)

This article explores the history of gifted education policy and practice in the United States over the last five decades, documenting the lack of sustained progress in obtaining sustained federal support. It also highlights two case examples, one at the state level and a second at the national level of where a policy in a specific aspect of gifted program development has been successfully advanced. Implications of the article suggest that gifted education policy is not coherent across the country, is controlled by state legislatures, and subject to annual scrutiny for continued and new funding.

This cross-cultural study, utilizing a structured instructional behavior rating form, examined distinguishing and comparable teaching practices in secondary gifted classrooms in Singapore and the United States. Teachers from Singapore (n = 67) and teachers from the United States (n = 33) in 5 subject domains including math, science, English, social studies, and second language were observed. The study showed that Singapore teachers demonstrated a higher level of effectiveness than American teachers in both general teacher behaviors and differentiation strategies. The level of instructional effectiveness appeared to be positively related to the number of years of teaching experience and training in differentiation practices for the gifted. (Contains 1 figure, 5 tables and 2 end notes.)

This study examined the trend of identification and achievement patterns of performance task-identified students over a span of 6 years (2000-2005), in comparison to profiles of students who were identified exclusively through traditional ability and achievement tests. The study findings suggested that the performance-based protocols were consistent across time in locating a higher percentage of low-income and minority students, as well as female students for gifted programs; a higher percentage of students with uneven verbal-nonverbal strengths were performance task-identified students also. Performance task-identified students scored significantly lower than traditionally identified students on both the English and math portions of the state assessment test for multiple years; however, the performance differences on state assessments were small, rendering small effect sizes. (Contains 5 tables.)

This article describes Project Athena, a Javits program funded by the U.S. Department of Education and developed through the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary. Project Athena seeks to find ways to help impoverished children develop advanced skills in reading comprehension, literary analysis, and persuasive writing. Its goals are to: (1) implement, refine, and extend research-based language arts curricular units of study in grades 3 to 5; (2) develop and implement professional training models for teachers, administrators, and broader school communities; (3) develop and implement instrumentation sensitive to low socioeconomic learners for the purpose of identification and assessment of learning; and (4) conduct research on short term and longitudinal student learning gains, as well as the mechanisms that promote the institutionalization of innovation through scaling up. Project Athena has collected both longitudinal and cross-sectional data to document learning effects and plans to conduct case study research on the most and least effective schools. Now in its fourth year of operation, the project has two years of data suggesting that the emphases of the curricula are beneficial to students from Title I schools in three states that have been identified as gifted, those identified as promising due to strong reading ability, more typical learners, and some special education students. Two-year findings on both student learning and teacher learning are summarized thusly: (1) Experimental students did significantly better than control students in both critical thinking and comprehension; (2) Gender differences were minimal; (3) All ability groups and ethnic groups registered significant growth gains from using the curriculum; (4) Experimental teachers scored significantly higher on both the frequency of use and effective use of differentiated strategies across both years; and (5) Experimental teachers who had used the curriculum for two years and received commensurate training demonstrated significantly enhanced use of differentiated strategies over first-year experimental teachers. It is noted in conclusion that developing the literacy of impoverished children is possible through a systematic approach that involves high-powered curriculum wedded to the use of powerful teaching and learning models linked to multiple modes of student assessment to gauge the extent of accrued learning. (Contains 1 figure.)

While the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (2000) reported that only 1.3% of high school students currently take Latin, the College Board, which administers the Advanced Placement program, reported a 95% increase since 1993 in students taking the Latin exam for college credit. States like Virginia, for example, offer Latin for gifted middle school students in selected school districts, run a countywide summer program in a rural area of the state, and offer it as a regular option for elementary students at a college Saturday program. Moreover, each year the state sponsors a 3 week Latin Academy in which selected students have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the subject with classics professors from across the state. Latin has many hidden benefits that are not often explicated and, therefore, are not well understood. It is especially well matched to verbally precocious learners who have the capacity to handle abstraction and rigorous analytical activity. This article puts forth an argument for the optimal match of the subject matter of Latin for verbally precocious students at the secondary level, beginning no later than the middle school years. It delineates the major benefits for students of learning the language and links those benefits to a view of differentiation in curricula and instruction of the gifted. Furthermore, the article provides a blueprint for schools on developing a Latin program of study over the secondary years.

The apicoplast is an essential plastid organelle found in Plasmodium parasites which contains several clinically validated antimalarial-drug targets. A chemical rescue screen identified MMV-08138 from the "Malaria Box" library of growth-inhibitory antimalarial compounds as having specific activity against the apicoplast. MMV-08138 inhibition of blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum growth is stereospecific and potent, with the most active diastereomer demonstrating a 50% effective concentration (EC50) of 110 nM. Whole-genome sequencing of 3 drug-resistant parasite populations from two independent selections revealed E688Q and L244I mutations in P. falciparum IspD, an enzyme in the MEP (methyl-d-erythritol-4-phosphate) isoprenoid precursor biosynthesis pathway in the apicoplast. The active diastereomer of MMV-08138 directly inhibited PfIspD activity in vitro with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 7.0 nM. MMV-08138 is the first PfIspD inhibitor to be identified and, together with heterologously expressed PfIspD, provides the foundation for further development of this promising antimalarial drug candidate lead. Furthermore, this report validates the use of the apicoplast chemical rescue screen coupled with target elucidation as a discovery tool to identify specific apicoplast-targeting compounds with new mechanisms of action.

This article explores the world of curriculum intervention for gifted students from low-income and culturally diverse backgrounds. It delineates both general and specific approaches to practices that can be used in classrooms and beyond. Affective and conative concerns are addressed as they have an impact on motivation and learning. Efforts toward more positive intervention at these levels are both necessary and important to future student success and satisfaction. Breaking the cycle of poverty in respect to educational disadvantages can and should be consistently addressed and overcome.

After reviewing curriculum materials and observing instructional practices, the author identified trends and issues in school districts related to the implementation of differentiated curriculum and stakeholders' views. Although primary stakeholders hold positive views of a differentiated curriculum, limited differentiation is being used in the regular curriculum. When teachers used differentiated curriculum, they were quite effective in the fidelity of implementation. However, principals appeared to be disinterested in differentiating the general curriculum and left its implementation to the discretion of teachers and the gifted coordinator, and superintendents were more focused on differentiation strategies for all learners and the inclusion of underrepresented groups in the gifted program. Moreover, the implementation of differentiation was influenced by the type of grouping and concerns about student performance on the state test. The author concluded with a discussion of remedies to administrative perceptions about gifted curriculum and grouping models.

This article focuses on the educational needs of rural gifted students in respect to their geographic isolation from challenge in the programs, services, and curriculum they receive in typical school settings. After a brief review of the relevant literature, it delineates the components and features of cognitive and metacognitive strategies found to be effective with rural learners who exhibit advanced abilities in one or more domains of learning. The interventions are discussed at two levels: (a) at the school level where educators may offer effective services and (b) at the classroom level where teachers may employ differentiated strategies. The article concludes with implications for the professional development of teachers in rural settings.

At the 61st National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, two practitioner panels responded to questions about implementing the Common Core in English language arts (ELA) and in mathematics. After listening to their responses, the authors felt that the "Gifted Child Today" readers would enjoy hearing their perspectives--how they have differentiated the common core for gifted students, resources and support that they have found helpful, and their challenges. The ideas that the teachers share in the commentaries provided in this article constitute important "on the ground" observations about competent and pragmatic ways to apply the new Common Core Standards in Language Arts to gifted education curriculum. Their perceptions about general strategies they employ, such as self differentiation for the higher-level standards and compacting for the lower level standards, provide an important blueprint for practitioners to consider.

Dr. James Gallagher published widely on most topics in gifted education, and was often invited to provide commentary on basic theories of giftedness for audiences of psychologists and educators. His own background as a psychologist and special educator as well as a gifted educator positioned him well to hold the theoretical views he did on the nature of giftedness and how it might be nurtured. Dr. Gallagher, trained as a clinician, articulated superbly for more than half a century the evolving theories of giftedness that framed our understanding of gifted children and their needs in his writings and his talks. His intellectual clarity on these issues was without peer and will be sorely missed in a field so in need.

As many states have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), teachers can look to these standards as a framework for supporting students with gifts and talents. Differentiation of curriculum and instruction to address the CCSS will be necessary to meet the unique learning needs of learners with high ability and those with gifts and talents. This article provides background information about the CCSS and guidelines to align differentiated tasks with the unique needs of students with gifts and talents within the framework of the English language arts (ELA) CCSS.

Project Clarion, a Jacob K. Javits-funded project, focused on the scale-up of primary-grade science curricula. Curriculum units, based on an Integrated Curriculum Model (ICM), were developed for high-ability learners, but tried out with all students in Title I settings to study the efficacy of the units with all learners. The units focus on the development of students' conceptual understanding to undergird science content attainment. Teaching and learning models, such as concept formation and concept mapping were used to scaffold science learning and reasoning for appropriate curriculum differentiation. Science content mastery was measured using the Metropolitan Achievement Tests. Reasoning skills were measured using the Test of Critical Thinking. Understanding of macro-concepts and content attainment were measured by curriculum-embedded performance-based assessments. Students with the ICM outperformed students without the specialized curriculum in science content and reasoning skills, and showed greater growth in both conceptual understanding and content attainment.

Performance-based assessment clearly represents an indispensable approach for assessing gifted student learning. Challenging performance tasks allow gifted learners to reveal their considerable intellectual capacity and energy. Through performance tasks, teachers gain insights into a gifted student's true level of capability in a domain of knowledge. As the majority of programs for the gifted employ a project-based approach to curriculum, there is a real need to use a matching assessment model. Performance-based assessment, which includes product assessment, provides just such a match. Moreover, the new assessments for the Common Core State Standards use performance-based assessments as a main format for items as a way to judge the acquisition of higher level skills like developing argument. Thus, the incorporation of performance-based assessment in core content areas would appear a necessary part of designing effective programs for gifted learners and assessing them appropriately.

As the world becomes smaller in a small field like gifted education, cross-cultural research gives us a unique opportunity to understand top students and academic interventions in a deeper way. In this article, the author describes the importance of cross-cultural research as a way to serve gifted children globally. A description of a well-articulated research plan; a list of topics of interest to the field that could provide important data for gifted education policy, practice, and future research; and a case study of a successful cross-cultural research study are included to provide a basis for building a research agenda.

The purpose of the study was to measure the effects of higher level, inquiry-based science curricula on students at primary level in Title I schools. Approximately 3,300 K-3 students from six schools were assigned to experimental or control classes (N = 115 total) on a random basis according to class. Experimental students were exposed to concept-based science curriculum that emphasized "deep learning" though concept mastery and investigation, whereas control classes learned science from traditional school-based curricula. Two ability measures, the Bracken Basic Concept Scale-Revised (BBCS-R, Bracken 1998) and the Naglieri Nonverbal Intelligence Test (NNAT, Naglieri 1991), were used for baseline information. Additionally, a standardized measure of student achievement in science (the MAT-8 science subtest), a standardized measure of critical thinking, and a measure for observing teachers' classroom behaviors were used to assess learning outcomes. Results indicated that all ability groups of students benefited from the science inquiry-based approach to learning that emphasized science concepts, and that there was a positive achievement effect for low socio-economic young children who were exposed to such a curriculum.