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The small-scale study reported here sought to ascertain the experiences of talented undergraduate students across four faculties within one university in New Zealand. Thirty-eight undergraduate participants from the four faculties were identified by 16 staff participants based on criteria used by the academic staff in their respective faculty, department, or school. Staff and students participated in separate focus groups so that their perceptions of talented students could be gained. Participant understandings of current identification methods and provision options for talented undergraduate students within the university environment were also sought. Talented undergraduate students identified existing practices that had enhanced, or in some instances had proved detrimental to, their learning. Students also shared ideas that they believed could be implemented to further enhance their experiences and learning. The implications of these findings are discussed with the intent of further enriching the future experiences of talented undergraduate students in the tertiary environment.

Boys continue to demonstrate lower average achievement in reading than girls. The influence of teacher gender has been explored among the factors explaining this scenario but with mixed results. Further, although teacher expectations have affected student academic outcomes, and student gender-related stereotypical notions have shaped such expectations, the role of teacher gender within this scenario has been neglected. The current study was conducted with a sample of elementary schools, in New Zealand (a national setting where essentialist gender attitudes have existed and where policies to implement scholastic gender equity have been critiqued as unsuccessful). The influence of teacher gender and of a teacher-student gender match and mismatch on teacher's expectations of their elementary student reading achievement, was tested via hierarchical linear modeling. Male teachers' expectations were found to be lower for students of both genders in reading and negative implications for male teachers and their students' reading achievement were revealed.

The study reported on here sought to better understand the development of writing talent from the perspectives of a group of gifted adolescent female writers. Recent shifts in how giftedness and talent are conceptualized has led to an increased focus on domain-specific abilities and the importance of understanding how specific talents can be identified and supported. Gagne's Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT) (see Gagne, 2000; 2003; 2007; 2008) distinguishes between gifts and talents. Gifts represent the potential for outstanding achievement, while talents are the manifestation of this potential. Of particular interest to teachers and parents are the conditions that are influential in gifts being realised as talents--what Gagne refers to as catalysts. The participants in this study were asked to reflect on the development of their interest and ability in writing over time. Emerging from their feedback were two categories of catalysts: the intrapersonal and the environmental. For this group of students, intrapersonal catalysts were more influential to the realisation of their writing talent than environmental catalysts. This intrinsic motivation to write, and from an early age, is consistent with studies of eminent adult writers. Parents and teachers featured as important environmental catalysts. The participants in this study valued the input and support of teachers, particularly during the early years of their schooling. However, as they moved through the school system, these students felt the nature of the curriculum, and assessment practices increasingly threatened their intrinsic motivation for writing and diminished the satisfaction gained from writing at school. An unexpected outcome of this research was the important influence of music on their current writing. (Contains 1 footnote.)

Over the past 50 years, research has shown that teacher expectations can influence student outcomes. Many studies have examined within-year effects. There is, however, a paucity of research that has investigated the stability of teachers' expectations across a single year, and there are no studies that have examined stability beyond 1 year. The current study examined the stability of 94 teachers' expectations within 3 separate years and across 3 years in mathematics and reading. In both subject areas, teachers' expectations remained relatively stable from beginning to end-of-year for each separate year and also across 3 years. Additionally, teachers who under- or overestimated their students by more than half a standard deviation continued to do so across all periods in the study. This was despite the teachers having different students each year. The study suggests that teachers view students' capabilities similarly despite having different student cohorts.

This study describes the outcomes of an intervention focused on the strategies and practices of high-expectation teachers. Specifically, the intervention involved 84 teachers who were randomly assigned to control and intervention groups. The research methodology was primarily qualitative, grounded in the interpretive tradition. Data collected from workshop evaluations, cluster meeting reports and pen-and-paper evaluations were analyzed using a thematic approach. Findings revealed that teachers involved in the intervention refined and changed their practices by creating flexible grouping, enhancing the class climate and supporting students' goal-setting. The teachers reported benefits as well as challenges and barriers to intervention implementation.

Women remain under-represented in mathematics-related domains, despite demonstrating that their ability in these domains is equal to that of men. Teacher expectation has been identified as one factor that may explain differences in student outcomes, and student gender has been influential in shaping such expectation. However, while the association between teacher gender and mathematics achievement has been explored, there exists a paucity of studies that have probed how teacher gender relates to teacher expectations of mathematics 1903achievement. The current study was conducted with a sample of elementary schools in New Zealand, a national context where the implementation of policies advocating educational gender equity has been criticized as ineffective. Differentiated male and female teacher expectations, and the influence of teacher-student gender match and mismatch on teacher expectations of student achievement in mathematics, were explored using hierarchical linear modelling. In addition, the study explored whether such teacher expectations supported an intention to foster educational gender equity, or reflected stereotypical gender norms that ran counter to that intent. The current study found that teacher gender was associated significantly with teacher expectations of student achievement in mathematics, revealing possible implications for males in the teaching profession, and for female students' future involvement in mathematics and related fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]