Gifted Child Quarterly

This article proposes a duplex model for understanding giftedness. The first part of the duplex is the set of gifted skills and attitudes that one possesses as a result of heredity, the environment, and their interaction. It is the input that one has acquired from one’s life experiences. The second part of the duplex is the utilization or deployment of gifted skills and attitudes. On this view, giftedness, like intelligence, in practice heavily depends upon one’s attitudes toward deployment of abilities, not just the abilities themselves. It is the output that one gifts back to the world. Someone may possess giftedness in the first part of the duplex but give very little back in the second part. Alternatively, someone may make gifted contributions but not be identified as having the characteristics usually associated with giftedness. This can result because giftedness can be either trait-like or state-like. Some people act in gifted ways as a function of their interactions with tasks and situations, although they would not have been predicted to be individuals who would act that way. A full model should allow both for input and output—giftedness as a possession but also giftedness as it is deployed to make the world a better place.

The recent decision by the United States Supreme Court to limit affirmative action in college admissions could make it even more challenging for academically talented students of color to gain access to competitive schools. The importance of school counselors in guiding and supporting these students is now more crucial than ever. This qualitative study aimed to determine what school counselors need to know, do, and believe to help academically talented, Black students from low-income households gain admission into highly selective colleges and universities. Three broad themes and 10 subthemes emerged from the data analysis. The themes were (a) knowledge and awareness, (b) mindsets and beliefs, and (c) habits and practices. Implications for school counselor practice, training, and research are discussed.

The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) is the most widely used norm-referenced creativity test used in gifted identification. Although commonly used for identifying talent, little is known about how creativity tests, like the TTCT-Figural, contribute to the probability of being identified as gifted especially with underrepresented populations. Using nominated students (n = 1,191) from a diverse midsized urban school district, this study examined the differential predictive validity among student demographics (i.e., race/ethnicity, free/reduced price lunch status, English learning status, sex) and the TTCT-Figural to the probability of being identified as gifted. Results of a multilevel hierarchical generalized linear regression indicated underrepresented groups showed no difference in the probability of being identified after controlling for cognitive ability and academic achievement; the same was true when the TTCT-Figural was included within the model. The inclusion of the TTCT-Figural does contribute to the probability of identification; however, the disproportionality of underrepresented student groups remains in this school district. Gifted administrators looking to enhance equity may not find the solution with the mere inclusion of a creativity assessment. Implications for practice and future directions are discussed.

Parent-led, home-based education, or homeschooling, has grown rapidly over recent decades with participation rates increasing more than 100-fold to now nearly one in 25 students nationwide in the United States. However, the research base has not grown correspondingly, and homeschoolers remain understudied. We systematically surveyed a population of homeschooling families (N = 881 responses) who had reported homeschooling a high-ability student to learn more about their characteristics and perceptions. Specifically, we report a mixed-methods analysis of the survey responses addressing whether and why these parents would or would not consider returning their child to a traditional school setting. Respondents were predominantly mothers who reported a high level of formal education and who were primarily responsible for implementing homeschooling with their child. Qualitative thematic analysis of open-ended responses yielded five main themes: preference, academics, concerns about future educational opportunities, satisfaction, and well-being. Findings both support and extend prior research with this population.

This systematic scoping review reports findings from 38 studies (2000–2022) that explored the approaches to differentiation that have been effectively used with high-ability students and the school-level supports that enabled their application. The review advances our understanding of current approaches and highlights future considerations for school-based pedagogies that aim for an inclusive education for all, including shared understandings of what effectiveness means and looks like in practice and how it can be determined or measured. The review identified 15 effective teaching approaches used with high-ability learners, showing that teachers draw upon an array of approaches when differentiating for high-ability students in both primary and secondary settings and across disciplines. However, the limited number of studies and predominance of data from one country suggest the need for further research across a broader range of contexts, including the important role of school leadership in supporting differentiated teacher practice. This need is made more pressing in contexts where differentiation continues to be primarily focused upon students working below expected level rather than including the highly able, and where the practice of differentiation continues to be misunderstood.