Journal for the Education of the Gifted

Despite educators' growing concern about meeting the unique needs of gifted students from culturally diverse backgrounds, the research literature sheds little light on best practices for these populations. A multicultural education perspective can help bring clarity to issues of practice by examining these issues within two divergent philosophical frameworks: assimilationist and pluralist. These perspectives offer different views on sources of ethnic student under achievement, the purpose of schooling, procedures for identification, instructional processes, and curriculum content.

In October, 1971, Commissioner of Education, Sidney P. Marland, submitted a report to Congress which concluded that the Federal government had provided virtually no services to meet the needs of gifted and talented students in America. During the following twenty years, Congress and the White House sought solutions to overcome this deficiency, but usually their interests conflicted sufficiently to keep Marland's observation intact. In 1988, Congress finally passed the Javits bill which implements the major recommendations of the Marland report, and which appears to be the first piece of legislation that has the tacit support of the White House. President Bush's desire to be the “Education President” implies that the federal government may finally assume a role in the education of gifted and talented youngsters.

A study of the effects of schooling on the social cognition of gifted adolescents is reported. A student attitude questionnaire (SAQ) exploring the cognitive behavioral strategies utilized to manage the stigma of giftedness was developed after conducting phenomenological interviews of fifteen gifted adolescents attending the Tennessee Governor's Schools (Coleman et & Cross, 1988). The questionnaire asked subjects to respond to six scenarios described as potentially stigmatizing events during the normal school day. Five common strategies noted during the interviews were provided as options in each of the scenarios. The data reported herein are based on the responses of 1,465 students over a two-year period. The patterns of responses suggested that gifted adolescents utilize the five strategies to differing degrees across situations. Situations most closely associated with test performance seemed to elicit the greatest variation in coping strategies, while those primarily reflecting social situations showed a consistently narrow range of strategies. The “placate” coping strategy was the most frequently used across the school-based scenarios.

Students in a sixth grade gifted class were asked to write an essay comparing and contrasting their experiences in gifted classes and regular classes. This data was collected as part of a semester-long qualitative study of motivation patterns in middle school gifted classrooms. The specific intent of the essay assignment was to address the special issues in motivation which arise when a child is labelled “gifted” and placed in a classroom full of intellectual peers. Responses were analyzed and clustered into themes via group consensus. A major theme expressed by students was that teachers and peers outside the gifted class seem to have unfair expectations for the gifted students. Specific topics included grading, group work, lack of acknowledgement for effort, treatment by peers, and teacher expectations.

Results are reported of a follow-up study conducted nine years after a group of twenty-seven adolescents, judged talented in the visual and performing arts, participated in the Johnson State Early College Summer Arts Program. In this research, which utilized a questionnaire, the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale, and telephone interviews, information was provided about members of this population, now young adults. It was revealed that: 1) art still plays an important role in their lives; 2) they possess the characteristics defined in the program selection criteria; 3) they are highly self-directed; 4) they believe participation in the Early College Program had a positive effect on their lives and their involvement in art; 5) several have overcome significant pre-existing emotional challenges since participating in the Early College Program. It was tentatively concluded: 1) four conative attributes ascribed to participants appear to combine in different ways to influence self-perception and artistic productivity according to gender and over time; 2) respondents believed the Early College Program helped them preserve their artistic inclination into adulthood, contributed to their long-term emotional well-being, and assisted them in college major and career choices; 3) as self-directed adults, they may benefit more from college and adult education programs that allow for a high degree of self-direction in learning situations than from narrowly structured programs. Advice they offered administrators and faculty of programs similar to the Early College Summer Arts Program is summarized and reported.