Good verbal skills are crucial for success in school and in many career fields. Project LIVE was a program of enrichment and acceleration focused on the development of verbal talent. It was implemented for 3 years with a group of middle-school students who indicated an above-grade-level reading proficiency and came from families having low-to-moderate income levels. Forty-five students participated in the program and received numerous educational services to improve their reading and writing skills. The students showed significant progress on English and/or reading subtests of the EXPLORE, the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT), and the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests. Higher parental expectations for children's academic achievement were another positive outcome of the program. More than two thirds of the students were placed in Honors English in their freshman year in high school, which was considerably higher than the percentage (47%) of high-school freshmen in Honors English in the school district where the majority of the students were from moderate-to high-income families.

This study supported the use of acceleration for gifted minority students in math. The gifted minority students in this study viewed taking accelerated math courses as exciting and beneficial for preparation for high school and college and particularly liked the challenges they encountered while taking advanced classes. They enjoyed working ahead and having a "leg up" in school and were infused with a special feeling of being gifted and talented in taking accelerated math. Ethnicity was not a major factor for teachers' support for acceleration. The teachers believed that acceleration provides necessary challenges for students, makes them committed to schoolwork, and enhances their academic achievement. No negative peer pressure resulting from academic acceleration was found, though the teachers were more certain than the students about the existence of negative peer culture for gifted minority students.

Project EXCITE is a program for minority students that supplements the regular school offerings with an emphasis on enhancing students' interest and performance in math and science. This study examines the experience and perceptions of 14 student participants in the program and their parents. In student and parent interviews, Project EXCITE was deemed fun and challenging and as enabling the students to enrich and improve academic performance. A desire for placement in advanced academic settings and better preparation for schoolwork in high school motivated the students to persist in the program for 6 years. The perceptions of expanded social networks with high ability minority peers, enhanced social support for high achievement, and confidence to successfully compete academically with peers were other positive outcomes. Negative peer pressure was not identified as a concern, but balancing academic work and social interaction with peers outside the program was a major concern for students. Putting the Research to Use: There is a growing demand for programs and initiatives to achieve the goal of reducing or eliminating the achievement differences between high-potential White or Asian students and high- potential African-American or Hispanic students. Designing effective programs requires attention to and understanding of not only the cognitive variables involved, but also the affective variables. Studying the feelings and perceptions of Project EXCITE students who invested over 400 hours of their time over a six-year period by attending out-of-school classes and studying the feelings and perceptions of their parents offer a new look at some key affective variables that impact the achievement gap. Variables such as a student's sense of belonging, self-confidence, and social network, as well as parental aspirations, must be considered in the design of any program that intends to close the achievement gap.