Abstract People known for their world-changing accomplishments are often recognized for their creativity, personal courage, belief in self, and perseverance. In this chapter, we explore how traits such as courage, optimism, vision, and a belief in one’s power to make change should be developed in programs that serve gifted and high potential students. A brief review of the theory underlying these traits is followed by a description of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM), a talent development approach encouraging students to use their talents to promote social capital. Our focus is on the opportunities, resources, and encouragement provided by educators who use the strength-based teaching strategies embedded in the SEM. Programs to help students develop a socially constructive product or service to help others can result in positive change locally and in larger audiences. We conclude with suggestions for teachers designed to help young people internalize the attitudes, values, and behaviors that promote the use of one’s talents to make the world a better place.

Hamdan Intelligence Scale (HIS) is the first intelligence scale that has been developed and normed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study aimed to examine the refinement, validity, and reliability of HIS in upper elementary grades using the Rasch model. A total of 4,301 students (34.3% Male; 65.7% Female) from grade 4 to 6 (32.1% grade 4; 33.7% grade 5; 34.2% grade 6) were administered to the HIS. The confirmatory factor analysis was first conducted to verify the fitness of the one-factor model of the HIS. The results of validity showed strong correlation coefficients between the HIS and the Aurora-g battery (0.83) and the Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM; 0.86). Moreover, the results of the developmental trends demonstrated that raw scores of the HIS increase with age and grade relatively constantly across composite scores. Unidimensionality was confirmed through the Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Principal Component Analysis of Residuals (PCAR). The low eigenvalues of the first contrast were below 2, and additionally, the infit and outfit mean squares ranged from 0.88 to 1.14 and 0.84 to 1.14. Rasch’s person reliability result of 0.62 was acceptable reliability. The results provided strong support for the validity and reliability of using the Hamdan Intelligence Scale in the UAE environment.

This mixed-methods study examined 220 teachers' responses from a new instrument, the Imagination, Creativity, and Innovation (ICI) Index. ICI Index scores represented teachers' predictions of how students would rate their school's support for student creativity, which was assumed to represent the teachers' perspective of the actual support for student creativity at the school. Teachers of grades 6-8 (n = 55) had significantly lower ICI Index scores than teachers of grades 3-5 (n = 155; p = .03, g = .35). Regular classroom teachers (n = 151) did not differ significantly from gifted and talented teachers (n = 49) on their ICI scores (p = .065). Qualitative analysis found that, when asked to give examples of products, performances, and services produced by students that were points of pride, most teachers discussed their own creative teaching practices rather than student-initiated projects. Most major content areas were represented, and many responses were interdisciplinary. The most common audience was the school community. Time, including scheduled special periods, was commonly discussed as a support for creativity. Teachers with high ICI Index scores usually wrote about how the school community collaborated to provide creative opportunities to all students, whereas teachers with low ICI Index scores reported that support for student creativity was absent or limited to specific groups.

Academic disciplines and professional fields need to engage in ongoing evaluation of their purposes and conceptual frameworks. The complex field of gifted education can benefit from such evaluations, and the refinements that can emerge from them. This article is a discussion between two of the most prominent scholars in the field. The discussion is based on a set of questions that cover much of the field's conceptual and practical territory. While answering the questions, the scholars also respond to each other. They address a wide range of phenomena in the field, including concerns pertaining to identification of the gifted, program development, instructional goals and processes, underrepresentation and other social justice issues, and the need for expansion of ethical awareness, among other topics. The discussion also is framed with some interdisciplinary concepts.

In this article, I describe a few personal favorite contributions of Dr. Marcia Gentry, one of the most successful graduates from our doctoral program at the University of Connecticut, as well as a dear friend and collaborator. Marcia focused her life's work on the need to serve underserved and often-neglected populations in our field and implemented programs for these students, focusing on positive change in schools and on reservations. She also developed innovative identification and programming practices to be used in schools as well as summer programs. Marcia's personalized boots-on-the-ground activities, research, and advocacy for numerous Native American students across the country helped develop gifts and talents in diverse groups. Her success in this area resulted in recent years in the application of the same know-how to leadership and change strategies with other diverse groups. Marcia's life's work earned her a place among the top leaders in our field and in this special issue, we celebrate her work and life.

Celem niniejszego artykułu jest przegląd badań naukowych dotyczących problematyki dobrostanu (well-being) uzdolnionych dzieci i młodzieży. Przyjęto procedurę przeglądu systematycznego w oparciu o protokół Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (Page et al. 2021). Analizie poddano 15 artykułów opublikowanych w latach 2005–2022 w recenzowanych czasopismach naukowych. Analizy pokazały, że nie można jednoznacznie stwierdzić, czy uzdolnienia są czynnikiem ryzyka, czy też czynnikiem chroniącym dla subiektywnego poczucia dobrostanu dzieci i młodzieży uzdolnionej. Jednocześnie wyniki badań publikowane w większości analizowanych tekstów nie wskazały istotnych statystycznie różnic między poczuciem dobrostanu subiektywnego, jak i psychicznego uczniów uzdolnionych w porównaniu do uczniów o przeciętnych zdolnościach. W badaniach subiektywnego poczucia dobrostanu uzdolnionych dzieci i młodzieży wykorzystuje się szereg skal odnoszących się do różnych obszarów psychofizycznego funkcjonowania człowieka, np. nastroju, stresu, poczucia własnej skuteczności, zainteresowań, poczucia samotności, poczucia humoru, klimatu szkolnego, co pozwala na holistyczne spojrzenie na analizowane zjawisko.

After repeatedly observing the little boy crying on the school bus, Melanie, a fifth grader, took a seat next to him and struck up a conversation. “You don’t understand,” said Tony, a first grader whose face was practically hidden behind the thickest eyeglasses Melanie had ever seen. “You see these glasses? I’m partially sighted. The kids trip me and make fun of me. I have special books for my subjects, but there are no books in the library that I can read.”

This brief article focuses on developing talents in young people and improving the culture of the entire school by democratizing more opportunities for creative productivity for all students. The economic, cultural, and social development of all nations depends on increasing the reservoir of highly talented people.

The Multiple Menu Model uses the major underlying theories of knowledge and instruction to create "templates" respecting sound theory, but at the same time provides guidance for the practical tasks of selecting and sequencing content and deciding upon objectives, activities, and outcomes. The goal of the Multiple Menu Model is to achieve balance and coordination between knowledge and instructional technique and to proceed from the abstract to the practical in the process of curriculum development. The Theory of Blended Knowledge depicted is intended to guide all curricula for the gifted in a direction that produces creative/productive outcomes. The Instructional Strategies menu provides a broad range of teaching strategies representing ways in which teachers organize learning situations. The Instructional Sequences Menu is based on the work of major learning theorists. The Instructional Products Menu deals with the outcomes of learning experiences.