Education Commons^™

Gifted And…: Teacher Reflection And Transformation In Response To Teaching Gifted Students, Patrick Gene Rabon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

12 teachers, representing five schools in a district, shared via individual interviews their insights regarding giftedness and the needs of gifted students. These interviews explored the characteristics of giftedness and gifted education, the needs participants identified through their experiences with their students, the choices participants made regarding these needs, and the various ways participants reflected on these choices. This study used reflexive thematic analysis and transformative learning theory to make sense of the data, and a reparative approach shaped the study’s approach to the collection and analysis of the data. This study found that participants tended to think in terms …

Gifted And Talented Student Performance On State Achievement Tests, Dondre Harris

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

The exploration of dissecting gifted and talented programs combined with student advancement and academic success is one daunting but doable. The purpose of this study was to investigate the equity of the gifted and talented program while analyzing the achievement scores of these students compared to their peers. This quantitative study includes an evaluation of third through fifth grade students in a central Arkansas school district while merging the relationships of the general education population versus the academically gifted and talented population. Both groups were examined through the independent variables classified as ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. A descriptive data …

Educator Perceptions Of Giftedness In Florida, Casey Leone

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Educators, including teachers and administrators, have a responsibility to increase knowledge and achievement for all students. Gifted students who demonstrate increased abilities and proficiencies are often given less attention as schools continue to increase their focus on the lower quartile of students. To address this need, gifted programs are implemented to foster excellence in identified students. However, educational policies pertaining to identification and qualifications for gifted programs can serve as gatekeepers denying students that could potentially benefit from rigorous and enriching programs. In this quantitative study, the perceptions of educators in Florida towards gifted policy were explored through a series …

Overcoming Gifted Student Underachievement Through Teacher Best Practices, Samantha Simmons Webre

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this study is to collect the best practices being utilized by gifted teachers affecting change amongst their gifted underachieving students. Data collected will explore trends deemed significant among the successful best practices being utilized by academically gifted certified teachers.

The researcher will administer surveys, conduct interviews, and classroom observations to collect data from a sample of participants who are currently employed as academically gifted certified teachers. This study will focus on these academically gifted certified teacher’s definitions and recognition of underachievement, identified causes for underachievement, best practices employed to re-engage underachieving students, as well as perceptions of …

Exploring Differences In Mathematical Creative Potential And Problem-Posing In Gifted And Non-Gifted Middle School Students, Aishah Ahmed Alzahrani

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the link between students’ Mathematical Creative Potential (MCP) and giftedness by analyzing their abilities to pose mathematical problems. The participants included 260 gifted and non-gifted students from the 7th and 8th grades, representing four schools and four school districts in Northwest Arkansas. The study developed the Mathematical Creative Potential Scale (MCPS) to measure participant MCP. The MCPS is based on a divergent-thinking technique consisting of five free-structured and semi-structured situations. Students’ plausible problems were scored based on three dimensions of creativity: fluency, flexibility, and originality. This study found that there were statistically …

A Case Study Of Four Districts' Procedures For Identifying And Serving Culturally, Linguistically, And Economically Diverse Gifted And Talented Students In One State, Mackenzie Anderson

Curriculum and Instruction Undergraduate Honors Theses

The underrepresentation of culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students is a problem historically researched in gifted and talented programs. This problem largely comes from the way districts identify for giftedness as well as the programming for gifted students. Traditional methods of identification often largely exclude students due to racial or ethnic bias and harsh cut-off scores on tests. This study investigated the current identification procedures of four districts in one state. Additionally, the study addressed programming and how these districts specifically targeted underserved populations within their district. Data were collected through interviews with four District Coordinators from school districts with …

Identification Of Gifted Characteristics Using The Behavioral Assessment Scale For Children—Third Edition, Kristine Zytka

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children who are gifted are at-risk for being misidentified with emotional and behavioral disorders (Daniels & Piechowski, 2009; Mullet & Rinn, 2015; Webb, 2016). Challenges exist in conclusively defining giftedness, assessing giftedness, and understanding common behavioral patterns among gifted individuals (Bracken & Brown, 2006; McClain & Pfeiffer, 2012). Because gifted children typically exhibit common behavioral patterns, it is important for school psychologists to understand gifted behavioral characteristics, how to assess these characteristics, and how to differentiate between common gifted behavior and maladaptive behavior (Daniels & Piechowski, 2009; Webb, 2016). This study examined the value of the BASC-3 in identifying gifted …

The Experience Of Parenting Stress In Parents Of Twice-Exceptional Children, Christiane Wells

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Parenting stress (PS) is a phenomenon experienced by all parents to varying degrees due to the demands of meeting a child's needs. This distinct type of stress is caused by an imbalance between the perceived demands of parenting and the perceived coping resources available to parents. The construct of twice-exceptionality (2E) is defined as the co-occurrence of giftedness and disability or possessing both high cognitive abilities and at least 1 of 13 potential disabilities identified under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004. The purpose of this study was to understand how PS is experienced by parents of children …

Collaborative Conversations With Parents And Caregivers Of Black Gifted Students, Rebecca A. Mckinney

Teaching and Learning Sciences: Doctoral Research Projects

This research study attempts to address the persistent problem of practice of inequitable identification and programming for culturally and linguistically diverse gifted learners. One of the possible root causes of this persistent problem is the lack of parent engagement from culturally and linguistically diverse parents and caregivers (Jolly & Matthews, 2012; Grantham, Frasier, Roberts & Bridges, 2005). This phenomenological study targets parent and caregiver engagement of African American or Black parents and caregivers through the collaborative development of parent education. Participants were parents or caregivers of African American or Black school age children in metro Denver who participated in four …

The Limitations On Colorado School Districts Adoption Of An Early Access Addendum Process, Lindsey Reinert

Teaching and Learning Sciences: Doctoral Research Projects

Colorado House Bill 08-1021: Early Access is legislation that is an optional based policy for school districts in the state of Colorado to choose to implement. The basic parameters within this state legislation is identified highly gifted students defined as academically gifted, socially and emotionally mature, who are in the top 3% of the gifted peer group, motivated to learn, ready for advanced placement, and have exhausted the resources of preschool or home schooling. Colorado House Bill 08-1021: Early Access passed in 2008, but as of 2017 only 42% of school districts had a process registered with the state department …

Factors Affecting Talent Development: Differences In Graduate Students Across Domains, Stephanie Hartzell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There is an abundance of literature on young individuals who show early signs of talent and on older individuals who have demonstrated their abilities throughout the years. This research aims to look at those individuals who are in between, that is, graduate students who have the demonstrated potential to achieve within their fields of study. This study explored backgrounds of talented individuals in their adolescent period and their current measures of cognitive abilities. A total of 38 graduate students majoring in the areas of art (n= 12), science (n= 12), and education (n= 14) were used as examples of individuals …