Gifted Education Commons^™

Beyond Words: Supporting Nonverbal Autistic Preschoolers With Exceptional Cognitive Abilities, Dawn Timms

Knowledge and Creativity Expo

This project explores how caregivers can support autistic preschoolers who are nonverbal yet demonstrate advanced cognitive abilities. Grounded in communication theory and neurodiversity‑affirming practice, it reframes communication as a shared, relational process that extends beyond spoken language. Drawing from interdisciplinary research, I created a strengths‑based caregiver communication toolkit that translates complex theory into clear, practical strategies families can use in everyday routines. This work honors the intelligence of children whose thinking outpaces their speech and equips caregivers with tools that make communication more accessible, responsive, and affirming.

Ways To Make Cybersecurity Education/Opportunities More Accessible In The Philippine Public School System, Joshua Oania

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

This paper will examine how the Philippines can make cybersecurity education more accessible in their public school system. The solutions it proposes include making cybersecurity a part of the school curriculum, creating summer/internship programs for Junior and Senior High School students in multiple different areas within cybersecurity, and providing basic infrastructure and resources for students to meet their educational needs and aspirations.

Underrepresentation Of Black Males In Gifted Education: A Phenomenology Study Of The Underrepresentation Of Black Males In Gifted Education, James A. Holemon Jr.

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The underrepresentation of Black males in gifted education is an issue that all educators acknowledge and understand. What we are less clear on is the influential factors that contribute to the underrepresentation of Black males in gifted education. Therefore, this research will focus on the phenomenology of gifted coordinators and administrators and their subjective experiences as students and educational leaders and how those perceptions and experiences impact systemic educational processes in the identification and selection process of gifted students. A phenomenological approach is utilized to highlight the voices and personal experiences of the practitioners who are on the ground as …

Promoting Privilege: Selecting Students For A Public Gifted School, Douglas G. Wren

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Point of view: I am a cisgender, White male in my sixties. I retired recently after working with children in a professional capacity since the mid-1970s. During my education career, I was an elementary school teacher, gifted teacher, research specialist, and director of research and evaluation in a historically White school district that became majority African American during my tenure.

Value of submission: Numerous educational policies and procedures in the United States benefit children from privileged families over their traditionally underserved counterparts, which include students of color and low-income students. This piece describes a public school district’s inequitable practices related …

Honor College Students' Adjustment Factors And Academic Success: Advising Implications, Christina Clark, Alan Schwitzer, Tisha Paredes, Tim Grothaus

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

We examined first-semester adjustment among students in and out of an honors college because honors college participants receive relatively little attention in the advising literature. As expected, honors college students earned relatively high grades and were associated with high retention rates. Two noncognitive factors predicted these differences: self-confidence and external influences on college choice. In an interesting finding, honors students expressed less self-confidence and placed greater importance on external college-choice factors than their high-achieving peers outside the honors college. Implications for the support of honors students and their peers are discussed.

Investigating An Intervention Used To Address Underachievement In Gifted And Non-Gifted High School Students: A Mixed Methodological Study, Melissa (Missy) C. Sullivan

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Recent concerns in the field of gifted education focus on students who are not performing at their ability level. These students can be classified as underachieving gifted students. In their research, Rubenstein, Siegle, Reis, McCoach, and Burton (2012) found that though gifted students are not typically considered at risk, there is a growing group of gifted students who are not motivated to learn, which is frustrating for parents, teachers, and counselors. Highly capable students are not being engaged in their classes which causes underachievement in these students (Kim, 2008). The purpose of this mixed methodological study will be to investigate …

The Impact Of The C. L. E. A. R. (Challenge Leading To Engagement, Achievement, And Results) Curriculum Model On Reading Achievement At The Third Grade Level, Robin Gale Puryear

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods study, employing a quantitative component, utilizing a quasi-experimental design, and a qualitative component, utilizing a post-positivist research paradigm and phenomenology research tradition, was to determine the potential impact of the C. L. E. A. R. (Challenge Leading to Engagement, Achievement, and Results) Curriculum Model on reading achievement at the third grade level. Additionally, the purpose of this study was to better understand both students and teachers perceptions of the C. L. E. A. R. Curriculum Model. Results indicated that there were no statistically significant findings between treatment group students and control group students, following an …

Multiple Intelligences And The Gifted Identification Of African-American Students, Oscar Scott Jr.

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

There have been three national reports addressing giftedness: Education of the Gifted and Talented: Report to the Congress of the United States by the U.S. Commissioner of Education (1972) AKA the Marland Report; The National Report on Identification: Assessment and Recommendations for Comprehensive Identification of Gifted and Talented Youth (1982) AKA the National Report on Identification; and National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent (1993) AKA National Excellence. All have documented the underrepresentation of African-American students in programs for the gifted and talented and the disproportionate reliance on standardized intelligence and achievenent tests for gifted and talented program selection. …

The Effect Of Same-Sex Grouping Versus Mixed-Sex Grouping On Mathematics Achievement And Attitudes Of Academically Gifted Fourth And Fifth Grade Females In The Urban Classroom, Martha J. Tompkins

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Studies

Reports of the neglect of gifted students in America's schools and the inadequate mathematics involvement of females have made educators aware of a crisis in public education. Attitudes and opportunities are believed to be major influences in helping females become more involved with mathematics courses and careers. The research project examined the effect of same-sex groups versus mixed-sex groups on mathematics attitudes and achievement in fourth and fifth grade females in a mathematically gifted pilot program at a magnet center. The experimental study was analyzed with Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Regression Analysis, Post-Hoc tests, and …

The Identification Of Gifted Children At The Kindergarten And First-Grade Level In An Urban And Rural Population, Flora Carter Roberts

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

This study examined the nomination procedures and assessment instruments employed in the gifted programs in ten urban and four rural southeastern Virginia school divisions. The procedures and instruments were examined in relation to the proportionate number of black and white children nominated for and determined eligible for the gifted program at kindergarten and grade one. The odds-ratio, a measure of association, was the primary data analysis technique employed.

In urban divisions in which K-1 membership was reported as white, black, other, white children were four times as likely to be a member of the gifted program at the end of …

The Elements Of Mathematics Program: How Can It Be Evaluated?, Marilou Shames Giacofci

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The Central Midwest Educational Research's (CEMREL) Elements of Mathematics Program (EM) for gifted students was piloted in Tidewater for five years. Before deciding whether to continue or expand the program, it was necessary to devise a method of evaluating the program's effectiveness. In the process of this evaluation, two separate com­parisons were made:

- a lateral comparison between an experimental and an existing control class over a period of four years, and

- a longitudinal comparison of successive experimental classes over a four year period.

Lateral Study

To insure comparability between the experimental and control classes, both were administered the …

A Survey Of The Facilities In The Norfolk City Senior High Schools For The Gifted Student, Ernest Henderson Knox

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

No abstract.

A Comparison Of The Fourth And Fifth Grade Achievement Of Younger And Older School Starters Who Have An Above Average Intelligence Quotient, Mary Ann Williams

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

No abstract.