Intended for parents of gifted and talented children as well as for teachers and administrators, the handbook provides an overview of gifted education while describing one district's program model. The district's philosophy, goals and objectives, and definition of giftedness are set forth, followed by a list of learning and behavioral charactersitics of gifted and creative students. Identification measures, including screening tests and parent inventories are reviewed. The district's program model, which clusters identified gifted students at each grade level within the framework of the regular classroom, is described. The program's instructional approaches are described; these include learning centers, individualized programing guides, computer instruction, and enrichment in conversational Spanish via mentorship with high school students. Guidelines are offered for differentiating curricula and for analyzing the role of the basic curricula for gifted/talented students. Appended materials include sample parent inventories, teacher referral forms, and other evaluation forms. (CL)