The research site is a middle school in a K-12 suburban public school district with heterogeneously grouped (mixed ability) middle school language arts, social studies, and science classes. It has been determined that the academic needs of its gifted or highly talented learners in these classes need to be better met. This action science research was conducted with all seventh-grade language arts classes in one of the three the middle schools at the site to evaluate if differentiated instruction according to students' readiness and/or ability levels, done with a gifted education/differentiated specialist partnering and supporting the classroom teachers, is an effective and viable model. Following an intervention using this model, qualitative data was gathered to determine (a) if students indicated a perception of sufficient and appropriate levels of rigor and challenge in their language arts class, (b) if parents indicated a perception that their children experienced sufficient and appropriate levels of rigor and challenge in language arts, and (c) the language arts teachers' perceptions of how the models worked in their classroom in meeting the academic needs of their gifted/talented learners. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]