This article describes a set of 10 positively stated commandments designed to guide professionals responsible for the academic talent development of K-12 students. The first four target identification procedures, the "who" of talent development; they ensue directly from the conceptual framework of my Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent.…

This article analyzes the magnitude of individual differences in academic achievement and their growth over the first 9 years of schooling. The author anchors the widening-gap phenomenon on the theoretical recognition of large individual differences in learning pace, which logically leads over time to an increasing gap in knowledge and skills…

French Canadian gifted and typical high school students (n=689) completed two questionnaires addressing both the envy they felt and the envy expressed toward them. Students manifested more envy toward their peers' social and financial successes than toward their academic achievements or intelligence, but named their academic talent as enviable.…

Describes a system of categories to subdivide the gifted and talented population into the following more homogeneous subgroups: mild, moderate, high, exceptional, and extreme. Based on the metric system, each of the five levels, including the minimum threshold, selects the top 10% of the previous level. (Author/CR)

Analysis of self-nominations on peer nomination forms for identifying classroom peers with superior abilities, completed by 391 students (grades 4 to 8), found frequent (41%) self-nominations. Self-nominations were influenced by type of ability assessed and correlated significantly with peer nominations but much less with teacher nominations.…

The paper examines several common definitions of giftedness and talent, with particular emphasis on the models proposed by J. Renzulli and S. Cohn. A differentiation between giftedness and talent is suggested, and several factors which can act as catalysts for the actualization of giftedness in specific talents are discussed, particularly…

A critical analysis of 13 validation studies of the use of peer nomination forms to identify gifted students indicates methodological weaknesses. A four-step plan for research on the psychometric qualities of peer nomination forms is proposed. (Author/DB)

Forty prototypical descriptions representing 4 aptitude domains and 4 talent fields were rated by 2,343 intermediate-level pupils and their teachers, and indices of interpeer agreement were computed. A majority of the prototypes maintained acceptable interpeer agreement levels. Interpeer agreement depended primarily on the specific aptitude or…

Analysis of elementary and junior high student and teacher ratings of highly talented peers found that 60% of the 42 items had a significant overrepresentation of either boys or girls, with boys judged more talented in physical and technical aptitudes and girls more talented in arts and socioaffective aptitudes. (Author/DB)

Analysis of Pegnato and Birch's data invalidates the observation that teacher nominations should not be relied upon in gifted identification, as analysis shows that effectiveness and efficiency are related to number of subjects singled out as a result of the chosen cutoff value. An alternative is presented: compare correlation coefficients of the…