Psychologists show great curiosity about the world and human behavior. They are forever asking Why? Or What? Or How? about various aspects of human behavior. It is no surprise, therefore, that they respond enthusiastically to some of the questions surrounding the behavior of those labeled as gifted and talented in our society. As will be seen in…

Dr. James Gallagher published widely on most topics in gifted education, and was often invited to provide commentary on basic theories of giftedness for audiences of psychologists and educators. His own background as a psychologist and special educator as well as a gifted educator positioned him well to hold the theoretical views he did on the…

In this article, James J. Gallagher proposes that understanding the political issues and the debate surrounding the education of gifted students is based on the recognition that education policy (including rules, regulations, financial allocations, etc.) reflects social policy. Hence, society prioritizes needs so that the most important of these…

As a national and international leader in both the field of special education and gifted and talented education, Gallagher's concerns for the individuals at both ends of the spectrum extended beyond academics. Although he is primarily known for his tireless lobbying to establish national and state policies that would promote a commitment to…

This collective case study represents 10 gifted children's relationships with writing. The construct "relationship with writing" includes children's influences, goals, values, identity, and emotions connected to writing. Overall, these students' relationships with writing can be described as creative, responsible, and…

This study developed and empirically tested two related models of the occupational/career decision-making processes of gifted adolescents using a competing models strategy. The two models that guided the study, which acknowledged cultural orientations, social influences from the family, occupational/career values, and characteristics of…

The paper argues that educators of the gifted have overlooked important evidence on the power of special environments because of our habit of considering cognitive outcomes and an outsider view of evidence as the standard for judging the benefits of special environments. The author proposes that social context be used as a construct to help…

The paper explores the question of how gifted and talented adolescents experience being gifted in high school. Fifteen subjects were interviewed twice while attending a special summer program in order to answer this general question. The data were analyzed and interpreted using a set of research questions which postulated that the subjects would…

Most of our information on how teachers of the gifted and talented think while they plan and implement instruction is from the perspective of the researcher, not from the teacher's perspective. One expert teacher was studied in great detail using ethnographic and phenomenological techniques. More specifically, a teacher was studied as he…

Although a general understanding of the phenomenon of giftedness is evident in the literature, missing is a body of information on the thoughts and actions of gifted persons in those situations that we suspect influence the emergence of extraordinary accomplishment. In this article I propose a change in direction for the study of the advanced…

The underrepresentation of ethnic minority and economically disadvantaged students in gifted education must be understood in terms of broader school contexts and practices. This qualitative study investigated how teachers and schools contributed to the academic success of minority students of high potential from economically disadvantaged…

This qualitative inquiry presents the case study of five gifted eighth-grade students who engaged in an e-mentoring project in mathematics. The study reported in this article investigated the role of e-mentoring in gifted students' academic life. Three themes predominated in the collected data were (a) motivation, (b) effective communication…

Few academic interventions for gifted students have generated more empirical support than acceleration and ability grouping, and formative assessment is advocated as a tool that educators can use to appropriately integrate accelerative practices and ability grouping into the classroom. However, the empirical support for accelerative practices,…

In most industrialized societies, the regular educational system does not meet the educational needs of gifted pupils, causing a lag in their school achievement. One way in which more challenge can be provided to gifted children is with an enrichment program. In the present study, cognitive, socioemotional, and attitudinal effects of a triarchic…

The authors first briefly describe how the concepts of talents and giftedness found in German-speaking Europe have evolved in the school system and in general over the past two centuries, and how the variety of gifted-education efforts found within and beyond schools as well as counseling efforts attest to these changes. They then discuss four…