Gifted education is leading an interdisciplinary paradigm shift moving education out of its historic role of entrenching systemic inequities. It is a crucible for pioneering investigations of optimal human development and provides a vehicle for increasing social equity. We review changing conceptions of intelligence, motivation and creativity, and consider current findings on processes that affect the development of high ability. We discuss the role of context and neuroscience as they apply to understanding the development of giftedness. We describe changing emphases in gifted education, focusing on the shift from categorical homogeneity to developmental diversity, concluding that giftedness and talent are best understood as dynamic, fluid, domain-specific and context-sensitive processes. Finally, we consider implications for educational practice: How do these changes impact definition, prediction, identification, programming, psychosocial practices and teacher development, opening up opportunities for optimal learning, development and fulfillment across the population, and across the life span?