With three children in our district’s gifted program, and as a board member of the program, I was excited to be able to review Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education: What the Research Says. This huge book (almost 800 pages) is an excellent resource on gifted education. There are brief chapters on any educational topic you can imagine, from bullying to underachieving, and how it relates to giftedness.

I’m making my way through the entire book (speed-reading and skimming much of it, which you can imagine given its size). As I read, I’m often reminded of my thought that I would never want to be a researcher, as research is pretty boring to read, and much seems obvious (boys more often show giftedness in areas like math and science, girls in language-related fields — did we really need research to show this?).

However, I kept paper and pen with me as I read, and I made note of things that popped out to me. A few of those –

In a chapter about AP classes, I read that between 2001 and 2012, the US Dept. of Education spent $275 million on a program encouraging low-income students to take AP classes. This resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of African American and Latino students taking these classes, yet “most” failed to pass the required end-of-class test which would have given them college credit. I have to wonder if this is money well-spent. Should we bend over backwards to get people to do something they won’t be successful at?
The chapter on giftedness and how it relates to autism fascinated me. It was stated that it’s a common assumption that all those with autism have intellectual disabilities (not true). Another myth is that all those with Asperger’s Syndrome, on the high-functioning end of autism, are gifted or have savant-like abilities. Again, not true. Interestingly, the research cited in this chapter found that gifted children often display characteristics common to those on the autism spectrum, including intense concentration on a topic of interest, negative behaviors perceived as oppositional, few interpersonal relations, and hypervigilant senses.
Related to the hypervigilant senses that are common among gifted kids — a chapter on bullying found that even a single incident of victimization could have a long-term impact on a gifted child, due to his/her acute sensitivity.
From a chapter on creativity: creativity in sciences tends to be associated with firstborns, lower levels of psychopathology, and higher levels of education. Artistic creativity tends to be associated with laterborns, a higher likelihood of psychopathology, and lower levels of education. Fascinating!
Gender issues: the SAT test has a persistent gender gap favoring males on both the verbal and math sections, even when adjusted for every other demographic. Interesting …
The gender chapter also states “continued low representation of females in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields … remains a concern.” I read this type of thing so often, and honestly? I have to wonder why it’s a concern. I feel like boys naturally gravitate more to math/science, while girls tend to like social/”soft” sciences more. Why is this a problem? It’s like saying “the curved edges of spheres remain a concern.” Ummmm … whatcha gonna do about it?
Interesting: academically talented girls tend to attribute their success to effort or luck, while boys tend to attribute their success to ability. I clearly remember being interviewed as a high school senior about why I thought I had ended up as one of our class’s valedictorians. I said my success came “because I always did my homework.” Years later, after having taught for quite a while, I thought back to this, and realized that I was probably smart. That thought had not occurred to me at the time.

I won this book through Library Thing Early Reviewer program. I have looked over the book and it seems quite comprehensive and deep. It collects all related research on the topic for further reading. It looks like this is a good resource to have. Thank you. ( )

With three children in our district's gifted program, and as a board member of the program, I was excited to be able to review Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education: What the Research Says. This huge book (almost 800 pages) is an excellent resource on gifted education. There are brief chapters on any educational topic you can imagine, from bullying to underachieving, and how it relates to giftedness.

I'm making my way through the entire book (speed-reading and skimming much of it, which you can imagine given its size). As I read, I'm often reminded of my thought that I would never want to be a researcher, as research is pretty boring to read, and much seems obvious (boys more often show giftedness in areas like math and science, girls in language-related fields -- did we really need research to show this?).

However, I kept paper and pen with me as I read, and I made note of things that popped out to me. A few of those --

In a chapter about AP classes, I read that between 2001 and 2012, the US Dept. of Education spent $275 million on a program encouraging low-income students to take AP classes. This resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of African American and Latino students taking these classes, yet "most" failed to pass the required end-of-class test which would have given them college credit. I have to wonder if this is money well-spent. Should we bend over backwards to get people to do something they won't be successful at?
The chapter on giftedness and how it relates to autism fascinated me. It was stated that it's a common assumption that all those with autism have intellectual disabilities (not true). Another myth is that all those with Asperger's Syndrome, on the high-functioning end of autism, are gifted or have savant-like abilities. Again, not true. Interestingly, the research cited in this chapter found that gifted children often display characteristics common to those on the autism spectrum, including intense concentration on a topic of interest, negative behaviors perceived as oppositional, few interpersonal relations, and hypervigilant senses.
Related to the hypervigilant senses that are common among gifted kids -- a chapter on bullying found that even a single incident of victimization could have a long-term impact on a gifted child, due to his/her acute sensitivity.
From a chapter on creativity: creativity in sciences tends to be associated with firstborns, lower levels of psychopathology, and higher levels of education. Artistic creativity tends to be associated with laterborns, a higher likelihood of psychopathology, and lower levels of education. Fascinating!
Gender issues: the SAT test has a persistent gender gap favoring males on both the verbal and math sections, even when adjusted for every other demographic. Interesting ...
The gender chapter also states "continued low representation of females in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields ... remains a concern." I read this type of thing so often, and honestly? I have to wonder why it's a concern. I feel like boys naturally gravitate more to math/science, while girls tend to like social/"soft" sciences more. Why is this a problem? It's like saying "the curved edges of spheres remain a concern." Ummmm ... whatcha gonna do about it?
Interesting: academically talented girls tend to attribute their success to effort or luck, while boys tend to attribute their success to ability. I clearly remember being interviewed as a high school senior about why I thought I had ended up as one of our class's valedictorians. I said my success came "because I always did my homework." Years later, after having taught for quite a while, I thought back to this, and realized that I was probably smart. That thought had not occurred to me at the time. ( )

"Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education, 2E" is an enormous resource if you are considering going into gifted education, are already teaching gifted education, or maybe you have some high-achieveing students who, while are not classified as gifted, sure are gifted students.

This book is full of extensive research that has helped me understand some of the students that are in my case-study class, as it is a school of overall high-achieving students. I've already turned to this book several times throughout my case study to aide me or to reinforce my thinking...or to change my mind completely. Though the book is quite large and looks overwhelming, you know what they say... "Don't judge a book by its cover." That phrase has never been so applicable.

Believe me, if you have considered buying and reading this, even just a little bit, I highly recommend it. Top notch research, top notch book.

"Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education" is an invaluable resource for educators. The book includes research examining a variety of topics in gifted education, ranging from differentiation to bullying to working with gifted rural students. Given the plethora of topics included, this work makes for a good starting point for those looking for research on a specific area of gifted education. ( )