Elizabeth Shaunessy-Dedrick

Changes in Stress and Psychological Adjustment during the Transition to High School among Freshmen in an Accelerated Curriculum.

This study determined whether participation in an accelerated curriculum (specifically, the International Baccalaureate [IB] program) upon entry to high school is associated with increases in stress and/or associated with psychological problems. Data from self-report questionnaires were collected at two time points (summer after eighth grade, fall of ninth grade) from 134 freshmen entering three high schools. Results indicate that ninth-grade students in the IB program reported more perceived stress than students in general education, at levels higher than what was present before the students began high school. Despite this increase in stress, the psychological functioning (life satisfaction, psychopathology, and social anxiety) of IB students was statistically similar or superior to the mental health indicators reported by their peers in general education. The main effects of time, gender, and academic program are also discussed in the context of prior research on students’ adjustment during the transition to high school.

Development and Initial Validation of the Coping With Academic Demands Scale: How Students in Accelerated High School Curricula Cope With School-Related Stressors

Successful coping with academic demands is important given the inverse relationship between stress and positive adjustment in adolescents. The Coping With Academic Demands Scale (CADS) is a new measure of coping appropriate for students pursuing advanced high school curricula, specifically Advanced Placement (AP) classes and the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. We developed the CADS in parallel with a new measure of stress designed for this same population. We generated an initial item pool using multiple sources including focus groups and individual interviews with 177 students, 72 teachers, and 47 parents. Multiple iterations of expert review and item analyses resulted in 120 items, which were completed by 727 high school students in six schools (312 IB, 415 not in IB but taking at least one AP class). Exploratory factor analyses and additional item review indicated a 16-factor solution with 58 items. Cronbach’s alpha reliabilities for the factors ranged from .53 to .90, with 11 factors exceeding .70. All 16 factors had test–retest reliabilities greater than .70. Support for the construct validity of the CADS scores was provided using a nomological network, which specified relationships between the CADS and broader dimensions of school-related coping dimensions (task, avoidance, and emotion-oriented), as well as indicators of achievement (grade point averages) and mental health (life satisfaction). An additional seven items that were not part of the 16-factor CADS, but which were identified as relevant in different phases of instrument development, are provided as a resource for researchers.

Development and Initial Validation of the Student Rating of Environmental Stressors Scale: Stressors Faced by Students in Accelerated High School Curricula

High school students in accelerated curricula face stressors beyond typical adolescent developmental challenges. The Student Rating of Environmental Stressors Scale (StRESS) is a self-report measure of environmental stressors appropriate for students in Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. We developed the StRESS in parallel with a new measure of coping designed for this same population. Items were derived from sentiments expressed during focus groups and individual interviews with 177 students, 72 parents, and 47 teachers. Multiple iterations of expert review and item analyses focusing on conceptual clarity and comprehensiveness resulted in 75 items reflecting stressors across domains, including school, home, and peers. High school students in AP or IB (N = 727) completed the 75-item inventory. Exploratory factor analyses and additional item review indicated a five-factor solution with 32 items. Cronbach’s alpha reliabilities ranged from .67 to .88. Five additional items representing a composite of Major Life Events also were included. The five factors and Major Life Events composite had test–retest reliabilities greater than .70. These scores were related to multiple conceptualizations of stress, as well as academic outcomes (GPA and attendance) and mental health (life satisfaction and anxiety), thus supporting the construct validity of the StRESS scores. Further support for the five-factor structure of the StRESS was provided by results of a confirmatory factor analysis (standardized root mean square residual = .051, root mean square error of approximation = .048, comparative fit index = .900) with a separate sample of 2,193 AP and IB students.

Effects of Differentiated Reading on Elementary Students' Reading Comprehension and Attitudes toward Reading.

In this investigation, we examined the effects of a differentiated reading approach on fourth grade students’ reading comprehension and attitudes toward reading. Eight Title I schools within one urban district were randomly assigned to treatment (Schoolwide Enrichment Model–Reading [SEM-R]) or control (district reading curriculum) conditions. Treatment teachers implemented SEM-R as a supplement to the district curriculum for 1 academic year, whereas control teachers used the district curriculum. Based on multilevel analyses of students’ posttest reading comprehension scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (n = 358) and attitudes toward reading as measured by the Elementary Reading Attitudes Survey (n = 429), no statistically significant differences in students’ attitudes toward reading were found, but SEM-R students had significantly higher scores on the comprehension posttest compared with the students in the control schools.

Students' Perceptions of Factors that Contribute to Risk and Success in Accelerated High School Courses

In this qualitative study, we investigated 15 successful and 15 struggling high school students, perceived stressors, coping strategies, and intrapersonal and environmental factors that students perceive to influence their success in college-level courses. We found that students’ primary sources of stress involved meeting numerous academic demands and seeking a balance between academic goals, social needs, and extracurricular activities. The most frequently described and commonly used coping responses viewed as effective involved time and task management, seeking temporary diversions, and cognitive reappraisal. Students perceived a strong work ethic and high achievement motivation as personal traits aligned with success, and support from a broad network of peers, parents, and teachers as environmental factors that are also related to optimal performance in rigorous accelerated high school programs.

Psychometric Properties of the School Attitude Assessment Survey-Revised with International Baccalaureate High School Students.

In two studies (ns = 312 and 1,149) with 9- to 12-grade students in pre–International Baccalaureate (IB) and IB Diploma programs, we evaluated the reliability, factor structure, measurement invariance, and criterion-related validity of the scores from the School Attitude Assessment Survey–Revised (SAAS-R). Reliabilities of the five SAAS-R subscale scores were good (αs > .80) for pre-IB (Grades 9-10) and IB students (Grades 11-12). Study 1 model fit indices for the five-factor SAAS-R model from confirmatory factor analyses showed greater misfit than those previously reported by McCoach and Siegle. In contrast, Study 2 fit indices for the five-factor model with pre-IB and IB students were similar to values reported by McCoach and Siegle. Tests of measurement invariance in Study 2 using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis identified three items within the Motivation/Self-Regulation subscale that differed in their item intercepts (i.e., uniform differential item functioning) with pre-IB students endorsing these items more strongly compared with IB students. Based on these results along with evidence of criterion-related validity as reflected in the moderate statistical relations between the SAAS-R subscales and students’ GPAs, the SAAS-R shows promise as a research tool that can be used to examine the psychological factors associated with pre-IB and IB students’ academic achievement.

Examining gifted students’ mental health through the lens of positive psychology.

In this chapter, we focus on research that is most pertinent to gifted education. We begin with an overview of the constructs (organized within the three original pillars of positive psychology) relevant to youth, education, and gifted education. First, we offer a working definition of giftedness and gifted education. Subjective Well-Being among Gifted and Talented Youth 3 Examining Gifted Students’ Mental Health through the Lens of Positive Psychology The psychological functioning of gifted and talented youth can be conceptualized from a traditional lens that is focused on identification and remediation of within-person problems, or from a modern lens that takes a more holistic view of individuals as also having personal strengths and environmental resources (Wright & Lopez, 2009). This chapter describes a specific modern frameworkpositive psychologythat was introduced by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2000) as intended to change “the focus of psychology from preoccupation only with repairing the worst things in life to also building positive qualities” (p. 5). In describing psychology’s origins pre-World War II, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi summarized three primary missions of the field— alleviate mental health problems, improve the lives of all people, and cultivate exceptional talent. Initiatives within positive psychology refocused attention to the latter two goals, including via development of strategies to improve happiness among the general public, as well as through research devoted to fostering excellence. Exceptional intellectual ability is one form of excellence in young people (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). The natural linkages between positive psychology and gifted education were explicated in the aforementioned landmark special issue of the American Psychologist that was devoted to positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihaly). Some of the invited papers featured in that issue directed attention to the social-emotional functioning of gifted youth (Winner, 2000) and how to foster intellectual and psychological development among talented students (Lubinski & Benbow, 2000). In positive psychology, attention is directed towards the personal competencies and environmental resources that facilitate well-being. In particular, the three themes running through the original positive psychology framework entailed: (1) positive emotions and Subjective Well-Being among Gifted and Talented Youth 4 experiences, including feelings of happiness, (2), positive individual traits, including personality traits now conceptualized as character strengths, and (3) positive institutions, specifically the social contexts such as healthy schools and families that shape individuals’ positive experiences and ultimate societal contributions (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). The review of literature in this chapter is organized around those three primary foci of positive psychology. Since the introduction of positive psychology at the turn of the millennium, Donaldson, Dollwet, and Rao (2015) reported that over 1300 articles pertinent to positive psychology have been published in the professional literature (i.e., 1999 – 2013). The nature of these papers has evolved from conceptual to empirical, leading Donaldson et al. to conclude that “many psychological researchers have been inspired to investigate topics that illuminate the scientific understanding of factors that enable individuals, communities, and societies to flourish in contemporary times” (p. 192). Although the majority of extant empirical studies examined adults, a sizeable minority (16% of the 771 studies) included samples of children and adolescents (Donaldson et al.). Such studies contain growing guidance on issues pertinent to assessment, predictors, and benefits of, as well as interventions to improve, youth well-being. In this chapter, we focus on the research that is most pertinent to gifted education. We begin with an overview of the constructs (organized within the three original pillars of positive psychology) relevant to youth, education, and (when studied to date), gifted education. First, we offer a working definition of giftedness and gifted education. Importance of the Topic Definitions of giftedness vary greatly from state to state and from nation to nation, and reflect the many conceptions of giftedness that abound. Although the federal definition describes gifted individuals as those who “give evidence of higher performance capability in such areas as Subjective Well-Being among Gifted and Talented Youth 5 intellectual, creative, artistic, or in specific academic fields, and who need services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities,” states vary greatly in their conceptualization of giftedness and provision of related educational services (No Child Left Behind Act, P.L. 107-110 (Title IX, Part A, Definition 22) (2002); 20 USC 7801(22) (2004). Students who pursue particularly rigorous coursework in the United States, such as college-level classes during high school, include those identified as intellectually or academically gifted and talented. In the state where we have conducted all of our research on students pursuing accelerated high school curricula, the state’s gifted identification criteria includes a demonstrated need for the program, evidence that a student exhibits behaviors associated with gifted performance, and a 130 or above on an individually-administered intelligence test (Florida Department of Education, 2010). In our previous studies of gifted adolescents, we examined students enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) courses and students accepted to the International Baccalaureate (IB) at their respective high schools. Neither of these programs serve exclusively intellectually gifted learners, but gifted students were represented in our previous studies that examined either IB students (Shaunessy & Suldo, 2010) or IB and AP students (Suldo & Shaunessy-Dedrick, 2013). In the case of IB students, we have found the academic functioning (e.g., grades, academic competence beliefs, behavioral engagement at school) of IB students who had not been identified as gifted to be quite similar to that of their gifted IB peers, and superior to the academic functioning of their classmates at the same school who took part in general education (Shaunessy, Suldo, Hardesty, & Shaffer, 2006). Positive Psychology Pillar: Individual Well-Being Subjective Well-Being among Gifted and Talented Youth 6 A common theme in the positive psychology literature is determining how to best operationalize personal well-being, then integrating these conceptualizations in the broader discussion of defining mental health as more than the simple absence of problems. Terms such as life satisfaction, happiness, and well-being are often used interchangeably or imprecisely in the literature (Donaldson et al., 2015). Further complicating matters, the primary well-being outcome has shifted from an initial near exclusive focus on aspects of subjective well-being to a broader focus on multiple features of hedonic and eudemonic well-being that are reflected in ‘PERMA’ theory (Seligman, 2011). Beginning with the more researched construct, subjective well-being entails “a person’s cognitive and affective evaluations of his or her life as a whole” (Diener, Oishi, & Lucas, 2009, pp. 187). Subjective well-being is comprised of life satisfaction (i.e., global appraisal of the personally salient domains of one’s life, such as satisfaction with family, friends, and school/work) and frequency of positive emotions and moods (e.g., excited, cheerful, interested) relative to negative emotions (e.g., sad, ashamed, scared). A student with high subjective well-being would in general agree that his or her life is going well, and experience positive emotions more frequently than negative emotions. Perhaps due to its more stable nature, life satisfaction is the component of subjective well-being that has been studied the most among youth samples. Nevertheless, the importance of positive moods is made clear by classic research within the broaden-and-build theory, which establishes that positive moods cause an upward spiral that facilitates creative problem-solving and builds cognitive resources (Fredrickson, 2001). An application of this theory to high school students confirmed that youth who felt more cheerful at school (due to feeling connected and engaged) in turn incurred more positive experiences at school (Stiglbauer, Gnambs, Gamsjäger, & Batinic, 2013). Subjective Well-Being among Gifted and Talented Youth 7 Relatively recently, Seligman (2011) urged psychologists and researchers to attend to five elements of well-being rather than to equate well-being with the presence of positive emotions. The PERMA acronym stands for: positive emotion (including subjective well-being, as indicated by life satisfaction and positive affect including feelings of happiness), engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement/accomplishment. Gifted youth by definition experience achievement in school realms. The overarching goal for an individual student’s well-being is flourishing, as indicated by high levels of multiple elements of PERMA (Seligman, 2011). Modern conceptualizations of positive mental health during youth involve recognition that well-being and mental illness are related but separate dimensions (Keyes, 2006; Suldo & Shaffer, 2008). Those lines of research have illustrated the importance of the well-being factor through identifying the wide variety of youth outcomes with which it is associated. For instance, among youth without elevated levels of mental health problems, adolescents with high subjective well-being have better social relationships, physical health, and positive attitudes about school than their peers who report low subjective well-being (Suldo & Shaffer, 2008; Suldo, ThaljiRaitano, Kiefer, & Ferron, 20

Looking Back and Looking Forward: Curriculum for Gifted and Talented Students

Curriculum for the gifted is guided by theories of differentiated learning that emphasize advanced content, challenging tasks, and interdisciplinary learning opportunities that differ from opportunities afforded to learners not identified as gifted. Guiding models in the field of curriculum for the gifted, including the Integrated Curriculum Model, the Schoolwide Enrichment Model, and the CLEAR Curriculum Model are discussed with relevant updates to the research incorporating these models. Additionally, advances in research instructional approaches recommended for gifted learners are discussed, including problem-based learning, STEM, online mentoring, and distance learning. The role of content standards is considered, and implications for continued research in curriculum and instruction for the gifted are examined.

Predictors of Success Among High School Students in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Programs

Research has shown that students in Advanced Placement (AP) classes and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs experience higher levels of stress compared to students in general education classes. Elevated stress can serve as a risk factor for students’ academic and mental health problems. Given the documented stress of these students, additional investigations are needed to more fully understand how students experience these curricula and the factors associated with positive student outcomes. Thus, we set out to identify factors associated with success among AP/IB students, with an emphasis on exploring potentially malleable factors that could be targeted with existing or newly developed interventions. Data were collected via self-report measures and school records from 2,379 students (Grades 9-12) enrolled in AP or IB in 20 school programs in one state. We examined the relationships among 34 predictors (e.g., stressors, coping styles, student engagement, family factors, school factors, and demographic features) of success. Success was represented by five outcomes in two domains: mental health (life satisfaction, psychopathology, school burnout) and academic (GPA, AP/IB exam scores). Better outcomes in both domains were associated with higher levels of achievement motivation and cognitive engagement, as well as lower levels of parent–child conflict, stress from major life events, and use of avoidance coping strategies. Higher levels of affective engagement, use of approach coping, and authoritative parenting were robust predictors of positive mental health outcomes and unrelated (in multivariate analyses) to academic outcomes. Findings have implications for subsequent development of intervention efforts targeting factors associated with student success.