Jennifer L. Jolly

Parental Influences on the Academic Motivation of Gifted Students: A Self- Determination Theory Perspective

The home environment that parents provide their gifted children can have a significant impact on academic motivation, yet limited research has focused on this topic. Self-determination theory, a comprehensive framework of motivation, was used in the current study to explore two research questions: (a) What attitudes do parents of gifted students have toward the academic motivation of their children? (b) What approaches do parents of gifted students use at home to develop academic motivation? Interviews with 30 parents of gifted children from across the United States revealed three higher order themes including Parents as Experts, Scaffolding, and Behavior Modification. From a self-determination theory perspective, results suggest that despite good intentions, the parents of this study were inconsistent in providing home environments that support their children’s development of internalized forms of academic motivation.

A Critique of the Literature on Parenting Gifted Learners.

Despite numerous calls for research on parents of gifted learners, researchers have given only cursory treatment to the topic. In this article, the authors review and synthesize 53 sources, published since 1983, on parents of gifted learners. Existing research on parents of gifted learners may be categorized into three thematic areas that include (a) parent influence, (b) parent perceptions of giftedness and ability, and (c) parent satisfaction with gifted programming. Theory-driven research is conspicuously absent from this body of work, and study designs emphasize self-report measures and lack control groups. The analysis of this literature reveals gaps in the research record and offers recommendations about where future research should be focused. These areas include attitudes, values, and expectations of families of underserved gifted children; relationships between parents and schools; parents’ understanding of giftedness; parents of gifted underachievers; and how parents support and influence their children at home.

High Ability Students’ Voice on Learning Motivation

This study used a self-determination theory lens to investigate high ability learners’ motivational experiences. Participants were 15 high ability youth involved in a summer learning camp for gifted students. Two major themes emerged from qualitative data analysis: (a) The Fun Factor of Learning and (b) The Rewards and Pressures of Good Grades. Fun learning experiences (i.e., intrinsic motivation, identified regulation) occurred when parents and teachers tailored learning activities to personalized interests and goals. Likewise, learning choices helped increase intrinsic motivation and identified regulation. Motivational experiences were decreased when parents exerted high levels of pressure on academic outcomes (e.g., grades): therefore, introjected regulation could be especially relevant in understanding motivation in high ability learners.

Homeschooling the Gifted A Parent’s Perspective

Homeschooling has witnessed a dramatic growth over the past decade. Included in this population are gifted and talented students, yet despite this growth there has been no appreciable increase in the research literature. To better understand the gifted homeschooling family, researchers interviewed 13 parents of homeschooled children their parents identified as being gifted. Four major themes emerged from the data: (a) parents know best, (b) isolation, (c) challenges, and (d) family roles. Findings reveal that these parents decided to homeschool only after numerous attempts to work in collaboration with the public school and that the mothers bore the primary burden of responsibility for homeschooling in these families. Though the move to homeschooling alleviated many of the issues experienced in public school, it brought a different set of challenges to these families. This exploratory study establishes a better understanding of why parents of gifted children ultimately decide to homeschool.

No Child Left Behind: The Inadvertent Costs for High-Achieving and Gifted Students

M uch fanfare accompanied the signing of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) into law in 2002. With bipartisan support, this legislation sought to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state I academic achievement standards and state academic assessments (U.S. Department of Education, n.d., ¶1). One would be hardpressed to argue against the seemingly well-intentioned goals of ensuring opportunities for all students to be educated and to increase their proficiency. However, as reality has shown, such terms as proficiency and challenging have varied from state to state, and the results have been largely unimpressive (The Commission on No Child Left Behind, 2007). Further, by focusing on achieving universal minimal proficiency for all students by the 2013-14 school year, NLCB confused high quality with universal proficiency. Duke UniverSiCy Talent Identi@tion Program, Durham, North Carolina.

Facilitating Grade Acceleration: Revisiting the Wisdom of John Feldhusen

This article revisits the 1986 Feldhusen, Proctor, and Black recommendations on grade skipping. These recommendations originally appeared as 12 guidelines. In this article, the guidelines are grouped into three general categories: how to screen accelerant candidates, how to engage with the adults in the acceleration process (e.g., teachers, parents), and how to support the accelerated students. The authors then reviews the literature since the publication of Feldhusen et al.s original article. This body of research includes grade skipping, early entrance to college, and early entrance to school and supports the three general categories. However, some findings provide nuanced changes to the guidelines. The past 25 years of research also presents some additional considerations about acceleration not considered by Feldhusen et al. These topics include gender issues, resistance to acceleration, and methodological concerns.

A Model of Parental Achievement-Oriented Psychological Control in Academically Gifted Students.

This study investigated achievement-oriented parent socialization as it pertains to school avoidance in a sample of gifted students. A serial mediation model examining relationships among parental achievement-oriented psychological control (APC), fear of academic failure, academic amotivation, and school avoidance was tested. The sample included 230 gifted youth (Mage = 13.36; SD = 1.67) involved in summer programming. After factor structure and internal consistency of the instruments were confirmed, separate mediation models were analyzed for mother and father psychological control. In both models, bootstrap evidence supported the indirect relationship between parental APC and school avoidance (R2 = .29 mother/.29 father) through fear of academic failure (R2 = .18/.17) and academic amotivation (R2 = .10/.08). Many researchers of parental socialization and motivation focus on the brighter side of being gifted. Findings of this study follow a darker path of controlling socialization and avoidance-based psychological constructs that create problems in a subset of gifted students.

Building Gifted Education One State at a Time

The Marland Report was the impetus and structure to provide a more systematic approach to building state and regional gifted programs. One of the strategies used to proliferate the spread of programming for gifted students throughout the states was the National/State Leadership Training Institute on the Gifted and Talented (N/S-LTI-G/T; Jackson, 1979). This article introduces the organization’s impact on the growth of gifted education throughout the United States. Despite the many limitations and inadequacies that still exist, the imprint of the N/S-LTI-G/T and those who participated in this work still resonates in many states.

James J. Gallagher: Man in the White Hat

In classic Western movies, the good guy could be frequently identified by his trademark white Stetson hat, whereas the bad guy always wore black. James J. Gallagher wore many hats during his career that spanned over six decades; he too would be known as the “man in the white hat,”—trusted to do the right thing. From 1967 to 1970, chiefly during the Nixon Administration, Gallagher wore the hat of public servant in Washington, D.C. He served as the first chief of the Bureau for the Education of the Handicapped (BEH) and then as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning, Research, and Evaluation—Both the positions were within the United States Office of Education (USOE) and under the larger umbrella of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. This article outlines his federal contributions and their enduring impact on the fields of both special education and gifted education.

Historical Perspectives: The 1958 Conference Report

From February 6 to 8, 1958, approximately 200 educators and interested individuals were invited to New York City in hopes of discussing the education of academically talented students at the secondary level. Topics included identification, programming options, the social emotional well-being of students, and the limited resources allocated to talented students. The author concludes that the issues addressed are eerily similar to gifted education today.