Jerrell C. Cassady

Fourth-Grade Teachers' Perceptions of Giftedness: Implications for Identifying and Serving Diverse Gifted Students.

The present study sought to examine the perceptions of giftedness and identification procedures held by experienced teachers of gifted minority students. Twenty-seven 4th-grade teachers of gifted students in an urban school system with a high representation of minority and economically disadvantaged students were surveyed. Results indicated that experienced teachers still held a narrow conception of giftedness and were not aware of how culture and environmental factors may influence the expression of giftedness in minority and economically disadvantaged students. Findings also indicated that these teachers expressed concerns for approximately one third of their students qualifying for the gifted program. These concerns were based primarily on students having a skill deficit in one area, poor work habits, or behavioral or family problems. Teachers were less likely to notice gifted characteristics in these students compared to other identified students, even though both groups were identified in the same way. Implications for teaching gifted minority and economically disadvantaged students are discussed.

Development of an identification procedure for a large urban school corporation: Identifying culturally diverse and academically gifted elementary students

This paper describes the identification process of a Priority One Jacob K. Javits grant, Clustering Learners Unlocks Equity (Project CLUE), a university‐school partnership. Project CLUE uses a “sift‐down model” to cast the net widely as the talent pool of gifted second‐grade students is formed. The model is based on standardized test scores, a nonverbal ability test score, and/or a checklist completed by parents and/or teachers. Analysis of the year one data revealed an increase in Hispanic and English as a Second Language (ESL) student representation in the gifted program. Teachers’ reactions to the identification process after working with the gifted students identified through Project CLUEs screening process are also described.

Psychological Types of Academically Gifted Adolescents.

This study provides descriptive information about the psychological types of a sample of 931 gifted adolescents who attended a public residential academy. Psychological types are assessed with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI reports on four pairs of personality types: Extraversion/Introversion (E/I), Sensing/Intuition (S/N), Thinking/Feeling (T/F), and Judging/Perceiving (J/P). Overall, the most common types reported by this sample were INTJ, INTP, INFP, ENFP, and ENTP. Comparisons between gifted and norming samples are reported. Gender differences for the gifted sample were found on E/I, with males orienting toward I and females orienting toward E. Gender-specific comparisons between gifted and norming samples reveal that gifted females had a greater tendency toward I and T, and gifted males had a greater tendency for I. Overall, both genders in the gifted sample tended to be NP types.

The Impact of a Reading-Focused Integrated Learning System on Phonological Awareness in Kindergarten

Children with and without access to a reading-focused Integrated Learning System (ILS) in their daily reading instruction were compared at three points (beginning, middle, end) through their kindergarten year on phonological awareness and concepts about print. The results demonstrated no significant differences in learning print concepts. However, repeated measures analysis of variance demonstrated that the children with access to the ILS in their classroom significantly outperformed the comparison group at the second and third testing sessions on phonological awareness, despite no group differences at baseline. The results are interpreted to support the assertion that ILSs can improve the emergent literacy process for young children, provided they are embedded in a sound reading curriculum that is directed by a committed and active reading teacher. Finally, differences between the present study and related investigations are discussed.

Suicide Ideation and Personality Characteristics Among Gifted Adolescents

This study describes psychological characteristics of gifted adolescents. It also identifies the relationships between psychological personality types and suicide ideation. Participants in the study were 152 juniors enrolled in a public residential high school for academically gifted students. The Suicide Ideation Questionnaire, a 30-item self-report measure, was used to assess adolescent levels of suicide ideation. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI; Myers, 1962), a widely used measure of psychological type that contrasts four dimensions of personality—extra-version (E)/introversion (I), sensing (S)/intuition (N), thinking (T)/feeling (F), and judging (J)/perceiving (P)—was used to determine personality types of the students. The results indicated that gifted adolescents did not exhibit heightened rates of suicide ideation as compared to their nongifted peers. However, female students held higher levels of suicide ideation than male students. Female students exhibiting introversion-perceiving (IP) types held higher levels of suicide ideation than those with other types. There was a significant between-groups effect for the judging-perceiving analysis. Students identified as perceiving personality types held higher levels of suicide ideation than those with the judging personality type. Gender, judging/perceiving, and extraversion/introversion combined to reliably predict approximately 18% of the variance in suicide ideation in this sample.

Goal Structures: The Role of Teachers’ Achievement Goals and Theories of Intelligence

This study investigated how teachers’ achievement goals for teaching and implicit theories of their students’ intelligence are associated with the goal structures that they create in their classrooms. Teachers (N = 209) reported their achievement goals for teaching (mastery, performance-approach goals, and performance-avoidance goals), implicit theories of intelligence (belief that their students’ intellectual ability is malleable or fixed), and achievement goal structures that they created within their classroom (mastery vs. performance goal structures). In general, mastery goals for teaching positively predicted classroom mastery goal structure while performance-approach goals for teaching positively predicted classroom performance goal structure. However, there were significant interactions between mastery and performance-approach goals and between performance-avoidance goals and implicit theory of students’ intelligence. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Adapting the Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale for use with Argentinean University Students

A new Spanish version of the Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS) was created to be used explicitly with Argentinean university students. The scale was translated and verified through blind back translation and given to a large sample of students majoring in psychology or chemistry (N = 752). Exploratory Factor Analysis (N = 376) showed an internal structure of two factors that differed from the established English version of the CTAS. Examination of the items revealed that the factors were likely influenced by the phrasing of items that were originally designed to have several items require endorsement of low anxiety. Confirmatory factor analyses (N = 376) were conducted to compare the fit of three models for the scale. The results demonstrated that a 16-item single-factor solution was the preferable model. Further analyses demonstrated strong internal consistency, and test-retest stability of the short Spanish version. Results support the utility of the scale in future transcultural research on test anxiety with American and Argentinean learners.

A Factorial Representation of Suicidal Ideation Among Academically Gifted Adolescents

Suicidal ideation assessment has been employed as an early screening method for identifying adolescents who are at risk for engaging in suicidal behaviors. While recent evidence has emerged that gifted adolescents do not have a higher rate of suicidal ideation, research on the psychological and personality characteristics of gifted youth have demonstrated that they differ from nongifted students in their mental representations of self. Therefore, this study examined the factorial representation for suicidal ideation among an academically gifted population. The results reveal the structure of suicidal ideation for the gifted sample in this study differs from the established normal sample. Further, the factorial representation outlined for suicidal ideation in the gifted sample supported the suicide trajectory model (Stillion & McDowell, 1996), providing a theoretical base for future intervention and refined assessment.

Cross-Cultural Differences in Test Perceptions Women in Kuwait and the United States

This study examines differential levels of test anxiety, perceived test threat, and performance for females in Kuwait and the United States. The results demonstrated that Kuwaiti females reported higher levels of affective test anxiety, whereas females from the United States characterized tests as more threatening. These differences arose in conjunction with self-reported deficiencies in study skills. The interpretation of results points to cultural variations in views of education as competitive and attributional orientations for test performance.

Effects of Technology on Critical Thinking and Essay Writing Among Gifted Adolescents

This article presents results of a study that compared critical thinking in two writing samples (essays) from gifted adolescents who attended a residential school. The essays were written at the beginning of the junior year (when students were admitted to the school) and at the beginning of the senior year. All students in the study composed their first essay in handwritten form. On the second essay, some students were randomly assigned to a computer condition and composed their essays on the computer. Results demonstrated a gender-specific effect of using computers to compose essays. Boys using the computers produced significantly more words, sentences, and paragraphs than boys who did not use the computer to write and received higher ratings on a structured rubric. Girls scored the same in both conditions and performed consistently at a level on par with the boys using computers.