This paper reviews the literature on the families of gifted and talented individuals for purposes of determining the importance of several broad areas in the talent development process. These are the structural or demographic characteristics of the family, family climate or family environment, values espoused by parents, and values enacted by parents. Family climate variables are found to distinguish between individuals who evidence creative achievement versus those who evidence academic achievement. While structural and demographic variables may mirror psychological processes within the family that influence the role of gifted children and interaction patterns with family members, success may be the result of numerous forces. Further research linking the values of parents with child-rearing practices and later child outcomes is clearly indicated.

This article is an overview of the empirical literature on personality dimensions of gifted individuals. The literature review is focused around four key issues: differences between gifted individuals and same-age nongifted individuals; differences between gifted individuals and chronologically order, nongifted individuals; differences between gifted males and gifted females; differences between gifted achievers and under-achievers.

This paper examines changes in the self-concepts of gifted students over the course of an intensive summer program. Two groups of academically gifted junior high students participated in two separate kinds of summer programs. They completed a differentiated self-concept measure prior to the beginning of the program, on the first day of the program and on the last day. Data analysis focused on whether patterns of change replicate across the two programs. Students showed a decline in academic self-competence over time and a transitory decline in social acceptance. Physical and athletic competence became more positive over the course of the program. Differences were found for males and females. These findings suggest that programs influence different dimensions of student self-concept.

This study examined the validity of SATcutoff levels used for entrance into fast-paced summer classes. Thirty-eight junior-hgh aged students whose SAT scores were below the required cutoff (SAT-Vs430 or SAT M2500) were a h t t e d into fast-paced classes in literature, a teacherpaced course, and algebra, a self-paced course. Each below-score student was matched t o an above-score student in his class on age. grade, sex, race, and f a m d y income. There was a small but statistically significant difference in achievement on standardized tests for the literature students, with above-score students scoring higher. There was n o difference between above and below scorers in mathematics on achievement measures, includmg standardized tests, and in the number of chapters completed during the course.For either class, below and above score students did not differ on previous exposure to the content area; there were some differences between the groups on study skills and self-concept. Further, when individual profiles for below-score students were examined, below-score students who were most successful &d not differ from other less successful students on any of the variables examined with the exception of study skills in algebra. There was a tendency for below-score students in algebra who were the most successful in the course to have higher scores on a study skills assessment than below-score students who had smaller gains. The results This research was funded by a grant from The College Board. The views expressed are solely those of the authors.

AbsfcactThe use of evaluation in inseivice training and staff development programs is too often limited in scope.This article expands the role of evaluation in gifted program inservice and staff development by providing evaluation techniques that have been used to determine the im pact of inservice programs on teachers of the gifted.Because a relationship between inservice training for teachers of the gifted and a better education for gifted students is generally assumed, the teacher inservice training model has been adopted as a means of improving the education of gifted students. There is a need to investigate the validity of this relationship by systematically determining the kinds of inservice programs that have the greatest effect on behavioral and affective changes in teachers and students. Impact evaluation, or gauging the extent to which a program causes change in a desired direction, is a means of assessing program effect. Impact evaluation can help program planners make better decisions about the types of teacher inservice programs that are most valuable.Evaluation strategies can also be used in the initial stages of inservice development, to prioritize those areas that need most improvement. The following sections discuss the use of evaluation for inservice programs, the relationship between the type of inservice program and the type of evaluation, and suggest some general strategies for evaluating the impact of inservice programs. Systematic Evaluation of NeedsEvaluation can be used in the initial stages of inservice development by conducting a needs assessment. Rossi (1979) defines needs assessment as &dquo;the systematic appraisal of type, depth, and scope of problems as perceived by study targets or their advocates&dquo; (p. 82). In developing an inservice program, it is important to determine the extent to which teachers are experiencing difficulties teaching gifted students. This will permit the development of an inservice program that addresses and prioritizes those areas where teachers need most training. This strategy will increase the likelihood that the inservice program can affect teachers as well as the students.A needs assessment can be accomplished in several different ways. It can be done formally or informally by written questionnaire or interview. However, it is important that it be done systematically. Informal polling of only a few teachers is inadequate to understand the true scope of the problems surrounding the education of gifted students in any school. It is often helpful to examine the opinions of several groups of individuals. Teachers of the gifted, regular classroom teachers, parents, students, school board members, and administrators all are groups that have important perspectives on how teachers can improve the education of gifted students. Each of these groups can be asked for opinions. To the extent that the various groups identify similar problems, it is likely that some major concerns have been identified.A written questionnaire is one approach to collecting needs ass...