This article summarizes findings from a 3-year study of 35 economically disadvantaged, ethnically diverse, academically talented high school students who either achieved or underachieved in their urban high school. In particular, the resilience of these two groups of high ability students is explored. Comparative case study and ethnographic methods were used to examine the ways in which some academically talented students develop and/or employ strategies associated with resilience to achieve at high levels. Both risk factors and protective factors are examined to explore participants' pathways toward either positive or negative outcomes. The results of this study suggest that some protective factors helped some academically talented students to achieve at high levels. The protective factors include supportive adults; friendships with other achieving students; opportunity to take honors and advanced classes; participation in multiple extracurricular activities both after school and during the summer; the development of a strong belief in self; and ways to cope with the negative aspects of their school and urban environment; and in some cases, their family lives. Other protective factors include students' relationships with supportive adults and their previous participation in a gifted and talented program. Students who underachieved had specific risk factors, such as having older siblings who dropped out of school or became involved in drugs and/or alcohol. They also appeared to have developed fewer protective factors. The combination of the presence of risk factors and the absence of protective factors may ha ve impeded the ability of some underachieving students to achieve at higher levels.Sally M. Reis is a professor and the department head of the Educational Psychology Department in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut where she also serves as principal investigator of The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. She was a classroom teacher and teacher of gifted students in public education as well as a gifted program director before coming to the University of Connecticut. Her research interests relate to talent development and special populations of gifted and talented students, including students with learning disabilities, gifted females and diverse groups of talented students who are often underserved.

The authors examine the psychometric properties of the Collective Teacher Efficacy Scale (CTES), an instrument designed to measure collective teacher efficacy. Specifically, a multilevel confirmatory factor analysis is used to determine the factor structure of the CTES, comparing one-and two-factor models. The mediating role of the CTES factors in the relationship between student socioeconomic status and academic achievement at the school level are also examined. Implications for research and using the CTES in school reform agendas are discussed.

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Efforts to restructure schools typically include broadening decisionmaking arenas to include teacher input. Principals, however, have not been prepared to share leadership roles with their faculties, nor have researchers examined the characteristics of principals who are willing and able to empower teachers. Leader authenticity has been associated with more open climates in schools. In this study, the authors examined the relationship between principal authenticity and faculty empowerment in 30 high schools. One aspect of teacher empowerment—expanding teacher knowledge—was significantly related to leader authenticity. Implications for principal and teacher preparation programs as well as principal selection are discussed.

The authors present the results of a multiyear collaborative research project that involved a counselor educator, graduatelevel school counseling students, and school personnel in defining a new role for counselors in education reform. This collaborative effort was based on an innovative conceptual framework that informs school counselors about specific schooling processes that can either enhance or hinder student academic, personal/social, and career development.