The aim of this study was to examine the reliability of the Gifted Rating Scales-Preschool/Kindergarten form (GRS-P) and its relationship with performance assessments in a sample of Greek preschool children. In the initial screening, 60 high-potential children were nominated by their teachers using the GRS-P. In a second phase, these children were assessed for nonverbal intelligence, verbal skills, and early numeracy, with 50 children eventually being identified after excluding those who did not meet criteria. Findings revealed high reliability and internal consistency across all GRS-P subscales. Significant positive correlations were found between the GRS-P Intellectual and Academic Ability subscales and nonverbal intelligence, while verbal ability positively correlated with the GRS-P Academic subscale. Additionally, Motivation subscale correlated significantly with nonverbal intelligence and showed a nonsignificant relationship with Academic Ability scale and Early Numeracy. The study's findings highlight implications for educational policy supporting high-ability preschoolers in both Greek and international contexts.

Latino students face long-standing inequities in gifted education, from underidentification to exclusionary classroom environments. In addition, the voices of their families, who often shoulder the burden of advocacy, remain largely unheard. Through a testimonio centered on a Latina mother's experience navigating New York City's gifted and talented program, this praxis article illustrates how structural inequities shape access and retention. The first author, a Nuyorican practitioner and friend of the parent, reflects on her positionality as both insider and outsider—culturally connected yet professionally adjacent—to interrogate how systems demand resilience from families they routinely exclude. The article highlights how a lack of information interferes with parents’ ability to advocate for their children, while racial microaggressions in the classroom undermine students’ sense of belonging. Recommendations include improving transparency on the part of local educational agencies (LEAs), establishing alignment between schools and LEAs, and ongoing professional development.

Disciplinary outcomes and science educational opportunities both shape student outcomes, with research suggesting that non-advanced science placement via academic tracking and exclusionary discipline both have negative associations with student outcomes, especially for marginalized students. Using a Quantitative Critical Race Theory (QuantCrit) approach, we examined the relationship between in-school-suspension (ISS) and advanced science placement, doing a comparative group analysis that analyzes heterogeneity in gender racial/ethnic subgroups. We found that for most student groups, placement in non-advanced coursework was associated with higher levels of ISS attendance. Drawing on our findings, we recommend culturally responsive science education to promote equity for marginalized students who experience systems of discrimination via tracking and exclusionary discipline.

The use of multiple criteria/modes for gifted identification is generally believed to improve the validity and reliability of measurements in several ways, including being more appropriate for identifying culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students. Many districts using multiple criteria/modes combine them in some fashion, including in the use of an identification matrix. However, the method for combining these measures itself can be psychometrically unsound and has been previously shown to influence which students are identified as gifted. This study explored measurement invariance of an in-use gifted identification matrix with 22,280 Kindergarten and fifth grade students to determine if the matrix performs equivalently across demographic/grade level groups. Although some matrix components performed similarly across various groups, no single component of the matrix functioned equivalently across all demographic/grade level groups. Patterns in the results are discussed, as well as recommendations for future use of identification matrices with diverse student populations.

This study extends research on the connection between specialized programming and curricula and retention for high-achieving students, using data from the 2019–2022 administrations of National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to explore honors program participation and intention to return in a sample of over 13,800 first-year students at 22 colleges and universities. A binary logistic regression model suggests that even after controlling for demographic and institutional characteristics, honors program participation is a positive predictor of intention to return to an institution for the following school year. This finding supports the important role of honors programs within colleges and universities, providing evidence for the positive outcome of retention for first-year students. Implications for educators and other stakeholders are also discussed.

The persistent underrepresentation of girls among top performers in STEM has long been a concern in talent development research. Recent studies, however, suggest that this gender gap may be narrowing. This study investigates whether gender and academic achievement shape how students perceive STEM classroom situations, using the DIAMONDS framework, a taxonomy of psychological meaningful situational characteristics (e.g., Duty , Intellect ). Data were analyzed from 1,024 German eighth-grade students. In contrast to historical trends, our sample showed equal representation of boys and girls among the top 10% of STEM achievers. While no interaction effects were found between gender and achievement, consistent main effects emerged: girls reported higher levels of Duty and Intellect , but also greater Negativity and Deception ; boys perceived STEM lessons more positively overall. High-achieving students, regardless of gender, experienced STEM situations more positively than their lower-achieving peers. These findings in our context suggest that gender disparities in top STEM performance may diminish, but that gender differences in classroom perception persist.

School attachment encompasses students’ interrelated emotional, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions. Self-regulation involves setting goals and activating self-monitoring and self-reinforcement processes. Social skills refer to specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors essential for effective interpersonal interactions. In this study, we examined the mediating effects of social skills and perceived self-regulation on the school attachment levels of gifted students. We also investigated whether school attachment levels differed by gender and grade level. The sample consisted of 347 gifted middle school students (180 girls). We conducted a mediation analysis in Jamovi using 5,000 bootstrap samples. We used independent-samples t -tests and one-way analysis of variance to analyze gender and grade-level differences in school attachment, respectively. We applied the Gabriel post hoc test to identify the source of significant differences between grade levels. We found no significant differences in school attachment levels based on gender. However, grade level significantly influenced school attachment, with 7th graders exhibiting higher attachment levels than 6th graders; other grade comparisons were not statistically significant. Furthermore, self-regulation skills mediated the relationship between social skills and school attachment among gifted students. This study contributes to the gifted education literature by highlighting the role of personal competencies specifically, social skills and self-regulation in shaping students’ connection to school. Our findings suggest that strengthening these individual skills may foster a greater sense of school belonging among gifted learners, offering practical implications for educators and program designers.

Twice-exceptional (2E) learners’ readiness levels and learning profiles provide unique challenges in providing meaningful, rigorous learning experiences, making it difficult for general education teachers to consistently meet the needs of neurodiverse gifted learners. Differentiation, an instructional strategy which benefits all learners, is frequently used by many teachers to support below-level learners. But teachers do not readily or always effectively use differentiation to support advanced learners. Educators who dually differentiate for depth and complexity for the 2E learner improve both practice and student learning outcomes. Education preparation programs (EPPs) should provide learning opportunities for teacher candidates to explore what, how, and why differentiation works for 2E learners. This praxis paper in the special issue on poster session proceedings shares how an EPP implemented a scenario to develop teacher candidates’ pedagogy related to differentiating for 2E learners, and applies this to inservice professional learning to enhance practicing teachers’ effective use of differentiation.