Journal for the Education of the Gifted
Winter 1998, Volume 21, Number 2

Gifted Latina Women
Margie K. Kitano

This article presents an analysis of factors affecting the life-span achievement of 15 Latina women identified as gifted through a national retrospective study of highly achieving African American, Asian American, Latina, and White women. Content analyses of interview data from participants and "parent" informants were conducted to investigate questions concerning the characteristics these gifted Latina women displayed during their school years; family, community, and school contributions to their achievement; roles played by societal and institutional factors; and strategies employed by the women to reach their high levels of achievement. As children, participants displayed a range of characteristics, and more than half did not evidence their considerable potential through report-card grades. While some families and schools provided strong support of these women’s achievement, others communicated ambivalent or low expectations. The majority of participants cited racial or gender bias as a major obstacle during the adult years. They responded to bias and other hardships with a strong determination to succeed. Implications are suggested for recognizing and supporting gifted potential in young Latina women during the school years.

Differences in Benefit from Strategy Use: What’s Good for Me May Not Be So Good for Thee
Jane F. Gaultney

The present study explored group differences in the relationship between strategy use and text recall. Academically bright and average elementary school-aged children were trained in the use of elaborative interrogation (a reading-comprehension strategy). Gifted children had greater recall than did average children prior to and one week after training, despite equivalent levels of strategy use. Correlational evidence indicated that average children eventually benefitted from using the strategy, while for gifted children strategy use did not correlate with recall at any point. It is suggested that gifted children, because they seem to have superior nonstrategic memories, may require more difficult tasks than average children in order to acquire and use memory strategies and that an optimal level of strategy use may differ as a function of one’s cognitive abilities.

The Influence of Intrinsic Motivation and Self-concept on Academic Achievement in 2nd- and 3rd-Grade Students
Marc D. Goldberg & Dewey G. Cornell

This study examined the influence of intrinsic motivation and perceived competence on subsequent academic achievement among second- and third-grade students participating in a national study of students in gifted programs. Measures of intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, and academic achievement were administered near the beginning and end of one school year. Factor analyses supported the internal validity of the intrinsic motivation and perceived competence measures in subgroups of second- and third-grade students and in students in gifted versus regular education programs. Structural equation modeling indicated that intrinsic motivation influenced perceived competence, and that perceived competence influenced subsequent academic achievement.

Young Students’ Readiness for Advanced Math: Precocious Abstract Reasoning
Karen E. Ablard & Sherri L. Tissot

Academically talented students have precocious reasoning abilities and are ready for advanced math earlier than when it is typically offered. This study examined above-grade-level abstract reasoning abilities of 150 students ranging from 2nd - 6th grades. Based on chi-square analyses, the distribution of students’ scores on the Arlin Test of Formal Reasoning (Arlin, 1982, 1984) was not significantly different from distributions for a normative group of students four grade levels higher. An Age Level by Gender MANOVA revealed that understanding of various abstract concepts varied by age for only 4 of 8 subscales or concepts: Probability, Proportion, Momentum, and Frames of References. Performance varied widely within age level for the understanding of Volume, Correlation, Combination, and Mechanics. There may not be one age at which children acquire abstract reasoning and are ready for advanced mathematics.

Children’s Thoughts About the Future: Comparing Gifted & Nongifted Students After Twenty Years
Pamela G. George & Tom Scheft

Twenty years after the original study comparing gifted and regular students’ thoughts and concerns about the future, this study reexamines those same issues in the same school community. In 1975, gifted students were significantly more pessimistic toward the future than regular students. When faced with future problems, the gifted students were significantly more solutions oriented than regular students. Today, the situation has changed. Both groups are increasingly more negative toward the future, and the pessimism of gifted students has dramatically increased. More problematic for educators is that gifted students are less solutions oriented. Gifted students see a plethora of problems and few solutions.