Journal for the Education of the Gifted
Summer 1998, Volume 21, Number 4

Gifted Black Males in an Urban High School: Factors That Influence
Achievement and Underachievement
Thomas P. Hébert

Many gifted African American males educated in large, urban high schools do not achieve at a level commensurate with their ability. The case studies reported in this article describe the experiences of two gifted African American males in an urban high school. Through a qualitative approach, the stories of Wallace, an achiever, and John, an underachiever, are told; and the factors that distinguished the school-life experiences of the two gifted Black young men are identified. The implications for fostering academic achievement in urban high schools are discussed, and recommendations are offered for educators and parents to encourage success in the lives of gifted African American young men.

Self-Concept - Performance Congruence: An Exploration of Patterns Among High-Achieving Adolescents   
Janice E. Williams

Self-concept to performance congruence among academically able adolescents (54 females, 49 males) in both math and English was explored. Although analyses revealed similar congruence patterns for females and males in both subject-matter areas, the overall majority of these able learners fell outside the congruent range. These findings suggest that, regardless of gender or content area, able adolescents may be at risk for unrealistic self-concept perceptions relative to their actual performance.

Gender, Race, and Grade Differences in Gifted Adolescents' Coping Strategies
Jonathan A. Plucker

While investigations of adolescents' coping strategies are useful, high-ability students face pressures, such as a lack of challenge in school or anti-intellectual school climates, that further complicate the tumultuous changes associated with adolescence. The purpose of this study is to produce evidence of demographic effects, or the lack thereof, in gifted adolescents' coping in order to guide affective intervention efforts with this population. The Adolescent Coping Scale was administered to 749 gifted students attending two different summer enrichment programs. MANOVA with post hoc descriptive discriminant analysis provides little evidence of gender or grade differences but suggests the presence of moderate racial differences.

Struggling With Identity: Working With Seventh- and Eighth-Grade Gifted Girls to Air Issues of Concern
Cecile P. Frey

When adolescent girls are also identified as gifted, the problems of conformity, peer acceptance, and low self-esteem often become exacerbated. Middle school girls seem most vulnerable to two competing demands: popularity versus academic achievement. As a result of parental, staff, and student concerns, I have been conducting a "women's issues" group with 7th- and 8th-grade gifted girls for the last four years. The issues discussed, the materials used, and the outcomes I have seen are the themes of this action research paper.

Comprehensiveness of Conceptual Foundations for Gifted Education: A World-View Analysis
Don Ambrose

Root-metaphorical world views strongly influence the thoughts of scholars and practitioners in scientific disciplines. Gifted education is not immune to such influence. In order to clarify conceptual foundations of gifted education, recent literature was analyzed to reveal the degree to which each of 4 world views (contextualism, organicism, formism, and mechanism) reflects and shapes the thinking of scholars in the field. Analyses revealed philosophical biases toward contextualism and organicism in terms of subject-matter emphases and a bias toward mechanism in the preferred research methodologies. A comprehensive understanding of the conceptual foundations for gifted education requires recognition of contributions from the 4 world-view perspectives.