Excellence in Educating Gifted and Talented Learners.

VanTassel-Baska, J. (1998). Excellence in Educating Gifted and Talented Learners, Third Edition with chapters by Camilla Persson Benbow, John F. Feldhusen, Kenneth Seeley, and Linda Kreger Silverman. Denver, CO: Love Publishing Co. (532pp., $58.00 hb, ISBN 0-89108-255-7.

The preparation of a well-integrated text on identification, education, and understanding of gifted children for an introductory course is a daunting task. In this third edition of a book, initially edited by John Feldhusen, VanTassel-Baska has attempted to produce a comprehensive introduction to major topics and issues in the education of gifted and talented learners. Eight chapters are new to this text; 20 chapters have been revised and updated to "reflect current ideas, research, and practice in schools"(p, xi).

The text is divided into four sections: conceptions of gifted and talented learners, serving talented learners in special programs, effective curriculum and instruction, and helping gifted learners achieve excellence.

In part 1, Silverman's chapter on personality and learning styles is a gem as are her chapters on highly gifted individuals and developmental stages of giftedness. In the former, she presents a crystal-clear explanation of Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration as well as his concept of overexcitabilities. She also introduces the reader to the differences between visual-spatial learners and auditory-sequential learners, a distinction that deserves greater prominence in a field that has been dominated by beliefs in the primacy of mathematics and language. Silverman draws from research in such diverse areas as neurophysiology, developmental psychology, personality theory, learning styles, and intelligence assessment, then transforms her findings into integrated and supportable conclusions. She also provides a scholarly assessment of testing instruments and procedures for use with gifted children and stresses that early intervention is necessary for exceptional children at both ends of the intelligence continuum. "If gifted children have early contact with other like themselves, they do not come to see themselves as different or `weird' They are able to make friends with others who think and feel as they do, who communicate on their level and share their interests. Association with true peers at an early age facilitates social development and prevents social Alienation" (p. 151).

Ken Seeley also stresses the importance of early identification and intervention. He provides guidelines for assessment, curriculum development, and instruction of young gifted children and introduces the Cognitively Oriented Curriculum (Weaken, Rogers, Adcock, & McClelland, 1971). This curriculum, implemented as the High Scope Perry Preschool Project, is better known in early childhood education than in our field. Seeley also highlights the importance of collaboration with parents in planning educational interventions. The best approaches are found in how best to develop the potential of the child in the context of his or her family (p. 80).

Other chapters in part 1 include discussion of underachievement talented learners with disabilities, disadvantaged learners with talent, and gifted girls. Little new information is incorporated into these chapters. The importance of greater participation in math and science permeates the chapter on gifted girls and also is stressed as a goal is the development of disadvantaged learners with talent. This recommendation places an extraordinary emphasis on one area of intelligence, logical, mathematical, that is highly esteemed in some circles. Some gifted children may have neither passionate interest nor talent to develop extraordinary skills in math and science. Instead, they may be highly motivated to develop linguistic, artistic, musical, physical, or interpersonal abilities. Even though educators should place a high value on mathematics and science, a danger exists that a gifted child can be made to feel less valued if he or she chooses to focus on other areas of talent and interest.

The second section of this text, Serving. Talented Learners in Special Programs, includes chapters on characteristics of gifted learners, identification methods, types of programming, evaluation of programs, and a plan for comprehensive program development. These chapters generally are strong and present information in a useful format although some appear to have changed little from previous editions.

In Chapter 10, VanTassel-Baska presents charts listing specific characteristics attributed to gifted learners and curricular options for these students. The relationship of each individual characteristic to a corresponding learning need and inferences that might be drawn from those relationships are presented in another chart. The cognitive characteristics are clearly linked to curriculum, but the relationships between affective characteristics and curriculum were problematic. If a child shows high levels of altruism, for example, how is a study of Puritans and early American religion an appropriate curriculum inference for this child? Similarly, if a child has high levels of energy, how is providing "psychomotor outlets for sublimation" (emphasis added) (p. 189) an appropriate way to help a child focus on the best use of that energy?

Perhaps one of the most important points that VanTassel-Baska makes, in my opinion, is that little diagnostic or teaching information can be derived from standardized achievement tests given to gifted children. A score on a standardized test, or even an item analysis of such a test, does not provide sufficient information for prescriptive individualized educational plans. Consulting with a gifted student and his or parents often will provide more reliable information.

Camilla Benbow, with commendable economy and thoroughness, dissects the arguments for "detracking" and shows why those arguments are fallacious. "Detracking is pursued due to the beliefs or assertions that ability grouping produces inequalities in student opportunities and outcomes ... The evidence to support such a view is striking by its almost complete absence" (p. 266). In another chapter, she provides a rationale for acceleration of academically precocious individuals, describes a variety of acceleration opportunities, describes students who are most likely to profit, and recommends other factors to the acceleration experience for precocious learners. In summary, she has a sentence that all advocates for gifted learners may wish to use frequently: "Acceleration is simply placement according to competence, a principle that goes unquestioned in athletics and in the arts" (p. 291).

The last two chapters of part 2, apparently are intended for administrators. Seeley takes the reader through a step-by-step process for program evaluation and provides useful guidelines for design and implementation of this critical task. VanTassel-Baska provides an equally useful, and detailed, structure for program development.

VanTassel-Baska is at her best when writing about curriculum, as she does in Part 3. She recommends that curriculum for gifted students be differentiated in four fundamental ways: (1) the level must be sufficiently high to interest and challenge gifted learners; (2) the pace must be adjusted to accommodate the needs of learners and the nature of the content; (3) the complexity must allow gifted students to do synthesis and transformation of data rather than mere linear processing of that data; and (4) the depth of the content should allow an individual to explore areas of special interest in a manner appropriate to experts in those areas. She also emphasizes the necessity of integrating substantive content in the learning experiences of gifted students, and stresses the need to develop the concepts and skills of a domain of inquiry that allow one to proceed to `creative dabbling' (p. 345). In the chapter on creativity, she cites three critical factors identified by Amabile: domain-relevant skills, creativity-relevant skills, and task motivation. She also reviews the work of a number of other researchers in creativity and concludes that nurturance of creativity, like content acceleration, is an appropriate element in curriculum for gifted learners. In chapters on curriculum development in three areas - mathematics and science, social studies and language arts, and arts and humanities -VanTassel-Baska provides examples of curricular modifications and national curriculum standards. The arts and humanities chapter is less comprehensive than the other two, a fact that the author apparently realizes, as she characterizes her suggestions as starting points.

Two chapters by Feldhusen are related to teaching methods and strategies and to thinking skills. Several methods and strategies are described briefly (I question his designation of constructivism as a strategy) in one chapter. While classes in teaching strategies and methods often are offered as separate courses in graduate programs, the chapter would have been improved by greater depth and/or recommendations for more information about the specific strategies. Also, some of the newer strategies, such as Problem-based Learning, Collaborative Investigation, or Inquiry Learning were not mentioned. The chapter on thinking skills also is a more cursory treatment of this complex subject than I would have wished. The final section of the book is an introduction to the roles played by facilitators (teachers/mentors/counselors/psychologists/parents) in the development of excellence, and a short chapter on counseling. In a comprehensive text, the critical subjects of facilitation and counseling in the development of gifted individuals merit greater consideration. Introductory courses on education of gifted children often include parents who are struggling to understand their own children and young gifted adults who are attempting to learn more about themselves.

Unfortunately, the text is flawed by some errors that should have been caught by the editor. For example, Van Tassel-Baska refers to the "108-year history of gifted education" in Chapter 1, and dates the beginning of interest in gifted individuals to the publication of Hereditary Genius (Galton, 1869) in 1889. She restates the myth that Terman's longitudinal study of gifted youth was conducted with 1,528 individuals with IQs greater than 140. As clearly stated in the volumes 1 and 3 of Genetic Studies of Genius, the main group identified for Terman's initial study included only 643 individuals, 72 of whom had IQs between 130 and 139. In addition, most of the studies (e.g., characteristics, anthropological measurements, health surveys) involved smaller subsets of the main group. In Chapter 2, Feldhusen implies that the intelligence theories of Sternberg and Gardner are not research based.

Although Excellence is Educating Gifted and Talented Learners has several fine chapters, it does not meet my criteria for excellence. The lack of coordination and the evidence of overlapping in subjects, among the five chapter authors detracts from the unity I expect in a comprehensive text. Perhaps the authors tried to put too much into one book. The breadth may be there, but the depth is missing.

Handbook of gifted Education (Colangelo & David, 1997), more appropriate for professionals or doctoral students, and Talented Children and Adults: Their Development and Education (Piirto, 1994) are better choices for introductory courses in the education of gifted and talented learners.

Aleene B. Nielson, adjunct assistant professor at the University of Arizona in the Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation, and School Psychology, coauthor of Teaching Models in Education of the Gifted and Curriculum Development and Teaching Strategies for Gifted Learner, has extensive experience as a teacher of gifted students at the middle school and university university levels, as coordinator of district programs for the gifted, and as the parent of five identified gifted children.