From the editor's desk.

Welcome to Volume 31, Issue 1, of the Roeper Review. After some extensive explorations of the cognitive neuroscience of giftedness in two recent special issues, we broaden our scope here to address some other complex and varied dimensions of high ability. This issue includes articles investigating perfectionism; the misdiagnosis of giftedness and ADHD; peer coaching to support differentiation; the influence of high-stakes testing on gifted education; and empirical work on a model of mathematical giftedness.

In the article "Perfectionism and Goal Orientations Among Chinese Gifted Students in Hong Kong," David Chan continues his examination of perfectionism in an Asian context. He shows how learning and social goals predict forms of positive perfectionism while performance and avoidance goals predict some of its negative manifestations. In addition, he derives insights about what can be done to support the more healthy forms of striving for excellence.

Anne Rinn and Jason Nelson report the results of a replication study in their article, "Preservice Teachers' Perceptions of Behaviors Characteristic of ADHD and Giftedness." Investigating the nettlesome tendency of some educators to misdiagnose giftedness and ADHD, they conclude that preservice teachers can misunderstand the ways in which characteristics of these two phenomena can overlap. Such misunderstandings should be addressed in preservice teacher education. Readers interested in this inquiry trajectory will find additional perspectives in a past issue of the Roeper Review (Vol. 28, No. 4).

The article "Peer Coaching to Improve Classroom Differentiation: Perspectives From Project CLUE," by Amanda Latz, Kristie Speirs Neumeister, Cheryll Adams, and Rebecca Pierce, portrays the effects of peer coaching of teachers in efforts to help them develop and deliver differentiated instruction. Emerging from a collaboration between a university and a public-school system, this analysis illustrates the dispositions and actions of a successful mentor for teachers attempting to meet the needs of high-ability students.

In their article, "Paint-by-Number Teachers and Cookie-Cutter Students: The Unintended Effects of High-Stakes Testing on the Education of Gifted Students," Tammy Pandina Scot, Carolyn Callahan, and Jill Urquhart explore some important contextual influences on giftedness and talent. Considering the ubiquitous pressures imposed by school-reform initiatives, they analyze the effectiveness of a professional development program to assess its efficacy in enabling educators to serve the gifted in an environment that too often features top-down mandates and emphasizes superficial test scores.

Ugur Sak provides an in-depth and extensive report analyzing the psychometric properties of a test aimed at teasing out forms of mathematical giftedness and mathematical expertise. In his article "Test of the Three-Mathematical Minds (M3) for the Identification of Mathematically Gifted Students," he articulates the elements of a conceptual model that elucidates the nuances of mathematical ability, portrays empirical work guided by the model, and draws some implications for the identification of mathematically talented students.

In addition to these articles, our "Evolving Field" section sheds some light on creativity research as well as the connections between giftedness and national competitiveness on the world stage. Every issue of the journal includes an interview with a pioneer or leader in gifted education or a related field. This time Sue Henshon interviews John Baer, an internationally renowned scholar of creativity. John's work on domain specificity, assessment, free will, and other aspects of creative thought and action has pushed back the borders of the creative studies field. I am among the many who benefit substantially from his insightful endeavors because we work at the same institution. I can attest to his popularity with students and faculty, which emerges from admiration of his cutting-edge scholarship and from his charismatic yet grounded persona. In his "According to Jim" column, Jim Gallagher urges us to become more active in recent national efforts to bolster national competitiveness by strengthening abilities pertaining to science, technology, mathematics, and innovation. He argues that similar national initiatives in past decades could have been much stronger had they been guided by expertise from our field.

Dona Matthews concludes the issue with two book reviews. Angela Jaap discusses the book Kindling the Spark: Recognizing and Developing Musical Talent, authored by J. Haroutounian (Oxford University Press). Howard Fuchs reviews the book School Success for Kids With Asperger's Syndrome, authored by S. M. Silverman and R. Weinfeld (Prufrock Press). As always, thanks to the creative scholars who enrich our knowledge through their research and theory development and to the insightful reviewers who screen and refine this work. Finally, our new partnership with the Routledge/Taylor & Francis publishing house continues to benefit the journal. Watch for new developments, including new submission guidelines, on our Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/ journal.asp?issn=0278-3193&linktype=5.

Don Ambrose, PhD, Editor, Roeper Review

Professor of Graduate Education

Graduate Department, School of Education

College of Liberal Arts, Education, and Sciences, Rider University

2083 Lawrenceville Road

Lawrenceville, NJ 08648-3099

E-mail: [e-mail]