Skip to main content

Research at the Center for Gifted Education

The Center conducts research to contribute to the knowledge base regarding gifted education and gifted learners. Each of the Center Directors has expertise in research related to talent, professional, or curriculum development, or in the psychology of gifted students. At any time, there are numerous ongoing research-related activities.

The Center plays an important role in disseminating information about research to the field. Since 2005, Dr. Tracy L. Cross has been the Editor of the Journal for the Education of the Gifted, the research publication of The Association for the Gifted, a special interest group within the Council for Exceptional Children: http://www.cectag.org/ The management of the journal occurs in the Center for Gifted Education, where Dr. Jennifer Riedl Cross serves as Managing Editor, Christopher Lawrence is the Assistant Editor, and Laura Ionescu is the Editorial Assistant. To submit a manuscript for review, please contact us.  If you are interested in serving as a reviewer for JEG, please send a description of your areas of specialization, along with your CV to cfgejeg@wm.edu.

Handbook for Counselors Serving Students With Gifts and Talents: Development, Relationships, School Issues, and Counseling Needs/Interventions

Tracy L. Cross and Jennifer Riedl Cross are editors of this forthcoming book describing various aspects of the lives of gifted students. Counselors and those interested in learning about students with gifts and talents will find a wealth of information in the Handbook, which includes chapters on Theoretical Foundations and Conceptions of Giftedness, Special Populations, Developmental Issues, Relationships, School-Related Issues and Counseling Needs and Interventions. The Handbook will be a superb resource for a broad audience of counselors, educators, researchers and parents.  It will be available from Prufrock Press in November, 2011.

Hadar Netz, Fulbright Scholar

During the 2010-2011 academic year, Dr. Hadar Netz, a linguist from Haifa, Israel, came to work with us at the Center for Gifted Education to pursue her study of the Classroom Discourse of Gifted Pupils. Dr. Netz has developed the first corpus of gifted classrooms that will be available for future study. If you are interested in conducting an analysis of Dr. Netz’s corpus, please contact Dr. Jennifer Riedl Cross at jrcross@wm.edu.

Secondary School Social Environment Exploration

Dr. Jennifer Riedl Cross and Dr. Stephen Bugaj at Lockhaven University are collaborating on a study of the social environment and self-concept of secondary school students, which will shed light on the experience of gifted and nongifted students.

The Psychology of Honors College Students

The Center participates in a consortium of researchers who are working towards a better understanding of the psychology of honors college students. Data collection began in 2007 and we currently have information from over 400 of these high achieving young adults.

Conducting Research at the CFGE

The Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary is interested in pursuing research in all areas related to gifted studies. Researchers are welcome to apply to the Center to engage in investigations of interest to them. Applications can be found here or contact Dr. Jennifer Riedl Cross at jrcross@wm.edu for more information.

Call for Papers

Special Issue: GIFTED EDUCATION AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY

Guest Editors: Jennifer R. Cross (College of William & Mary), James Borland (Teachers College, Columbia University)

 This special issue will include articles that address the ways in which (a) gifted education might affect the degree of inequality in a society and, (b) inequality in a society might influence gifted education and suppress or distort the development of high ability. The quality of education is directly linked to stratification in society. Do services for gifted children give them a boost up the social hierarchy? If so, what does the problem of underrepresentation of some groups in gifted programs mean for social equality? When are gifted services different from regular education and when are they simply better? How might the pressures and barriers generated within unequal societies influence the structure and dynamics of gifted-education programming, as well as the development of bright young people? Charges of elitism and claims of “defensible” gifted programming should make us stop to consider the effects of the current state of the field on the larger society and vice versa. We invite theoretical and empirical articles that address these issues.

 Submission deadline: May 20, 2012

 Submission guidelines for manuscripts appear in the back of each issue of the Roeper Review and on our website: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=0278-3193&linktype=44

 At the time of submission, please indicate that your article is intended for the Social Inequality Special Issue.

 For more information contact Jennifer R. Cross at:  <jrcross@wm.edu>

 James H. Borland, Ph.D.

Professor of Education

Department of Curriculum and Teaching

Teachers College, Columbia University

212.678.3801

borland@exchange.tc.columbia.edu

 

Questions may be directed to Dr. Jennifer Riedl Cross, Director of Research, at jrcross@wm.edu or (757) 221-2414.