Completed Research

10 Years of Collaboration Between the Center for Gifted Education and Centre for Talented Youth-Ireland

Since 2011, two centers dedicated to serving individuals with gifts and talents – one in the US and one in Ireland – have collaborated in research with Irish educators, parents, and the students attending CTYI. More details here.

Social Experience of Gifted Students Scale Validation

The social experience of students with high ability has important implications for the academic engagement and well-being. The Social Experience of Gifted Students Scale includes items identified through research as potentially common or impactful. Each item includes the experience (e.g., “My teachers treated me differently from the other students.”) and a rating of the frequency (Never – Regularly) and affective response (“Made me feel very bad” to “Made me feel very good”). The purpose of the SEGSS is to identify the frequency of various social experiences and their emotional associations. Future research will explore the relationship of experiences with students’ well-being and other psychological variables.

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

Dr. Tracy L. Cross and Dr. Jennifer Riedl Cross are editors of this 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. This book is a superb resource for a broad audience of counselors, educators, researchers, and parents. The handbook received the 2012 Legacy Book Award, Scholar category, from the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented. The second edition was published in Spring, 2021 by Prufrock Press.

Project Athena

Project Athena was a landmark research initiative by the William & Mary Center for Gifted Education (CFGE) dedicated to helping high-ability students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds reach their full potential. The project’s core mission was to demonstrate that by using advanced, interdisciplinary curriculum in language arts—and by holding teachers and students to higher standards—schools could significantly boost the performance of these talented learners in grades 3–5. This effort was not just about changing curriculum units; it involved intensive professional training for teachers and administrators.

The research conducted through Project Athena resulted in the creation of several important tools for educators across the country. Key major products include the Classroom Observation Scales-Revised (COS-R) and Student Observation Scales (SOS), which provide a reliable way to identify and measure learning gains in high-ability students, especially those from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Furthermore, the project developed specialized curriculum resources, most notably the Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program and the Navigators: Novel study guides, alongside the Test of Critical Thinking (TCT). These products ensure that the project’s findings can be practically implemented to foster critical thinking, reading, and writing skills in young, promising learners.

Publications related to Project Athena:

VanTassel-Baska, J., & Stambaugh, T. (2006). Project Athena: A pathway to advanced literacy development for children of poverty. Gifted Child Today, 29(2), 58-63. https://doi.org/10.4219/gct-2006-202
Bracken, B. A., Bai, W., Fithian, E., Lamprecht, M. S., Little, C., & Quek, C. (2003). Test of critical thinking. Center for Gifted Education, William & Mary.
VanTassel-Baska, J., Avery, D. L., Struck, J., Feng, A., Bracken, B., Drummond, D., & Stambaugh, T. (2003). The William and Mary classroom observation scales revised. Center for Gifted Education, William & Mary