Reference no: EM133510357

Political knowledge and leadership skills among the state's most talented high school students.

Anyssa's day-to-day school program consists of advanced placement academic courses designed to prepare her and her peers for advanced college courses. After lunch, Anyssa attends a daily meeting of the gifted students, a time utilized by her teacher for many purposes, including peer support and preparation for a regional gifted students competition called Odyssey of the Mind.

At 2:00 each afternoon, Anyssa and her friend Peter drive to the nearby university to take a course in college calculus. After the lecture, she and Peter typically go to the university library to work on calculus or to conduct research for their other high school courses. Anyssa's parents are delighted with her educational progress. Her mother is a special education teacher who teaches students with mental retardation at the same high school Anyssa attends. Anyssa and her mother have initiated the Buddy Program, an effort to link up special education students with their general education peers in friendship opportunities.

Anyssa's father is a successful dentist in the local community. He grew up in a poor, rural community and attended underfunded, segregated public schools. He feels encouraged that the gifted and talented program provides great support and opportunities to his daughter, the very kind of encouragement he would have liked to receive when he was a high school student a quarter of a century earlier.

Anyssa's only sibling is her younger brother, Bobby, an eighth grader. His sister's success has been difficult for him to handle. He is an average student who sets extremely high goals for himself, striving to equal or even surpass his sister in any way he can. This intensity has brought him much frustration. Despite his parents' encouragement to be his own person and not compare himself to his high-achieving older sister, Bobby can't seem to help himself. His parents have noticed that Bobby's one extraordinary talent is creative writing. They are now trying to place less emphasis on Bobby being a straight A student while supporting his developing craft of language. When his sister attends the Governor's School next summer, Bobby will go to Vermont for a student writing camp

QUESTION 1

In the past, the Malden School District used IQ scores as the basis for admission to their gifted programs. Are IQ scores are a reliable predictor of students' future grades? Are they a valid predictor of academic achievement? Be sure to address both reliability and validity, and be sure explain your answer.

QUESTION 2

Recently, the Malden School District changed their assessment procedure for admission to their gifted programs. Partly, they did this because they believed that the standardized measures of intelligence and academic performance were unfair to students of color. Given the research evidence, was the Malden School District correct in assuming that intelligence tests are biased? Be sure to explain your answer

QUESTION 3

The Malden School District made referrals to the gifted and talented program based on student IQ scores. Using this process, Caucasian boys were referred by teachers to the gifted program proportionally more often than girls or students of color. Given what you have read about intelligence tests and IQ scores, explain why this might occur. Be sure to support your answer with research evidence.

QUESTION 4

Are "leadership skills" typically considered an aspect of intelligence in traditional theories of intelligence (and, if so, which theories)? In your view, should "leadership skills" be considered a legitimate area of giftedness? Be sure to explain your answer.

QUESTION 5

Anyssa's brother, Bobby, is an average student who excels in creative writing. Given what you have read in your textbook, discuss Bobby's abilities in terms of (a) Gardner's and (b) Sternberg's theories of intelligence.

QUESTION 6

In your opinion, is it important that gifted programs be socially diverse? Or does this emphasis on diversity inhibit schools from admitting students who are "truly" gifted? Be sure to explain your answer and support it with specific evidence.