This updated third edition of Curriculum Planning and Instructional Design for Gifted Learners:

The Pre-K–Grade 12 Gifted Education Programming Standards should be part of every school district’s repertoire of standards to ensure that the learning needs of advanced students are being met. The new edition of this popular book helps schools understand the updates to the standards, which have a renewed emphasis on equity and inclusion. The six standards focus on student outcomes in learning and development, assessment, curriculum planning and instruction, learning environments, programming, and professional learning (updated from professional development used in the 2010 version). This book details these standards and provides suggestions for implementing each one. It also includes sample assessments of student products and performances, which will assist schools in developing program and service evaluation benchmarks. This book is a must-have for school leaders and gifted education professionals who want to offer the most effective services for gifted and advanced students. It is a service publication of the National Association for Gifted Children (Washington, DC). This designation indicates that this book has been jointly developed with NAGC and that this book passes the highest standards of scholarship, research, and practice.

Gifted students require a curriculum that intentionally aligns with their advanced abilities to ensure engagement at the appropriate level of intensity and depth. Introduction to Curriculum Design in Gifted Education offers an in-depth exploration of curriculum development for the gifted. Included are the general foundations of good curriculum design, a survey of curriculum models appropriate for gifted learners, an examination of design considerations across content areas, a detailed analysis of the role assessment has in the curriculum development process, and an exploration of trends and future directions of curriculum development for the gifted. Each chapter is authored by experts with considerable knowledge pertaining to curriculum implications for gifted students and is written with the practitioner in mind to facilitate effective implementation. This text is an essential addition to the library of any educator seeking to create new and/or adapt existing curriculum to better address the interests and abilities of gifted students.

Winner of NAGC's 2021 Book of the Year Award This must-have resource: Provides gifted educators with methods and strategies for successful coplanning, coteaching, coaching, and collaboration. Enables effective management of differentiation. Increases educators' understanding of gifted students' needs. Features the tools and how to steps for facilitating and maintaining collaborative work in order to challenge and support gifted students all day, every day. Encourages professional learning and a focus on shared responsibility and reflection. The book also includes considerations for working with special populations, including twice-exceptional students, underachievers, and culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse learners, as well as meeting students' social-emotional needs, collaborating with families and communities, and advocating for gifted education.

Differentiating Instruction for Gifted Learners allows educators and stakeholders to examine issues related to differentiating curriculum and instruction in a variety of contexts. The case studies in this rich resource analyze various differentiation strategies and their benefits to promote classrooms where every student belongs, every student is valued, and every student is nurtured. The cases facilitate conversations about children and their unique needs by situating learning in authentic and meaningful contexts, with the goal of helping educators improve services and programs for gifted and talented students. "Things to Consider" guide the reader's thinking without imparting an explicit action, recommendation, or solution. Discussion questions, activities, extensions, and suggestions for additional readings support the standards of excellence set forth in the revised NAGC-CEC Teacher Preparation Standards in Gifted and Talented Education and the NAGC-CEC Advanced Standards in Gifted Education Teacher Preparation.

"Smutny has assembled a group of colleagues who bring very practical and useful insights to this issue and suggest practices that will make the use of this important curricular modification justifiable, manageable, and, most of all, normal. Acceleration is not treated as a strategy of last resort but as a logical and reasonable way to acknowledge and provide for the growth and continuous progress of all children. By broadening the idea of acceleration as a way to meet academic, emotional, and social needs, the book turns the concerns about acceleration into strengths." —Barbara Clark, Professor Emeritus, California State University, Los Angeles "A well-written, extremely useful guide for parents and educators who wish to provide gifted students an opportunity to learn at a pace and level appropriate to their abilities. Offers valuable insight on the social and emotional aspects of effective acceleration." —Jan Davidson, President and Cofounder, Davidson Institute for Talent Development Coauthor, Genius Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds Raise the bar on accelerated learning and discover new possibilities that go beyond minimum proficiency! Written for K–5 teachers, this practical guide corrects misunderstandings in the field of acceleration and provides the tools necessary to effectively determine the most appropriate learning options for gifted students. Through real-life stories, well-known authors in gifted education Joan Franklin Smutny, Sally Y. Walker, and Elizabeth A. Meckstroth, dispel the common myths about acceleration and describe what it is, what forms it takes, and what it can do for gifted learners—intellectually, socially, and emotionally. Presenting nuts-and-bolts guidance, this valuable resource provides: Numerous case studies, helpful checklists, and reproducible forms Prevailing theories and current research Social-emotional aspects of acceleration practices Instructional strategies for implementation in various school settings Learning opportunities for underserved groups, such as multicultural and urban students Bibliographies and helpful Web sites Offering a new perspective on how prevailing attitudes have deprived students of opportunities to develop their talents, Acceleration for Gifted Learners, K–5, directly reflects the 2004 Templeton Report in validating the urgency to meet gifted students′ needs.

Educating Gifted Students in Middle School: A Practical Guide (3rd ed.) helps educators with the challenging task of understanding and meeting the needs of gifted students in middle school. This revised and updated third edition: Provides a rationale and framework that middle schools can use to fill the service gap for gifted and advanced learners. Addresses the needs of learners from diverse backgrounds. Shows how to implement effective program models. Identifies best practices for the classroom. Shares research-based curriculum models. Topics addressed include school organization, instructional strategies in the basic subject areas, cocurricular and summer programs, the missing link of executive function skills, and counseling at-risk gifted learners. Educating Gifted Students in Middle School focuses on creative, practical, and realistic school solutions that create a vital and responsive community for all students.

This essential handbook is a comprehensive and systematic examination of the assessment of gifted and advanced students and their programs, and a must-have resource for coordinators and directors at state and local levels. Handbook on Assessments for Gifted Learners explores issues associated with building an effective identification system, clarifies and interprets the need for targeted learning progress assessments for gifted learners, and discusses program evaluation, assessments, and processes used to gauge programs’ success. Engaging chapters written by both academic and practitioner experts provide research-based, practical ideas for identifying and measuring the progress of gifted and advanced learners. Readers will benefit from informed recommendations stemming from current research conducted specifically for this text.

Practical strategies for the curriculum differentiation of gifted students. Make a Twist puts educational theory into practice, assisting educators and parents to identify and implement appropriate differentiation strategies for gifted students. Activities, aka ‘Twists’, are readily aligned with curriculum topics, assessment tasks, and student interests. Make a Twist is designed for upper primary to middle school students across all subject areas. The book can be used at hand during lessons to incorporate higher-order thinking challenges and for the creation of extended enrichment tasks. Make a Twist puts into practice the principles of June Maker’s curriculum modification strategies (the ‘Maker model’) in a way that is complex and challenging, therefore appropriate and engaging for high-ability students. “Make a Twist is a wonderful, totally practical way to put the principles in the Maker model into action in a classroom.” C. June Maker. Communication between parents and educators is enabled through use of Make a Twist. The book offers a tool for advocacy, presenting easy-to-use strategies for differentiating classroom practice and for supporting the learning of gifted children. Make a Twist is the perfect resource to enable educator action in all school gifted and talented programs.

The field of gifted education is characterized by a confusing array of perspectives concerning such fundamental issues as definition, philosophy, curriculum, social and emotional development, and underserved populations. The mission of this book is to provide a coherent framework that instructors and service providers can use in planning effective programs, providing appropriate counseling services, and evaluating programs for the gifted. Most sections are organized around fundamental issues confronting the field and follow a common structure: an introductory chapter that provides historical and theoretical background and organizing questions followed by several point-of-view chapters written by experts that provide varied perspectives on the topic at hand. Distinguishing Features Comprehensive Coverage - The book's forty-five manageable-length chapters cover the full range of topics that must be considered in planning programs and services for gifted students both within and outside of school. Coherent Structure - Section introductions provide background information and organizing questions to guide chapter authors who provide varying views of the issue at hand. The emphasis is not on the "right way" or the "wrong way" (except when clearly documented bad practice is discussed), but on how best practice stems from well-informed and logical decision-making. Decision Making Focus - The book's introductory chapter addresses the need for a clearly developed and consistently applied set of values to guide decision making. Likewise, each section introduction includes a decision making framework regarding some aspect of educating, counseling, or parenting gifted students. This book is appropriate for introductory level courses in gifted education or courses in program development and planning. It is also suitable for school personnel responsible for making program planning decisions in the area of gifted education and for academic libraries with holdings in this area.