from the restrictions of structure requirements and schedule are possible, in which the pupils are given access to needed resources regardless of location, and in which suitable teachers are utilized whether they possess credentials or not. Such schools have administrators who are fully aware of the gifted's needs, and a faculty who have studied these pupils; parents are closely involved, and a special consultant assigned to the gifted is available for inservice and direct assistance to the adult participants.

WHAT ARE THE NECESSARY COMPONENTS OF A GOOD PROGRAM?

Do we need new buildings, libraries, and laboratories? Is Special transportation necessary? Are there special media needs? Material needs?

These questions are difficult to answer except by opinion. The intelligent use of facilities and materials is governed by the knowledge of the users. If that knowledge is absent, capital expenditures will be wasted.

In urban communities where libraries and laboratories are available, educators have made special arrangements for students to use materials and to experiment under supervision. Good libraries and laboratory space in schools are highly desirable, with open areas for special projects and study. Even with good libraries and adequately stocked laboratories, it is necessary to use auxiliary resources and materials to meet the special interests of the gifted. The success of special programs has been restricted because of limited facilities (48). Provisions should be made so that gifted students, whether urban or isolated in rural areas, have access to resources and space in which to use them.

Special transportation funds should be available for needed study and research opportunities; these should not be categorically limited, but their use should be documented and justified. Funds may be required for widely varying and sometimes unpredictable purposes, ranging to archaeological studies by special interest groups; gathering of research specimens for marine, botanical or geological research; visits to specialized libraries and museums; special contacts with artists; individual studies of political process; documentary studies; recording of interview or photographic data; to acquisition of unaccessible materials.

Media and material needs also are unpredictable, although students should have access to them. Funds should be made available for standard equipment and expendable supplies for students in areas of creative expression. The young painter or musician should not be restricted by the nonavailability of supplies, equipment, musical scores, or suitable instruments. Similarly, the young person who wishes to report his research findings creatively should have access to the necessary photographic or graphic resource materials and media. Ready availability of materials and encouragement to use them enhance interest in learning and extend talents.

WHAT PREPARATION IS NEEDED FOR TEACHERS AND OTHER PERSONNEL?

The teacher is the key to effective programs and effective use of resources (10; 70; 103; 169). Preparation of teachers to work with the gifted should precede expenditures on materials and facilities, which should be based on recommendations by informed school personnel and careful planning for a given population of gifted and talented pupils.

The need for special teacher preparation is apparent from a number of studies. Teachers with no special background have been found disinterested in and even hostile toward the gifted (152; 180). They believe that the gifted will reveal themselves through academic grades, that they need all existing content plus more, and that teachers should add to existing curriculum requirements rather than delete anything (144).

Teachers who have worked with special programs tend to be enthusiastic about them, while those who have not are generally hostile (90; 144; 180). Experience with programs and inservice preparation produce more favorable attitudes in teachers toward both gifted children and special programs.

The need for general inservice programs is evident from findings that 50 percent of public school educators were opposed to acceleration, despite contrary evidence from major research studies which found acceleration beneficial at every level from kindergarten to college (136; 75; 18; 103). Even in studies with significantly favorable results, authors have commented on lack of articulation, heavy demands, and evaluation problems (103), lack of teacher background, the inability of the school to deal with basic problems (48), and the unwillingness of faculty to free gifted students for independent learning (73).

Even when teachers of the gifted are carefully selected and represent the highest levels of professional competency, their teaching performance can be significantly improved through inservice study, desirable changes in the quality of learning, communication, classroom content, and diversity of classroom experiences have resulted (106). Other benefits reported by teachers include increased teaching skills, knowledge of subject matter, appreciation of the needs of the gifted (103).

Studies of successful teachers of the gifted typically have dealt with their characteristics and behavior more often than with their specific preparation. It is generally agreed that the successful teachers are highly intelligent, are interested in scholarly and artistic pursuits, have wide interests, are mature and unthreatened, possess a sense of humor, are more student-centered than their colleagues, and are enthusiastic about both teaching and advanced study for themselves (19; 24; 180).

The problem of credentials poses difficulty when the complexity and diversity of teaching the gifted and talented at all levels are considered. An array of prescribed courses is evidently inadequate; probably the credentials should be planned as an individualized program of studies. Recommendations for such a program have been outlined in a recent publication on professional standards for teachers and other personnel (29).

School personnel other than teachers also need special preparation in understanding the needs of the gifted. Administrators often determine the existence of programs, decree their abolition, or deny their need. (Appendix B of this report shows that the majority of school administrators in a representative sample of schools in the United States reported no gifted students in their schools! The report may be ascribed to apathy or hostility, but not to fact.)

Even groups with special preparation which presumably should make them especially alert to individual differences are indifferent or hostile toward the gifted. Counselors in several studies were found to be more concerned with remedial problems than with the gifted (46). Student personnel departments in 20 Western colleges and universities gave little special attention to the gifted and their problems. One study found significantly greater hostility toward the gifted among school psychologists than among other school personnel (179). All of these studies indicate the need for comprehensive inservice preparation for those school personnel who contact or affect the gifted. Teachers who are prepared and interested need informed and sympathetic auxiliary support.

WHAT DO PROGRAMS FOR THE GIFTED COST?

Data on true program costs are meager, because of the need for school systems to function within the limits of funds available and predetermined program budgets, even though these prove inadequate. Funding in several States may be limited to specific demonstration or experimental programs which meet the needs of children at certain grade levels; partial support of special teachers, with no added funds for programs, is provided in North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, Oregon, Illinois. Appendix D of this report indicates that few States have used or are using Federal funds to improve programs for the gifted. (Costs of specific Illinois programs are provided in appendix F.)

In States where program support is based upon funding per pupil, support figures are misleading; in California, for example, the initial support figure allocated by the legislature provided only for identification costs, with nothing for preparation, program, or evaluation. The present allocation for program is less than one-third the cost. of programs (as determined in the 1957-60 study).

A report to the California legislature represented true figures of the per pupil cost in 1961 for exemplary programs. These figures included pupil screening and identification, complete pupil studies, preservice and inservice preparation of teachers and other school personnel, instructional costs, consultant services, and evaluation costs. These programs cost up to $250 each year per pupil.

Subsequent cost data from California inaccurately represent true costs, reflecting instead inadequate support. The $250 figure itself should be increased proportionally to the cost-of-living increases during the last decade.

What Should Be Priorities for Expenditures On The Gifted And Talented?

Data from research studies suggest that these priorities be established:

1. Systematic inservice preparation for school personnel, including teachers and others who affect the learning opportunities of the gifted and talented.

1.1 Fellowships for special preparation

1.2 Support inservice workshops and courses

1.3 Establishment of preparation centers for demonstration programs, experimentation, research and teaching

2. Support of research and experimental programs.

2.1 Programs to improve identification of gifted from varied backgrounds and cultures

2.2 Programs to identify added human capacities and talents 2.3 Programs to improve program evaluation

2.4 Programs to expand learning opportunities in the arts 2.5 Programs for preschool gifted and talented, including those from poor economic backgrounds

2.6 Exemplary programs in school systems

3. Establishment of a national office for dissemination of information and improvement of efforts for the gifted.

3.1 Use of media to improve understanding by educators and the general public

3.2 Disemination of informational materials to educators 3.3 Provision of leadership to State and national educational agencies, to assure proper use of available and future funds 4. Support for evaluation and dissemination of new findings. 5. Continuing support for exemplary programs.

WHAT ARE THE EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF RESEARCH ON THE GIFTED AND TALENTED?

Numerous past and recent studies have established the fact that gifted and talented youth are a unique population, differing markedly from their age peers in abilities, talents, interests, and psychological maturity. They are the most versatile and complex of all human groups, the most neglected of all groups with special educational needs. Their sensitivity to others and insight into existing school conditions make them especially vulnerable, because of their ability to conceal their giftedness in standardized surroundings, and to seek alternative outlets. The resultant waste is tragic.

Research studies of the special needs of the gifted and talented demonstrate evidence of the need for special programs. The relatively few gifted students who have had the advantage of special programs have shown remarkable improvements in self-understanding and in ability to relate to others, as well as in improved academic and creative performance. The programs have not produced arrogant, selfish snobs on the contrary, studies show that special programs have extended a sense of reality, wholesome humility, self-respect, and respect for others. A good program for the gifted increases their involvement and interest in learning through the reduction of the irrelevant.

Identification of the gifted and talented in different parts of the country has been piecemeal, sporadic, and sometimes nonexistent. Very little identification has been carried on in depth, or with proper testing instruments. Many of the assumptions about giftedness and its

incidence in various parts of the American society are based on inadequate data, partial information, and group tests of limited value. The United States has been inconsistent in seeking out these students, finding them early in their lives, and individualizing their education. Special injustice has occurred through apathy toward certain minorities, although neglect of the gifted in this country is a universal and increasing problem.

Special programs have produced ample evidence of their merits. Widely varying arrangements have been found successful, and indicate clearly that excellence for the gifted can become a universal practice with less expenditure than in programs for other children with special learning needs.

Programs for the gifted will require constant planning, expansion, increasing diversity, and creative modes of evaluation, if they are to succeed and continue. The programs will be providing opportunities for extremely different forms of talent development and expression. Programs which provide for the poet, artist, inventor, and budding politician will allow varying interests and productions which cannot be evaluated in standard fashion.

Successful programs show that special preparation of teachers is mandatory. Teachers who have such preparation tend to be sympathetic to the gifted and talented, and to provide them with necessary learning opportunities. This preparation should be extended to the total educational profession and to the public at large so that the gifted and talented may be widely encouraged to use their abilities. The result would be greater numbers of gifted political leaders, inventors, creative artists, educators, medical personnel, and others contributing to society and working on its problems. The result would be a better future for all Americans.