This document presents in concise statements some of the major findings from CTY’s vast array of research projects over the past 25 years. Each statement is supported by one or several research projects that are cited.

Ability Grouping and Acceleration 

• Ability grouping has been shown to be an appropriate and effective way to meet the academic needs of highly able students.
• Many highly able students have never been placed in ability grouped classes in their regular school despite the fact that the majority of the students report that they learn more when grouped with like-ability peers.
• After attending a CTY summer course in math and/or science, the majority of students were appropriately placed in an advanced-level course at their home school, a finding that has been consistent over 15 years. The overwhelming majority of these students earned an A or B in the advanced-level “placement” course.
• Acceleration has been shown to be an appropriate practice for meeting the needs of academically talented students; as a way to keep these students motivated and appropriately challenged.
• There is no evidence to support the notion of negative social and emotional consequences of acceleration for talented students as a whole.

Parents

• Most academically talented students have positive feelings about their families.
• Although parents of academically talented students generally have high expectations for their child to achieve, students report that they can meet these expectations and do not feel unduly pressured.
• Sixty percent of parents of academically talented students emphasize internal (i.e., relative to the individual) standards or both internal and external (i.e., relative to peers) standards for academic success.  A focus on internal standards such as enjoyment, attaining personal goals, or trying one’s best can weaken feelings of pressure to perform at a high level.
• Few parents have an achievement goal (for their children) that focuses only on competence and attainment of socially-set standards (e.g., high grades and high test scores).  Children of this minority are more likely than other academically talented children to be overly concerned about mistakes, parental expectations and criticisms, and they have more doubts about their actions.

Social, Emotional, and Personality

• Most academically talented students feel socially successful and happy with their friendships.
• Academically talented students have a variety of friends.
• Most academically talented students are satisfied with their physical abilities and physical appearance.
• Encouraging high standards for gifted students does not promote the development of negative forms of perfectionism. CTY students look very similar to a national comparison group of students in terms of the incidence of perfectionism.
• Academically talented students do not report lower social self-perceptions overall than other adolescents. However, high verbal students may be at some risk for social problems because as verbal ability increases so do the students’ feelings of being unpopular.
• The majority of students report a social benefit, as well as an academic benefit, from taking a CTY summer course with other academically talented students. Many of the students maintain long distance relationships with other CTY students long after the program.
• When compared to normative groups of adolescents, highly able students are more open to new experiences and learning; the majority tends to prefer looking for patterns and possibilities rather than concentrating on facts and details; like to play with ideas and are more intuitive.
• These differences were also found in a group of gifted Irish adolescents.
• Not all gifted students are alike in their learning styles. 
• When compared to a normative population of adolescent women, highly able young women more frequently express a preference for making decisions through rational analysis and objective standards.

Self-Perception, Motivation, and Metacognition

• Academically talented students vary widely in their beliefs about intelligence; students’ views of the stability of intelligence parallels a normal distribution with high school students more likely than elementary students to believe that intelligence is stable.
• Not all gifted students are alike in their use of metacognitive learning strategies.  The more students endorse an achievement goal of mastery (i.e., want to understand the material rather than just perform well), the more likely they are to use self-regulated strategies.

Gifted Students with Learning Disabilities

• Despite common perception, there are a number of gifted children who have a specific learning disability or attention problems. They are often not identified in their school and are often under-served. With appropriate accommodations and interventions they are able to reach their full potential.

Under-Represented Students

• Under-represented students sometimes have specific skill/knowledge gaps that can be addressed with targeted, accelerated instruction that allows them to move ahead academically and excel at a high level.
• In specially targeted programs that are supplementary to their regular school program, educationally disadvantaged students can learn at a fast pace and increase their aptitude and achievement test scores.
• Under-represented students who attend CTY courses look very similar to other CTY students in terms of their high educational aspirations and academic self-concepts.
• Under-represented students who attend CTY summer programs make similar achievement gains as other CTY students.
• Under-represented students who attend CTY courses perform academically as well, if not better, than their gifted and talented peers.
• Under-represented students who attend CTY courses go on to attend highly competitive colleges and universities.

Benefits of the CTY Summer Experience

• Exposure to academic challenge and high quality of instruction are frequently reported by CTY students and their parents as benefits of taking a CTY course.
• Achievement gains have been reported by instructors and documented via pre- and post-assessment methods.
• Many students who take a CTY summer course are eventually accelerated in their schools' curriculum.
• Opportunities to be with other bright students and friendships with such students are frequently reported by CTY students and their parents as benefits of taking a CTY course.

Last Updated 8/8/2008