Special Programs Found To Benefit Gifted Students

By Debra Viadero

Gifted students achieve more in special programs, regardless of whether they get that extra help in the regular classroom or in special classes and schools.

That is among the findings of a University of Virginia study that compares programs for 1,010 gifted students in 10 states.

The report, described as the most extensive of its kind, was among several studies scheduled to be presented last week during a conference held to showcase five years of research by the National Center on the Gifted and Talented, based at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. The federally financed center, created under the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act, is among the U.S. Education Department programs whose funding is being targeted for cuts by the U.S. House of Representatives....