APF supports fellowships in gifted children research

Identifying academic talent among culturally and linguistically diverse students can be difficult when young students do not understand test directions. This problem is especially important for students who are English-language learners (ELLs) from poor families, for whom schools provide a key resource for talent development.

To explore how test directions can most effectively explain unfamiliar test items to young ELL students, Joni Lakin of the University of Iowa is comparing the performance of ELL and non-ELL students in computer-administered tests. She expects to show that test directions that provide verbal explanations and visionary demonstrations will better explain unfamiliar tasks to young ELL students.

To recognize her work, APF awarded Lakin with a $25,000 Esther Katz Rosen Fellowship.

APF also awarded a $25,000 Rosen Fellowship to Kristen Foster Peairs of Duke University. Peairs’ research investigates the social world of gifted adolescents, examining various peer relationships to better understand the socioemotional development of gifted youth. Peairs will explore how gifted youth with peer problems compare to gifted youth without peer problems and to non-gifted peers. Her research is based upon decades of research demonstrating a link between having poor peer relationships and negative academic, behavioral, and psychological adjustment. She hopes her research with provide implications for the development of effective prevention and intervention programs targeting at-risk gifted children and adolscents.

The Rosen Fellowships support activities related to the psychological understanding of gifted and talented children and adolescents.