This monograph presents a paradigm for identifying giftedness among all groups of young people. Section 1 presents a review and critique of traditional identification approaches and highlights the limitations that tests may have for identifying talent potential among groups currently underrepresented in gifted programs. Section 2 examines the values and environmental influences of several cultures, to identify the additional challenges faced by high achieving, ethnically diverse students. Within-group cultural differences are also considered. The third section reports the results of an exploratory study which examined the characteristics of economically disadvantaged and limited English proficient gifted students. Section 4 looks at behaviors that characterize gifted performance, noting research results which suggest that there may be well-known "absolute" behaviors which characterize high performance cross-culturally, as well as specific behaviors which manifest themselves in particular cultural contexts. Emerging insights from the Javits Gifted and Talented Students' Education Act are addressed in the fifth section. The final section provides a synthesis of the previously presented ideas and proposes a five-element paradigm of giftedness, including: (1) new constructs of giftedness; (2) absolute and specific behaviors; (3) cultural and contextual variables; (4) authentic assessment; and (5) identification through learning opportunities. Executive Summary is also published separately. (Contains approximately 125 references.) (Author/DB)