Some identification and programing approaches for gifted students are said to shortchange all students and perpetuate a myth of exclusivity. The real issue, the author contends, is not whether the label "gifted" is affixed, but whether all children's needs are met through the regular curriculum or through adaptations. (CL)

The author suggests that it is a myth of gifted education that a school must identify a certain percentage of students as gifted, which forces an adjustment in criteria and definition until just the right number of students have been identified. (CL)

Uniformity of assessment in identifying gifted students should be replaced by a variety of measures to document the unique personal and learning characteristics as a basis for instruction. (CL)

The editor introduces a special issue on myths in gifted education. He suggests that myths deal with three major topics: definitions of the gifted and talented, identification, and programs. He concludes with a list of 14 questions concerning alternative approaches. (CL)

The importance of applying multiple selection criteria from the beginning in the identification of gifted students is stressed. Approaches which use achievement and intelligence tests as a primary screening criteria before applying multiple criteria are said to be only skin deep. (CL)

Four papers focus on school programs for gifted and talented students. (CL)

Four articles consider brain hemisphere functioning of gifted students as it relates to gifted programs; alternation of education methodologies; spatial ability as an element of intellectual gifted functioning; and the interaction between hemisphere specialization, imagery, creative imagination, and sex differentiation. (SB)

The model of cognitive ability proposed by John B. Carroll is described and its implications for education traced. The Carroll model is unique in that it is based on datasets reanalyzed by standard procedures. The variables and factors established through factoring were used to construct the three-stratum Carroll model. (SLD)