| Summary: | This study was an investigation of the social and academic abilities of gifted
children as perceived by parents and teachers. From the literature reviewed, it was
thought that social skills perceived by parents and teachers would be different, and that
these adults' would value specific social skills differently. As an extension of Wentzel's
research (1991), it was also suggested that teacher ratings of social and academic
abilities may be interdependent.
The sample consisted of 27 preadolescent children ages 6 through 12. Subjects
were included who scored at least 125 on the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children-
Third Edition (WISC-III) or on the Stanford Binet-Fourth Edition (SB-IV). The subjects'
parents and teachers were asked to rate the social abilities of the children and the
teachers were also asked to evaluate the academic abilities of the children.
A series of t-tests were used to evaluate differences between the parent and
teacher ratings. Ranking the most valued social skills enabled comparisons between
teacher and parent highly valued social behaviors. Pearson correlations served to
identify relationships between teacher ratings of social and academic abilities.
The results revealed that both parents and teachers perceived the gifted children
as demonstrating social skills similar to those in the norm sample. Teachers' highly
valued social skills reflected cooperative behaviors, while parents placed more
importance on those behaviors reflecting assertion. Ratings of academic ability were
related to ratings of social ability, but only when the academic assessment incorporated
some classroom behaviors.
Future research needs to include larger samples of gifted children. Investigation
of the appropriateness of the assessment tools with the gifted population needs to be
undertaken. As well, further examination of the relationship between social and
academic abilities would be valuable.
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