College-bound high school seniors who earn a standard score of at least 700 out of a possible 800 on either the mathematical or the verbal portion of the SAT-I (formerly the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT) are usually extremely pleased by their performance. Such a score may be given considerable weight in competitive college admissions. However, when a student scores this high at a much younger age, such as eleven or twelve, suggesting exceptional precocity in mathematical or verbal reasoning,¹ initial pride and pleasure often take a back seat to concern about meeting the educational needs of the student until he or she is academically, socially, and emotionally ready to enter college full tune. Helping extremely talented students develop appropriate educational plans and locate challenging supplemental opportunities has been a major focus of the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) and is now the primary mission of the Study of Exceptional Talent (SET).

SMPY and the "700-800 on SAT-M before Age 13 Group"
SMPY was founded by Julian C. Stanley at Johns Hopkins University in 1971 to identify, study, and facilitate the education of youths who reason extremely well mathematically (Stanley, Keating, & Fox, 1974; see also chapters 14 and 17 herein). SMPY pioneered the use of above-level testing to identify precocious mathematical or verbal reasoning ability and designed rigorous academic coursework to challenge high-scoring students. The SAT, a test designed to predict success in college among high school seniors, was administered to seventh graders. The concept of systematic talent searches expanded rather rapidly; today approximately 150,000 students participate annually in regional, state, or local talent searches (Cohn, 1991).²

Prompted by great concern for the needs of the most academically talented students among those identified in the talent searches, and wishing to direct his primary efforts toward those students, Julian Stanley made arrangements in 1979 for the creation of a separate organization, now the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) of the Institute for the Academic Advancement of Youth (IAAY), to conduct the Johns Hopkins Talent Search and academic summer programs. In 1980, SMPY announced a search for students throughout the country who had scored between 700 and 800 on the SAT-M before age thirteen.

Stanley's purpose in founding the "700-800 on SAT-M before Age 13 Group" echoed SMPY's original goals: to identify students who reason extremely well mathematically, to facilitate the further development of their talent, and to study their progress (Stanley, 1988). However, the highly selective nature of the 700M criterion kept the size of the group small enough that individual counseling could be offered. This individualized approach was considered important in meeting the needs of these extremely talented students, who come from a variety of home and school environments and differ greatly from most of their agemates in cognitive abilities. The students' progress was tracked so that the effectiveness of programmatic options could be evaluated.

The Study of Exceptional Talent
In 1991, SMPY's work on behalf of students who reason extremely well mathematically moved to IAAY as a department devoted to exceptional talent. Re-named the Study of Exceptional Talent in recognition of an expanded interest in high verbal as well as high mathematical talent, SET's mission is to continue the service efforts developed by SMPY and to study the progress of the students.

Although SET is based at IAAY, its efforts are national in orientation, and students are recruited from all talent searches or may take the SAT on their own.³ Eligibility for SET is consistent with the standards established by SMPY: students must score between 700 and 800 on the mathematics portion of the SAT-I before age thirteen. To qualify on the verbal portion of the SAT, students must score between 700 and 800 on the recentered SAT-I, or have scored between 630 and 800 prior to recentering in l995.⁴

Once eligibility is determined, students join SET by completing background questionnaires. Brief annual questionnaires provide updated information about students' activities, and in-depth surveys are administered periodically for specific research studies. SET members are also encouraged to call or write to SET's staff at any time with their questions and concerns regarding educational decisions, or to visit in person if that is feasible. Of course, some students seek SET's counseling and others do not. All SET members do, however, receive newsletters that provide information about opportunities to accelerate or supplement their school programs. The newsletters also include news about the students themselves. It is hoped that the students serve as role models for each other, stimulating and supporting high achievement.

Indeed, engendering the feeling of a peer group among SET members is an important component of the intervention. Students who are so highly able and who need a special educational program sometimes feel different from and uncomfortable with other students their age The knowledge that there are students like themselves, their true intellectual peers, even if they never meet (although many do meet each other in academic summer programs and competitive events), can be an important source of comfort and support. (See chapter 17 below.)

Characteristics of SET Members
From 1980 through 1992, 1,132 students joined SMPY or SET by scoring between 700 and 800 on the SAT-M, between 630 and 800 on the SAT-V, or both. The data summarized below refer to this population.

Students typically qualify for SMPY or SET in the seventh grade, when they participate in one of the talent searches, although they may qualify at any time if they meet the age and score eligibility requirements. Thus, 3 members qualified for SET at age eight, 4 at age nine, 21 at age ten, 134 at age eleven, 796 at age twelve, and 174 at age thirteen.

Of this group, 76.1 percent (N = 861) are male and 23.9 percent (N= 271) are female; 76.0 percent (N= 860) qualified on the SAT-M, 11.3 percent (N = 128) on the SAT-V, and 12.7 percent (N = 144) on both. Females are more heavily represented among the verbal qualifiers, with 55.5 percent of verbal qualifiers being female, compared to only 18.9 percent of the math qualifiers and 25.7 percent of the double qualifiers. SET members represent forty-two states, the District of Columbia, and several foreign countries.

These SET members include recently identified students who are between eight and thirteen years old, and students in their mid-twenties who were identified in the early 1980s and are now in graduate school or the work force. During the 1992--1993 school year, 3 SET members were still in elementary school (1 in grade four and 2 in grade five), 166 students were in middle school (grades six through eight), 413 were in high school (grades nine through twelve), 237 were in college, and 276 were college graduates and were attending graduate school, working, or both. (We do not have post--high school follow up data on 37 members.) A summary of additional selected characteristics of the SET members is presented below. Background information about students' families was obtained from questionnaires completed when students joined SMPY or SET, typically in the seventh grade.⁵ Information that relates to students' behavior after that time was obtained from follow-up questionnaires.

Family Characteristics
Ethnic background. The representation of Asian Americans in the SET membership is much greater than in the general population for this age group.⁶ Of the students who qualified for SET, 66.1 percent (N = 748) are Caucasian; 31.8 percent (N = 360) are Asian American; 0.8 percent (N = 9) are of mixed Asian American and Caucasian background; and 1.3 percent (N = 15) are African American, Hispanic, or a mixture that includes one of these backgrounds. (In subsequent statistics the 9 Asian American--Caucasian students are included in the Asian American population.) In contrast, the ethnic composition of all American students enrolled in colleges in the United States in 1991 was as follows: 78.8 percent Caucasian; 4.6 percent Asian American; and 16.6 percent African American, Hispanic, and Native American ("1991 Enrollment" 1991).

The Asian American representation is greater among the students who qualified for SET on the basis of their scores on the SAT-M than among those who qualified on the SAT-V. Of the math qualifiers,⁷ 63.4 percent (N= 637) are Caucasian, 35.3 percent (N=354) are Asian American, and 1.3 percent (N = 13) are African American or Hispanic. In contrast, 80.1 percent (N= 218) of the verbal qualifiers are Caucasian, 19.1 percent (N = 52) are Asian American, and 0.7 percent (N = 2) are African American or Hispanic.

Asian American representation is also greater among the female SET members than among the male members: 29.3 percent (N = 252) of the males and 43.2 percent (N = 117) of the females are Asian American. Within the group of students who qualified on the SAT-M, 55.0 percent (N = 110) of the females are Asian American, while 30.3 percent (N = 244) of the males are Asian American. Among the verbal qualifiers, on the other hand, Caucasians make up approximately 80 percent of both gender subpopulations: 79.3 percent (N = 130) of the males and 81.5 percent (N = 88) of the females are Caucasian.

There is a striking difference in the immigration histories of the Asian American and Caucasian SET members. Of the members for whom we have relevant data, less than 6 percent (N 79) of the fathers and mothers of the Caucasian members were educated in a country other than the United States (data are available for 1,349 Out of a total of 1,505 Caucasian parents). In contrast, over 80 percent (N = 550) of the Asian American members' parents were educated (at least through the bachelor's degree level) in Asian countries (data available for 682 out of a total of 729 Asian American parents). The countries where the largest numbers of Asian American SET parents were educated are Taiwan (33.7 percent; N= 230), India and Sri Lanka (16.6 percent; N= 113), Korea (14.1 percent; N= 96), and the People's Republic of China (8.4 percent; N = 57). The remaining 8.1 percent of the Asian-educated parents were educated in Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Burma.

The first-generation-immigrant status of such a large majority of the parents of Asian American SET members raises interesting research questions. Immigrant status alone, and the drive to succeed in America, cannot fully explain the high representation of Asian Americans in the SET population. It is likely that well-educated immigrant parents from such socially stable and technologically advanced countries as Taiwan and Korea are in a better position to take advantage of the opportunities America has to offer than are poorly educated immigrant parents from such less stable and technologically developed countries as Vietnam and Cambodia, and the backgrounds of the Asian American SET members reflect these social and economic factors. However, other stable and technologically advanced regions of the world from which well-educated people emigrate to the United States are not so heavily represented in the SET membership. For example, the total number of people who immigrated to the United States in 1991 from China and Taiwan is one-sixth the number who immigrated from Europe, yet children of first-generation European immigrants are not prevalent in the SET population. The relationship between ethnic background and talent development will be explored further in future studies of SET members.

Family demographics. SET members tend to come from small families: 13.8 percent are only children, 53.4 percent have one sibling, 24.4 percent have two siblings, 6.7 percent have three siblings, 8.4 percent have four or more siblings, and 2.5 percent have stepsiblings. Of those with siblings, 60.2 percent are the oldest child, 31.8 percent are the second child, 7.2 percent are the third child, and 0.8 percent have a twin. These percentages are approximately the same for males and females in the group. The percentage who are only or oldest children is higher in the Caucasian (69.6 percent only or oldest) than in the Asian American (57.6 percent) subpopulation (x2 14.9; p < .001).

These students live overwhelmingly in intact biological families (based on responses at the time the student qualified for SMPY or SET membership, typically age twelve to thirteen); 93.3 percent (N=1,057) of SET members live with both biological parents. Of the remainder, 1.9 percent (N = 21) live with one biological parent and one stepparent; 2.1 percent (N = 24) live with one biological parent only; 0.8 percent (N = 9) were adopted; and our data are incomplete for the remaining 1.9 percent (N 22) of the members.

These results portray students who come from stable home environments, with over 90 percent living in intact families with both biological parents. Small families are also common, with two-thirds of the SET members living in families with two or fewer children. In addition, two-thirds of the SET members are only or oldest children. The latter finding is compatible with other reports of gifted and talented students (e.g., Hollingworth, 1942; Terman & Oden, 1925; Van Tassel-Baska & Olszewski-Kubilius, 1989) that note a predominance of oldest children among the subjects studied.

Education and occupation of parents. The parents of these students are, as a group, extremely well educated. Approximately 75 percent of the fathers and 49 percent of the mothers have completed graduate degrees and 49 percent of the fathers and 16 percent of the mothers have completed a doctoral-level degree.

Table 16.1
Parents' Occupations (Expressed as Percentages within Each Row)*

The following are the highest levels of education completed by members' fathers (data available for N = 1,102): 7.3 percent have less than a B.A.; 17.7 percent have a B.A. or B.S.; 25.4 percent have a master's degree; and 49.6 percent have a PhD, M.D., J.D., or other doctoral degree. There are significant differences in the percentages computed for subpopulations as functions of gender and ethnicity: 58.1 percent of female SET members' fathers have completed doctoral-level degrees, as compared to 47.0 percent of male SET members' fathers (x2 = 9.6; p < .0 1); and 66.6 percent of the Asian American fathers have completed doctoral-level degrees, as compared to 41.7 percent of the Caucasian fathers (x2 = 58.9; p < .0001).

The highest levels of education completed by members' mothers (data available for N=1,101) are as follows: 14.2 percent have less than a B.A.; 36.4 percent have a B.A. or B.S.; 33.5 percent have a master's degree; and 15.9 percent have a Ph.D., M.D., J.D., or other doctoral degree. A significantly higher percentage of Asian American mothers have completed doctoral-level degrees (20.7 percent, as compared to 13.2 percent of Caucasian mothers; (9.7; p < .01). There are no other significant differences in mothers' education as functions of either gender or ethnicity.

The occupations of the parents of SMPY or SET members are outlined in table 16.1.⁸ The general breakdowns of parental occupations are approximately the same when computed for subpopulations as a function of students' gender.

However, a much higher percentage of Asian American than Caucasian parents work in mathematical or scientific professions. Table 16.1 lists the breakdown of parents' occupations for the entire population and for the Caucasian and Asian American subpopulations (excluding the parents whose occupations we do not know). Thus, the percentage of Asian American parents who work in mathematical or scientific professions is approximately double that of Caucasian parents in both cases: 74.6 percent of the Asian American fathers (as compared to 40.3 percent of the Caucasian fathers) and 25.8 percent of the Asian American mothers (as compared to 11.1 percent of the Caucasian mothers). The relatively high percentage of mothers who do not work outside the home is essentially identical in the Asian American and Caucasian subpopulations.

Career Interests of SET Members
The career goals of SET members are heavily weighted toward math and science. At the time they first joined SMPY or SET, 81.5 percent of students indicated career goals. Of these members, 50.9 percent indicated that they planned to go into careers in math, computer science, the physical sciences, or engineering; 24.9 percent planned to go into medicine or the biological sciences; 11.3 percent planned to go into law or business; and 12.7 percent planned to go into the humanities.

There are marked gender differences in the career goals of SET members. For the purposes of this comparison, we looked separately at math and verbal qualifiers since the career goals of the individuals in those two high-ability groups might understandably be quite different. Furthermore, in this analysis, we excluded those students who qualified on both math and verbal scores; thus "math" refers to students who qualified only on the basis of their SAT-M scores, and "verbal" to students who qualified only on the basis of their SAT-V scores.

Among males with high math ability, career goals in math and the physical sciences were indicated three times more often (63.8 percent) than career goals in medicine and the biological sciences (20.4 percent); indeed, among these males, careers in medicine and biology were indicated only slightly more often than careers in law, business, and the humanities (15.8 percent). (See table 16.2.) The females with high math ability, on the other hand, most frequently indicated career goals in medicine and biology (43.1 percent). It is noteworthy that, compared to the boys' career goals, the career goals of the girls with high math ability were somewhat more evenly split among the biological sciences (43.1 percent) math and the physical Sciences (30.9 percent), and the humanities (26.0 percent, including law and business). The students with high verbal ability also exhibited gender differences in their early career preferences: the majority of the boys indicated career goals in the sciences (58.3 percent), while the majority of the girls indicated career goals in business, law, and the humanities (70.7 percent).

Table 16.2
Students' Career Goals in Seventh Grade (Expressed as Percentages within Each Row)*

SMPY and SET began identifying extremely able twelve-year-olds in 1980; many members are now college age or older. Thus, we can examine the college majors of SET members as an indication of their interests as they have grown older. Since all these early members were identified on the basis of math ability, a prevalence of majors in mathematics and the physical sciences is not surprising. The gender differences noted earlier in the group with high math ability persist, however. Among all SET members in college (including double qualifiers),⁹ 69.4 percent of males (N 408) and 33.0 percent of females (N = 80) chose math or a physical science field as their major. The biological sciences were chosen by 5.9 percent of males and 26.2 percent of females, and the humanities were chosen by 13.5 percent of males and 26.2 percent of females. (The remaining students are majoring in at least two areas.)

We can compare the career goals indicated by SET members at the age of twelve or thirteen with the majors these same students chose in college. The percentage of students whose field of interest stayed the same or changed between seventh grade and college is set forth in table 16.3. in contrast to other studies that have found the career interests of mathematical[y talented males to be more stable over time than those of mathematically talented females (e.g., Tobin, 1985), the interests of male and female SET members changed little during the intervening years. In particular, few males or females changed from having an interest in mathematics or the physical sciences to majoring in the biological sciences or the humanities. In fact, for both genders, the percentage of students moving from the humanities to math or engineering is greater than the movement from math or engineering to the humanities. (Note that premedical students need not major in the biological sciences. Indeed, several SET members who majored in math or the physical sciences have gone on to medical school.)

Type of School Attended
At the time the students were identified for SMPY or SET (in seventh grade, in most cases), 75.8 percent of them attended public schools, 3.6 percent attended magnet schools or schools for the gifted and talented, 16.0 percent attended independent schools, and 4.0 percent attended parochial schools. Thus, the majority of SET members attend public schools, at least through the middle school years.

Although we do not have complete data on the high schools of which SET members are graduates, the majority attend neighborhood public high schools. After middle school, a few SET members have enrolled in private high schools, while several others have attended state magnet high schools, such as the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. However, boarding-school attendance is rare in this group. Most students have chosen to stay in their community public schools, using flexibility, acceleration, and supplemental opportunities to augment the school program. (See the discussion of options below.)

Postsecondary SET Members
By the fall of 1992, 547 SET members had entered college or were college graduates. Although SET members are or have been represented at approximately one hundred colleges or universities, the majority have attended highly selective institutions. Ninety-three SET members attend or have attended Harvard. Next in frequency of attendance are Princeton (47 students), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (43), Stanford (38), the University of California at Berkeley (24), Yale (18), the University of Chicago (15), the California Institute of Technology (12), Johns Hopkins (11), Carnegie Mellon (10), Cornell (9), the University of Michigan (9), Brown (8), Duke (8), Rice (8), the University of Maryland (8), the University of Pennsylvania (8), the University of Washington (8), Northwestern (7), Washington University (7), Case Western (6), Harvey Mudd (6), and the University of Wisconsin (6). The remaining institutions had 5 or fewer SET members in attendance. It appears that many SET members have been accepted to the colleges of their choice. When a less selective college is chosen, it is often a state university or a college that offers merit-based financial aid and is chosen for financial reasons.

Table 16.3
Individual SET Members' Career Goals in Seventh Grade and College Majors (Expressed as Percentages within Each Column)*

A subset of the group described above has graduated from college (N=276). The paths these students pursued upon graduation were as follows: 43.5 percent (N 120) entered graduate school, 5.4 percent (N 15) entered medical school, an additional 2.9 percent (N 8) enrolled in an M.D./Ph.D. program, 2.9 percent (N~ 8) went to law school, 1.1 percent (N= 3) enrolled in business school, and 19.6 percent (N 54) entered the work force, although some have indicated that they might return to graduate school in the future. Unfortunately, we lack updated information for 68 of the post college members. Nonetheless, the majority have chosen to continue their education beyond the baccalaureate, most in graduate or medical school.

Like the array of undergraduate colleges and universities chosen by SET members, the list of graduate schools SET members are attending or have attended is extremely impressive. As of the 1992--1993 academic year, SET members were pursuing graduate programs at the following institutions: Stanford (22 students), the University of California at Berkeley (17), Harvard (14), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (12), the University of Chicago (5), the University of Michigan (5), the University of Pennsylvania (5), the University of Washington (5), the California Institute of Technology (4), Princeton (4), the University of California at Los Angeles (4), the University of Illinois (4), Carnegie Mellon (3), Columbia (3), Cornell (3), Duke (3), Johns Hopkins (3), and the University of Wisconsin (3). (Other universities had fewer than 3 SET members enrolled as graduate students.) Acceptance at such institutions is indicative of students' having accumulated excellent undergraduate academic records.

Only a few SET members are old enough to have completed their graduate studies yet. Thus, it will be some time before we can assess many of their career achievements. We will continue to observe these students as they embark on their career paths; meanwhile, the academic achievements of the group to date are outstanding.

Programmatic Options for Challenging SET Members
The primary purpose of SET is to provide information to students about opportunities to accelerate, enrich, or supplement their school programs so that they are stimulated and challenged. Our goal is for students to achieve an optimal match between their interests and abilities and their educational programming, through the use of curricular flexibility and an expanded view of learning that includes opportunities outside the classroom.

Students are encouraged to look beyond the lockstep curriculum, to identify appropriate courses and learning experiences in their schools and communities, and to design a program that meets their needs. Highly individualized programs are necessary, and flexibility on the part of schools is required. Some of the options students might consider in developing a program are listed below.¹⁰

Subject-Matter Acceleration
SET member Jonah took high school math in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Matthew took physics courses at a local university while in ninth grade, and David studied calculus with a tutor provided by his school while in the fifth grade. Because of their exceptional mathematical reasoning abilities, these students needed to move more rapidly than their agemates through the mathematics curriculum and related subjects, but chose not to skip grades in the process. For social reasons they preferred to remain with their agemates for most of the school day; they felt they were adequately challenged in their verbal subjects, so moving ahead in grade placement to the level of their mathematics ability was neither necessary nor desirable. Moving ahead in mathematics was important, however, if they were to be adequately challenged.

Subject-matter acceleration permits students to progress in one or more subjects without regard to age or grade placement. It may involve students' taking classes with older students (e.g., SET members in junior high often take courses in high school, and high school students take college courses on a part-time basis), working with a tutor, studying independently, or taking courses in a summer program, such as the accelerated courses offered by the talent searches. However, it is essential that schools recognize such experiences and grant appropriate credit or placement so that students do not have to repeat coursework taken for the purpose of acceleration. (See Kolitch & Brody, 1992, for a summary of SET members' experiences with regard to acceleration in mathematics.)

Grade Skipping
Students who need greater challenges in several subject areas than a typical school program provides and who are willing to leave their agemates may want to skip one or more grades so that they can take all of their classes with older students. For example, SET member Lisa, precocious in reading and mathematics at a young age, entered kindergarten at age four. James completed first and second grade in one year. Kurt, already accelerated in mathematics and bored with middle school, skipped the eighth grade and entered high school a year early. Nancy attended the Early Entrance Program at the University of Washington in lieu of high school. Daniel left high school after the ninth grade and enrolled full time in a local university. Pamela skipped the twelfth grade to enter college a year early.

Students contemplating skipping one or more grades will want to consider the impact of such a decision on their social and emotional development. Academically, they will need to consider whether there will be gaps in content that should be filled, even though their mental age suggests that placement with older students is appropriate. If early entrance to college is contemplated, students should be aware that most colleges do not make special provisions to assist young students; however, some programs, such as the Early Entrance Program at the University of Washington, offer much support to such students (Brody & Stanley, 1991; Janos & Robinson, 1985). Although caution and planning are advised for students who wish to skip grades, the procedure has been a useful mechanism for selected SET members seeking escape from a curriculum that lacks challenge.

Independent Study and Correspondence Courses
Independent study can be used as a vehicle for accelerating in a subject or for exploring subject material that is outside the regular school curriculum. SET member Sophia studied geometry and pre-calculus independently in the eighth grade, while Michael opted to complete his high school mathematics curriculum through a university correspondence course while in the ninth grade. Johanna studied independently to take the Advanced Placement music examination. As a fourth grader, David studied high school chemistry with his mother; he will want to work with the school system to avoid repeating this material later in a formal class in high school. His scoring well on the College Board chemistry exam may help convince the relevant educators.

Provision for independent study and access to correspondence courses can greatly expand the academic offerings a school is able to make available to an individual student. The logistical and social concerns about placing young students with older students also can be avoided in this manner. However, access to a tutor or mentor is desirable, and it is important that arrangements be made for appropriate credit or placement as a result of the experience.

Mentorships and Internships
Mentorships allow students to work under the direction of a knowledgeable individual; an internship is similar but may not provide the same one-on-one interaction. An internship typically provides an experience in an office or laboratory; and it may or may not be supervised by someone who acts as a mentor. A mentorship might involve completing regular coursework under the mentor's direction or being exposed to material outside the school curriculum.

SET member Stephanie did a mentorship in aerospace engineering through a summer program. Thomas worked with a scientist at the Mayo Clinic, while Erik's mentor was a professional writer who critiqued his writing. Emily did an eight-week internship with the American Heart Association. Stephen attended the prestigious Research Science Institute, a summer program that pairs talented young people with professional scientists as mentors. Such arrangements provide opportunities for access to role models and real-world experiences, as well as for expanding content knowledge.

Extracurricular Activities
One should not overlook the value of extracurricular activities as learning experiences. For example, academic competitions can extend learning in a particular subject area far beyond the school curriculum. Winners earn much recognition as well. SET member Jonathan enjoys the challenge of competitions, and he qualified to attend the training camps for the U.S. International Mathematical, Physics, and Chemistry Olympiad teams. Ashley earned first place in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search Competition. In general, SET members are well represented in mathematics and science competitions and do extremely well.11 The participation of SET members in humanities competitions in such areas as foreign languages, geography, and spelling is increasing dramatically.

Students also may use extracurricular activities to gain experience in the arts, athletics, leadership, and public service, fields that are outside the scope of most school programs and yet should be part of a well-educated person's background. SET members participate in a wide variety of pursuits: Mark's many activities included working with a church group; Jennifer volunteered at a hospital and tutored inner-city students; Chris was on his high school tennis team; Jim played in his school orchestra.

Making it clear that extracurricular activities offer opportunities for learning also imparts the message to students that learning should be lifelong and without boundaries; it is not something that occurs only in school. Appropriate use of leisure time will be important to students' achieving their full potential.

Academic Summer Programs
The message that learning should extend beyond school boundaries recognizes that it should also extend into the summer. Summers offer time for enrichment such as travel, music and athletic camps, internships, and a host of other options. However, students seeking academic courses at younger-than-typical ages or courses not offered in their schools can turn to an increasing network of opportunities to take academic courses in the summer.

CTY and the other talent searches offer a variety of accelerated and enriched courses in residential summer programs for students who meet the eligibility requirements. SET students have participated widely in these programs. For example, SET member Patrick took writing at CTY, while Jennifer took calculus and physics. Peter took astronomy at Duke's Talent Identification Program. Other SET members have attended similar programs at Northwestern, the University of Denver, Iowa State, Arizona State, and other universities.

While the talent-search model offers one option, numerous other summer programs that emphasize academic content have been developed for the pre-college population. SET members have been particularly well represented at institutes devoted to mathematics. For example, Jacob attended Dr. Arnold Ross's summer program at Ohio State University (see chapter 13 above), while Anita chose to attend the Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists at Boston University.

High school students can also consider regular college summer school courses. Partly as a recruiting tool, many colleges have opened their summer school courses to high-achieving high school juniors and seniors (College Board, 1995). These courses have the advantage of offering college credit. For example, during the summer between her junior and senior years of high school, SET member Kathleen took psychology for credit at a college near her home.

Study and Travel Abroad
Foreign travel and studies abroad also offer unlimited opportunities for learning. SET member Kevin lived in Europe for several years with his family while he attended high school. Several SET members, such as Amit, who has relatives in India, have traveled to visit family members who live in other countries. Other students have traveled as tourists; one summer, David spent a month visiting Spain, France, and Germany with his family.

SET members have also participated in organized programs abroad. Irwin attended a six-week summer course in Taiwan in Chinese language and culture, and Margaret attended a five-week exchange program in Spain. Ashley participated in a program, organized by the American Regions Mathematics League, that gives high school students the opportunity to study mathematics in Russia for several weeks in the summer. Rebecca spent her high school junior year as an exchange student in Denmark, living with a Danish family and attending school.

Study abroad can be useful to supplement accelerative practices for students who hesitate to move ahead too quickly. For example, SET member Tui was a high school graduate at age fifteen; she then postponed college for a year while she studied in Europe. Besides the obvious benefits such an opportunity provided, it enabled her to be closer in age to the typical college student when she enrolled in college.

Optimal Use of Leisure Time
Many of the examples above include organized activities, whether they take place in or out of school. Students' free, unorganized time should also be recognized as providing opportunities for learning. Reading, writing, doing independent research, visiting museums, socializing with friends, and participating in athletics are just a few examples of activities that contribute to learning and to the development of the whole person. Parents and educators should be aware of the value of leisure activities when planning a child's education. Much that a child does on his or her own can supplement school.

SET members participate in a great many leisure activities. For example, Heather has enjoyed essay and poetry writing, sketching and painting, gardening, and coin collecting. Jim participated in a computer bulletin board, and Jennifer has spent time playing the piano and violin, doing crafts, and reading. These and similar activities develop important skills and interests.

Using Programmatic Options to Meet Individual Needs
The typical SET member employs not just one but many of the above options in an effort to develop an appropriate educational plan. There is much variation in the patterns selected by students because their interests, abilities, needs, and opportunities differ. There is also variation in parents' abilities to intervene and schools' willingness to respond to requests. In addition, continuous reevaluation and planning are necessary as a child progresses through school because needs and opportunities change. Aided by advice and suggestions from SMPY and SET, many students have been quite successful in making the system work for them, in requesting opportunities to be academically challenged. The pre-college educational experiences of one SET member, Chris, are summarized below.

Chris grew up in a community that is not known for its progressive schools. However, the town is the home of a university, and the local schools responded with a willingness to be flexible in their attempts to meet Chris's educational needs. Chris's parents played an active role in requesting appropriate placement for him. As a result, the unique educational plan that Chris pursued met his needs quite well and helped him achieve at a high level.

Chris's precocity in mathematics was noticed early. From the second through the fourth grade, he received tutoring in algebra outside school from a graduate student at the local university. This tutor remained a mentor to Chris throughout his pre-college years. In fifth grade, he took geometry at the local high school, but he was unhappy with the education he was receiving in the fifth-grade classroom. The decision was made that he would study at home, using a home-schooling correspondence program. During what would have been his sixth-grade year, he completed the seventh-grade correspondence curriculum He also took Algebra 2 at the high school, followed by pre-calculus in CTY's summer program. After one year of education via correspondence courses, he chose to return to the school system. His progress in all subjects allowed him to reenter school as a ninth grader. In ninth grade, he took Advanced Placement calculus, earning the maximum score of 5 on the examination. Throughout the rest of high school, he took mathematics at the local university, successfully completing such courses as multivariate calculus, differential equations, and topology. He graduated from high school two years earlier than is typical, having skipped the sixth and eighth grades. He was also highly accelerated in mathematics, having completed almost enough college mathematics to graduate as a mathematics major.

Throughout high school, he was active in mathematics competitions and was chosen to represent his state at the national level. He participated in other school activities as well, music being one of his major interests. Chris has a warm personality and feels comfortable with himself; he managed to maintain friendships with his agemates as well as make friends among his classmates, who were two years older than he. The social and emotional concerns that are paramount among many critics of acceleration were not an issue for Chris, though this is not true for all SET members.

Chris is not the most famous or illustrious student who has qualified for SMPY or SET. Some students earned higher scores on the SAT at younger ages, while others earned top prizes in national or international competitions. Some SET members chose more radical paths of acceleration. However, he is an example of a student whose exceptional abilities required atypical educational experiences and who succeeded in getting them.¹²

Chris spent most of his school years in a fairly average school environment, as have most SET members. By using accelerative opportunities, a summer program, a correspondence program, a mentor, extracurricular activities, and university courses to supplement the high school program, Chris succeeded in creating an educational environment that met his needs better than any one program possibly could. By finding ways to challenge himself, he kept his interest in mathematics alive, and he entered college fall-time with a strong love of mathematics and much motivation to learn, as well as much subject matter knowledge. He is a model for students everywhere~ not only the highly able, whose needs do not quite fit the mold that schools offer.

Conclusion
The SMPY/SET population is a unique and comparatively large national sample of students who reason extremely well mathematically, verbally, or both.

There are few such students in any given school or community; thus, typical school programs are unlikely to meet their needs. SMPY and SET have encouraged these students to choose from a variety of educational options, both in and out of school, to develop individualized educational plans that are uniquely suited to their abilities and interests. An ideal plan should provide for maximum challenge in the student's areas of strength, and also expose the student to the broad spectrum of a strong liberal arts curriculum as well as the arts, athletics, travel, and other activities.

The typical SET member has made use of a variety of accelerative and supplemental options in an effort to obtain a challenging pre-collegiate education. As a group, these students have achieved at extremely high levels They have been well represented at prestigious academic competitions and in competitive summer programs; they have won numerous awards, honors, and fellowships; and they have gained acceptance to our nation's most selective universities and graduate schools.

Data on SET members' backgrounds suggest that they are likely to have well-educated and high-achieving parents; it is likely that such parents value education and do whatever they can to help their children attain the best education possible. Such family support is a great asset, and it has been supplemented with support and information provided by SMPY and SET. However, students at this level have educational needs that are most at variance with a typical school's offerings; they are also at risk for social and emotional problems because they differ so much from their agemates in their cognitive abilities. If we can help students at this level succeed in the system, it should be a less formidable task to help less able students develop a program that truly meets their needs as well.

SET will continue to monitor the progress of its members as they mature and as more students are added to the group in an effort to identify the educational options and other experiences that facilitate high achievement among academically talented individuals. We will also explore the contribution of such factors as family background, personality, motivation, and interests in promoting optimal talent development.

Although nature and nurture have both undoubtedly contributed to the exceptional abilities exhibited by the SET members, appropriately challenging educational experiences are vital to the full use and further development of those abilities and to stimulating a love of learning and an interest in high achievement. These students need and deserve the chance to reach their full potential, and our country cannot afford to lose the contributions that such highly able youths can make.

Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the great contribution of Julian Stanley in establishing the principles and mission that guide SET today and in providing continuing advice and direction. We also thank him, as well as Susan Hellerman and Lois Sandhofer, for helpful comments on this manuscript.

^1. We estimate that students who score at this level represent approximately the top one in ten thousand of their age group in mathematical or verbal reasoning ability.

^2. Regional talent searches are conducted by Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Duke, and the University of Denver. There are also several state and local talent searches, such as those conducted by Iowa State University and California State University at Sacramento. Some talent searches accept either the ACT or the SAT-I.

^3. We thank the directors of the regional, state, and local talent searches who have supplied SMPY and SET with the names of qualifying students.

^4. Students tested after their thirteenth birthday are eligible for SMPY/SET if they score a minimum often additional points for each additional month or fraction of a month of age.

^5. Portions of this section appear in Blackburn & Brody (1994).

^6. See Moore & Stanley (1988) for an earlier review of the ethnic backgrounds of a subset of this population.

^7. This group includes individuals who qualified on both math and verbal scores.

^8. For this study, parents' occupations were divided into the following categories: Math/Engineering, including mathematics, computer science, engineering, physics, and chemistry; MD/Biology, including medicine and the biological sciences; Business/Law, including law, politics, and all types of business; Humanities, including not only the academic humanities disciplines but also social service professions such as clinical psychology, social work, nursing, elementary or secondary education, library work, and secretarial work; Blue Collar; and Full-time Homemaker, for a parent who does not work outside the home. We do not have data on the occupations of 6.5 percent of the fathers and 7.9 percent of the mothers.

^9. There is little change in the percentages presented here when double qualifiers are excluded from this group of highly able math reasoners. When double qualifiers are excluded, 70.7 percent of males (N = 341) and 38.1 percent of females (N = 63) chose math or a physical science field as their major. Among females, the percentage choosing the humanities is smaller when double qualifiers are excluded.

^10. See also Benbow (1986), Brody & Stanley (1991), and Southern, Jones, & Stanley (1993).

^11. For example, in the 1993 Putnam Competition (in college-level mathematics), Harvard's team was number one in the United States and Canada; all three of its team members are in SET's 700-M group.

^12. For other examples, see Durden & Tangherlini (1993).

*Please refer to original version for all tables.

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Permission Statement

Reprinted with permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press.

This article is provided as a service of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted young people under 18. To learn more about the Davidson Institute’s programs, please visit www.DavidsonGifted.org.