Gifted Child Quarterly Journal Recognizes Paper of the Year and Paper of the Decade

The Editors of Gifted Child Quarterly (GCQ), the scholarly journal of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), announced the 2020 Paper of the Year Award and the 2011-2020 Paper of the Decade Award recipients Saiying Steenbergen-Hu, Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, and Eric Calvert for their paper “The Effectiveness of Current Interventions to Reverse the Underachievement of Gifted Students: Findings of a Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review.” The award winners will be formally recognized during NAGC21 in Denver this November.

Each award was determined through a rigorous process led by review committees convened by the Editors. Award criteria are based on relevance, grounding in the literature, research design, writing style, and the article’s contribution to understanding gifted and talented education. The same criteria applied to both awards.

Dr. Tamra Stambaugh, Associate Research Professor of Special Education and Executive Director of Programs for Talented Youth at Vanderbilt University, served on both the Paper of the Year and Paper of the Decade review committees. Dr. Stambaugh had this to say about why the paper deserved both awards:

Underachievement is an ongoing area of concern for many educators and parents.  It is challenging to generalize the available information on underachievement and even more difficult to do so in a way that is pertinent to a wide audience. Yet, this meta-analysis expertly synthesizes the current findings and appeals to researchers, parents, and educators.

The article also brings to light the need for a continued focus on high-quality research and appropriate interventions and outcomes for this population. Readers will find this to be a comprehensive, relevant, and well-synthesized documentation of our current understanding of underachievement and the gifted learner as well as a roadmap for future exploration. I envision this article being shared in schools, referenced in parent meetings, cited by researchers, and required reading for courses in gifted education.

Since 1957, GCQ has published articles offering new information and creative insights about giftedness and talent development in the context of the school, the home, and the wider society. GCQ publishes original quantitative and qualitative research studies and scholarly reviews of literature. The journal also publishes articles reviewing policy and policy implications, and on occasion, publishes special issues devoted to current topics of interest to the field. Learn more about Gifted Child Quarterly and the journal’s Paper of the Year process.