This study investigated the relationship between social emotional competency (SEC) and academic placement in gifted students. Data were collected on children between the ages of 5 and 12 years old (n=206) in three academic placement types - self-contained, cluster and content replacement. Social emotional skills were assessed by teacher report using the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment. Regardless of placements, the gifted students in this study were rated as having higher social emotional competencies than the standardization group of the DESSA. Gifted students in the cluster and self-contained settings demonstrated significantly higher scores in the area of Self-Awareness, which measures students' capacity to understand their personal strengths and weaknesses. When analyzed by gender, no significant differences were discovered between males; however, girls demonstrated significantly higher scores in the areas of Optimism and Self-Awareness in the self-contained and cluster settings. The results of the study have import for the development of gifted programs, especially for gifted girls.

This study investigated the link between the cognitive clusters from the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Ability (WJ III COG) and Broad Math, Math Calculation Skills, and Math Reasoning clusters of the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ III ACH) using data collected over seven years by a large elementary school district in the Southwest. The students in this study were all diagnosed with math learning disabilities. Multiple regression analyses were used to predict performance on the Broad Math, Math Calculation Skills, and Math Reasoning clusters from the WJ III ACH. Fluid Reasoning (Gf), Comprehension–Knowledge (Gc), Short–Term Memory (Gsm), and Long–term Retrieval (Glr) demonstrated strong relations with Broad Math and moderate relations with Math Calculation Skills. Auditory Processing (Ga) and Processing Speed (Gs) demonstrated moderate relations with Broad Math and Math Calculation Skills. Visual–Spatial Thinking (Gv) and Processing Speed (Gs) demonstrated moderate to strong relations with the mathematics clusters. The results indicate that the specific cognitive abilities of students with math learning disabilities may differ from their peers.