ABSTRACT
Developing and providing services to gifted and talented students should be based on a body of theory and research guiding best practice. Even decisions based on best practices, research, and standards such as those endorsed by the National Association for Gifted Children and presented in this text can only serve as guides for planning programs, developing curriculum, and implementing programs. Once programs are planned, educators are responsible for collecting systematic data about whether the individual components have been implemented as designed and whether the implementation is yielding the expected outcomes. The potential gaps between intentions, practice, and outcomes signal a need for evaluation. Too often educators are willing to rely on reports of "what works" garnered either from the research literature or through rumors about success from neighboring districts; consequently, they fail to carefully determine whether or not a practice is indeed having the desired effect on their students.
