ABSTRACT
Fensham's six indicators of a developed field are useful in understanding the progress the field has made over the past 150 years. The formal field of gifted education met those indicators with varying degrees of success, leaving a number of questions and work to be done in understanding giftedness and gifted education. Dai and his colleagues conducted a review of empirical studies between 1998 and 2010 and offered recommendations which improved the empirical trajectory of the field. It includes: continued efforts to connect with fields outside of gifted education, research published in journals outside the field of gifted education, awareness and acceptance of research advances that can inform the field and research conducted that addresses theoretical debates and policy issues. Addressing these excellence gaps, with the ultimate goal of eliminating them, it also helped to improve the United States' performance on those international measures of achievement.
