ABSTRACT
Educators, along with parents, play a key role in helping a gifted and talented student reach his or her full potential. Understanding the social-emotional and cognitive needs of gifted students requires that all educators involved in the development and implementation of gifted programs be involved in professional development. Professional development can be provided in many ways and should be a key component of any defensible program for gifted students. ESL/ELL students learning strengths are often overlooked. Barriers such as communication with parents and lack of understanding of cultural differences by educators who make service decisions create hesitancy for school personnel to pursue gifted services for this population of students. Rosamaria's case study addresses the need for professional development to help school districts deal with the dilemma of balancing learning needs and strengths for students from backgrounds different than majority students. This case also includes the impact of Response to Intervention (RtI) on all students, including those from different cultures.
