Rural school principals and gifted educators from 40 school districts in a midwestern state were surveyed with an instrument used in a 1981 national study of university trainers and gifted practitioners. Respondents rated 24 gifted-teacher competency items on a scale of 1 (non-essential) to 5 (essential). Group means for all items were compared for significance and used to provide a rank ordering of the competencies. Results showed remarkable congruence between both rural groups (as well as between these groups and the earlier national sample) on the eight “most essential” competencies. Greatest agreement between groups was found on items describing direct instructional competencies. Significant differences between the rural principals and teachers occurred on items involving counseling and advocacy skills.
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