COMPREHENSIVE EXAM (SUPERCOMP) STUDY GUIDE (updated June 30, 2024)
Students are allowed to have one 8.5×11 inch paper as a reference when completing SuperComp.

EPSY 5601: Principles and Methods of Educational Research (12 points)

• Correlation Coefficients (interpret)
• Dependent and Independent Variables
• Experiment Characteristics
• Instrument validity and reliability (including expected Cronbach alpha reliability estimates) and the relationship between validity and reliability
• Means and Standard Deviation
• Normal curve characteristics
• Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research
• t tests and Correlations

EPSY 5710: Intro to Gifted Education and Talent Development (12 points)

• Acceleration Options
• Bloom’s Work on Talent Development
• Cluster Grouping
• Creativity Techniques
  • Brainstorming guidelines and alternative types of brainstorming
  • Creativity competitions
  • Graham Wallas’ stages
  • Guilford’s fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration
  • SCAMPER
• Elementary and Secondary Models
• Identifying Artistically Talented, Preschool/Primary, and Minority/Culturally Diverse Students
• Mentorship vs. Internship
• Multipotentiality and Asynchronous
• Parent and Gifted Child Interactions
• Parent, Peer, and Other Nomination Issues and Systems
• Perfectionism
• Sputnik Effect
• Talent Search (SMPY/CTY)
• Underachievement (Characteristics and Solutions)

EPSY 5720: Developing Schoolwide Enrichment Programs (12 points)

• Characteristics of an Effective SEM Program
• Curriculum Compacting Objectives and Implementation
• “E” – Enjoyment, Engagement, and Enthusiasm+
• Enrichment Clusters
• Evaluating an Schoolwide Enrichment Model
• General Population Enrichment Services
• Lightbulb Follow Up and Intake Interviews
• Operation Houndstooth+
• Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students (SRBCSS) Proper Use
• SEM Services (Which Students Receive Which)
• Status vs. Action Information+
• Student Product Assessment Form (SPAF)
• Talent Pool Student Identification and Services
• Three Ring Conception and Creative Productivity
• Total Talent Portfolio (TTP) Features and Uses
• Type I Delivery and Debriefing
• Type II Scope and Sequence and Types
• Type II General vs. Methodological
• Type III (Roles of Students and Teachers)

EPSY 5740: Strategies for Differentiation the Grade Level Curriculum (12 points)

• Anchor Activities
• Compacting
• Differentiation of content, process, product to respond to readiness, interest, and learning profile differences
• Early Finishers
• Expert Groups
• Features of differentiation for gifted and advanced learners
• Flexible grouping
• Learning styles and learning preferences
• Linkages of assessment and differentiation
• Meaningful and respectful tasks
• RAFT
• Sample differentiation strategies
• Tiered assignments
• Contributions of
  • Carol Ann Tomlinson
  • Sandra Kaplan
  • Rick Wormeli
  • Joyce VanTassel-Baska

EPSY 5750: Enhancing Creativity in the Classroom (12 points)

• Big Five Personality Characteristics and Creativity
• Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivation for Creativity
• Creative Metacognition
• Consensual Assessment Technique
• Examples of Creative Affordance
• Definition of Creativity
• Divergent Thinking Tests
• Divergent Thinking Measurement
• Benefits of the Arts
• Overcoming Creative Blocks
• Four “C” Model of Creativity (big, little, mini, pro)
• Functional Creativity
• Intelligence Associated with Creativity
• Mental Illness and Creativity
• Creative Problem Solving Processes
• 4Ps — Person, Process, Product, Press

EPSY 5760: Improving Students’ Thinking Skills (12 points)

• Cultures for Thinking to Encourage Student Discourse
• Encouraging Questioning
• Encouraging Student Self-Reflection of Learning
• Ensuring Learning is Authentic to the Discipline
• Fostering Positive Classroom Culture
• Fostering Thinking Dispositions and Intellectual Traits
• Integrating New Knowledge with Prior Knowledge
• Knowledge Production Emphasis in Designing Curriculum
• Routines, Strategies, and Cueing to Support Thinking
• Scaffolding Student Thinking
• Teaching Thinking Explicitly
• Thinking Like a Disciplinarian

EPSY 5780: Social Emotional Components of Giftedness and Talent Development (12 points)

• Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory
• Culturally Diverse Students’ Issues
• Debrowski’s Theory of Emotional Development
• Gross’ Sure Shelter Trusted Friends
• Hebert’s Theory of Contextual Influences
• Hewitt and Flett’s Three Dimensional Model of Perfectionism
• Renzulli’s Houndstooth Theory
• Rimm’s Trifocal Model of Underachievement
• Siegle and McCoach’s Achievement Orientation Model of Underachievement
• Snyder and Linnenbrink-Garcia’s Developmental Person-Centered Approach Model
• Traits of Giftedness
• Twice-Exceptional Students’ Issues
• Underachievers and Selective Achievers

EPSY 5194: Seminar (10 points total)

Gifted Education Journal Editors (1/10 point)

• Gifted Child Quarterly
• Gifted Child Today
• Roeper Review
• Journal for the Education of the Gifted
• Journal of Advanced Academics

Professional Gifted Organizations and Purpose (1/10 point)

• National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)
• Council for Exceptional Children – The Association for the Gifted (CEC-TAG)
• Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG)
• European Council for High Ability (ECHA)

Conceptions of Giftedness (5/10 points)

• Stanley’s Talent Search Model – Linda Brody
• Enhanced School-Based Conception of Giftedness – Tracy Cross and Jennifer Cross
• Evolving Complexity Theory – David Dai
• Nonuniversal Theory – David Feldman
• Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent  – Françoys Gagné
• Science of Expertise – David Hambrick and Brooke MacNamara
• Tannenbaum’s Psychosocial Conception of Giftedness – Lannie Kanevsky
• Advanced Academics – Scott Peters and James Borland
• Three-Ring Conception of Giftedness – Joseph Renzulli and Sally Reis
• Transformational Giftedness – Robert Sternberg
• Talent Development Megamodel – Rena Subotnik, Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, and Frank Worrell
• Giftedness as IQ – John Wasserman

Triad Trainer (3/10 points)

• Importance of the first five minutes of a presentation
• Use of visuals, hammers, and system charts in presentations
• The role of seeing and hearing in learning and remembering
• Establishing speaker credibility
• Content, Organization, and Delivery (C.O.D.) factors in presentations

Names (Contributions of…) (6 points)

• Susan Assouline
• Alexinia Baldwin
• Susan Baum
• Camilla Benbow
• George Betts
• Alfred Binet
• Carolyn Callahan
• Nic Colangelo
• Tracy Cross
• Kazimierz Dąbrowski
• John Feldhusen
• Donna Ford
• Mary Frasier
• James Gallagher
• Shelagh Gallagher
• Francis Galton
• Howard Gardner
• Marcia Gentry
• P. Guilford
• Tom Hébert
• Leta Hollingworth
• Sandra Kaplan
• James Kulik
• David Lubinski
• Sidney Marland
• Paula Olszewski-Kubilius
• Harry Passow
• Scott Peters
• Jonathan Plucker
• Sally Reis
• Joseph Renzulli
• Sylvia Rimm
• Karen Rogers
• Del Siegle
• Charles Spearman
• Julian Stanley
• Robert Sternberg
• Rena Subotnik
• Lewis Terman
• Louis Thurstone
• Paul Torrance
• Don Treffinger
• Frank Worrell