Abstract

The Culturally Responsive Talent Identification and Career Exploration (TICE) Project, an integrative model to broaden the participation of underrepresented students in talented and gifted programs. Approximately 400 middle school students will be recruited from 40 Iowa school districts. This project by the University of Iowa (UI) Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development directly addresses the critical national need to increase educator capacity to identify and provide talented and gifted programming to underrepresented students. Underrepresented students, especially students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, students of color, rural students, and students with disabilities, are at risk of being overlooked for participation in talented and gifted programs. Project personnel will integrate an expanded talent development model, Talent Development (Assouline, Ihrig, & Mahatmya, 2017), and a career intervention program, A Future in Iowa Career Education (FICE; Ali, Yang, Button, & McCoy, 2013), will be used to maximize the identification and development of underrepresented talented and gifted students. Talent Development and FICE have established promising evidence for increasing the identification, achievement, and academic self-efficacy of the target population (Ali et al., 2013; Assouline et al., 2017). The University of Iowa is partnering with the Iowa Online AP Academy to broaden underrepresented students’ opportunities to be identified and served in gifted and talented programs.

Publications

  • LeBeau, B., Assouline, S. G., Foley-Nicpon, M., Lupkowski-Shoplik, A., & Schabilion, K. (2025). Likelihood of whole grade or subject acceleration for twice-exceptional students. Gifted Child Quarterly. Published online first. https://doi.org/10.1177/00169862241302813
  • Watson, K., Mahatmya, D., Ali, S., Foley-Nicpon, M., & Assouline, S. (2024). Understanding factors that influence students’ sense of belonging and engagement in a career exploration program: A mixed methods study. Career Development Quarterly, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/cdq.12368
  • Mahatmya, D., Assouline, S. G., Foley-Nicpon, M., Ali, S. R., McGinnis, D., & Teriba, A. (2023). Patterns of high ability and underrepresented students' subject-specific psychosocial strengths: A latent profile analysis. High Ability Studies. Published online first. https://doi.org/10.1080/13598139.2023.2176293

Presentations

  • Rasheed Ali, S. R., Mahatmya, D., Foley-Nicpon, M., Assouline, S., & Field, E. (2023, August). A career exploration intervention among diverse high ability adolescents. Poster presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
  • Foley-Nicpon, M., Assouline, S., Mahatmya, D., Ali, S., & Teriba, A. (2022, November). A hybrid model of talent identification-career exploration for underrepresented students. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Association for Gifted Children, Indianapolis, IN.
  • Teriba, A., Foley-Nicpon, M., Assouline, S., Ali, S., & Mahatmya, D. (2022, August). Influences of achievement goal orientation among high-ability rural middle school students. Poster presented virtually at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Minneapolis, MN.
  • Assouline, S. G., Foley-Nicpon, M., Ali, S. R., Mahatmya, D., Teriba, A., McGinnis, D., Field, E., & Shearer, E. (2021, April). Intersection of career and talent development models (Javits-TICE) with twice-exceptional students. Invited presentation at the European/North American Talent Development Summit, virtual.
  • Foley-Nicpon, M. (2020, December). Twice-Exceptional Research and Practice at the Belin-Blank Center. Invited zoom presentation to Bridges Academy Graduate Program, Los Angeles, CA.
  • Foley-Nicpon, M., Stuart-Maver, S., Teriba, A., Pichardo, Z., Kang, S., Assouline, S., Ali, S., & Mahatmya, D. (2020, November). Strengths identification for underrepresented students in gifted education. Signature session at the meeting of the National Association for Gifted Children, virtual.
  • Foley-Nicpon, M. (Chair), Ali, S. R., Assouline, S. G., Mahatmya, D., & Flores L. (Discussant) (2019, August). Exploring the talent identification and career exploration (TICE) model. Symposium presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
  • Ali, S., Mahatmya, D., Assouline, S., & Foley-Nicpon, M. (2019, April). Linking talent domains with career exploration among underrepresented students in gifted education. Invited presentation at the Iowa Talented and Gifted Association Spring Conference, Cedar Falls, IA.

TICE Curriculum Overview