The Impact of Aligning Instruction to Cognitive Strengths for Gifted Learners

This study examined whether aligning gifted education instruction to students’ cognitive reasoning strengths is associated with improved academic achievement. Using a quasi-experimental design with overlapping cohorts, outcomes for gifted students in Grades 3–5 from one large urban school district were compared across two academic years. The comparison cohort included 2,836 students from 47 schools, and the intervention cohort included 2,735 students from 48 schools. The intervention cohort participated in the Stretch or Support (SOS!) program, which uses cognitive reasoning profiles to guide instructional grouping and differentiation based on students’ relative verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal strengths; the prior-year cohort served as a comparison group. Academic growth was assessed using fall-to-spring i-Ready Reading and Mathematics scores and analyzed using descriptive statistics and hierarchical modeling. Results indicated that students in the intervention cohort showed significantly greater growth in both reading and mathematics, with larger and more consistent differences observed in mathematics. Findings suggest that participation in instruction aligned to cognitive reasoning strengths was associated with higher academic growth among gifted learners.