Leadership Skills of Gifted Students in a Rural Setting: Promising Programs for Leadership Development

Abstract

As leadership abilities are used as one characteristic to identify giftedness, leadership skills should be an integral component of program services for gifted students. In one rural school district, a leadership training program was implemented to provide gifted education services. Gifted students in grades 10–12 volunteered to participate in a year-long program (i.e., Team Lead). Students were administered the Leadership Skills Inventory (Karnes & Chauvin, 2000) before the program began as a pre-assessment of their leadership skills. The inventory yielded scores in nine categories of leadership (i.e., fundamentals of leadership, written communication, speech communication, character- building, decision-making, group dynamics, problem solving, personal skills, and planning). Next, students participated in a book club, leadership activities, and the ropes training course. When administered the LSI as a post-assessment, the gifted students improved scores at a significant level from the pre-assessment.