Abstract
In 1972 the Marland Report included “leadership” as a domain of giftedness to be used in the identification of students for gifted and talented programs. Following the publication of the report, educators and researchers began to notice the deficit of effective leadership training programs available to students identified as gifted and talented in the United States (Feldhusen & Kennedy, 1988; Karnes & Chauvin, 1986; Passow, et. al., 1989; Sisk, 1988; Smyth & Ross, 1999). Current literature points to transformational leadership as the most effective style. Transformational leaders inspire, motivate, support, and work towards the best interests of a group (Karnes & Bean, 1996; Ross & Smyth, 1995). Although leadership training programs based on building transformational skills are rare in the United States, service-learning is one movement already in existence that provides students with a setting in which to develop more effective leadership. This study compared the leadership development of two groups of adolescent students in an advanced language arts class based on their scores on the Leadership Skills Inventory (Karnes & Chauvin, 2000b). Requirements to be in the class were either (a) identification as gifted and talented or (b) recommendation from a previous language arts teachers. The control group received no supplemental leadership program, while the experimental group participated in a service-learning project between the pre- and post-assessments. Results indicated a significant increase in four categories of the Leadership Skills Inventory for the experimental group between the pre-assessment and post-assessment measures: fundamentals of leadership (FL), speech communication skills (SPS), group dynamic skills (GDS), and planning skills (PLS). Qualitative data was also collected on students’ perceptions of effective leadership. After participating in the service-learning project, these perceptions shifted to include more characteristics of transformational leadership.
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