The five commissioned papers in this anthology provided part of the research base for the national report, "National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent." In the first paper, "The Performance of High Ability Students in the United States on National and International Tests," Carolyn Callahan describes discouraging national and international academic achievement data which indicate that America's top students continue to lag behind top students in other comparable nations. In the second paper, "Education of Gifted and Talented Students in China, Taiwan, and Japan," Harold W. Stevenson et al. report on studies of children's academic achievement in East Asia over the past 11 years and analyze those Asian nations' policies and practices for educating high-ability students. In the third paper, "State Policy Issues in the Education of Gifted and Talented Students," Patricia Bruce Mitchell examines current state policies, regulations, and legislation concerning education programs for gifted and talented students. She also discusses state policies which influence the nature and scope of gifted programming and considers implications of recent school restructuring efforts. James Gallagher, in "Current and Historical Thinking on Education for Gifted and Talented Students," describes how early cultures addressed or failed to address the needs of gifted children and contends that our society has traditionally had ambivalent feelings toward gifted children. He offers several definitions of giftedness and evaluates various educational methods with this population. In the final paper, "American Culture and the Gifted," Daniel P. Resnick and Madeline Goodman examine the role that the American culture and political beliefs have played in shaping the educational system. They suggest that forces outside the classroom (such as anti-intellectual attitudes) may account for more of the success or failure of programs for the gifted than previously thought. Each paper contains references. (DB)