Adolescents with interests and talents in specific arts or sciences are likely to pursue further study in these domains when they are provided with challenging curricula, expert instruction, and peer stimulation. There are many ways of generating such academically stimulating conditions. One increasingly prevalent means is establishing selective secondary schools. Intuitively, concentrating talented youth interested in science, for example, with the faculty and facilities best suited to nurture and challenge their intellectual development seems to be an obvious course of action; however, as with most things, the devil lies in the details. These details include, among other factors, the reasons students choose to attend, the rigor of the offered coursework, instructional strategies employed in classrooms, and the availability of authentic research opportunities. The evidence base for the presentation is derived from a study of eight specialized high schools and a comparison group of equally able and interested adolescents not attending those schools. The study is funded by the National Science Foundation. This session’s goals are to address the overall effectiveness of intensive talent development environments in STEM subjects, identify which components of these environments seem to have most impact, and propose how this information might be applied in a wider array of school environments.