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Renew your CGA membership for 2011-2012

August 18, 2011

Time to renew your annual CGA membership with a GREAT deal!  Thanks to our negotiations with TAGT, CGA is offering a fantastic opportunity to join BOTH active gifted associations, CGA and TAGT.  We are one of a very select parent affiliate groups in Texas that is allowed to offer this opportunity so we hope you’ll take advantage of it.  Please see below for the amazing benefits you’ll receive, and more importantly, by joining both associations, you are providing a bigger, stronger voice for gifted education in Coppell, Texas, and the United States.

Want to know more about the benefits of joining CGA?  Click the “join” tab above.

Membership period: August 15, 2011 – August 14, 2012

PARENT Membership Options
Coppell Gifted Association only-

  • Free admission to CGA Speaker Series
  • Program and event notices
  • Advance copy of CGA newsletters
  • MOSAIC early registration discounts
  $20
CGA and TAGT(Texas Association for the Gifted & Talented)  parent memberships

  • Includes subscriptions to TAGT’s magazineTempo
  • TAGT lobbies the Texas and national legislatures to provide funding for GT programs and to enforce GT training and GT education rules.
  • Annual conferences held for parents and teachers.
  $45
CGA and TAGT(Texas Association for the Gifted & Talented)  educator level

  • Includes $60 discount on registration:
    TAGT’s annual conference in Austin, Nov 30-Dec 2, 2011
  $75
EDUCATOR Membership Options
Coppell Gifted Association only (see benefits under Parent)  $20
CGA and TAGT (Texas Association for the Gifted & Talented)  educator level

  • Includes $60 discount on registration:
    TAGT’s annual conference in Austin, Nov 30- Dec 2, 2011
  $75

(form updated Feb 1, 2012)

Don’t miss out on this GREAT deal.  Renew online by clicking here.

If you have questions regarding membership, please contact our membership chair, Joan Bush.

If you have difficulties with registering online, please contact Carrie Clark.

Summer MOSAIC classes are posted

February 7, 2012

Check out all of the options for your current 3rd-7th grader for fun, educational, inspirational summer enrichment.  http://coppellgifted.org/mosaic/summer-mosaic/

Animation
Animation Studio
App Design
Babysitting with Baylor
Balloon Art – Twisting Fun
Catapult
Ceramics
Checkmate!
Creative Writing
CSI Forensics
Film Making – Ready, Set STOP!
Film Making – That’s a WRAP!
History of Presidency & Politics 2012
Lego Robotics
Logic Puzzles
(Mock) Trial at Hogwarts
More Magic
Mythology & Ancient Gods
Origami
Who Wants to be a Millionaire!
Video Game Design
Video Game Design – 3D

Parent Discussion Group now forming (SENG)

February 7, 2012


Parenting Discussion Groups

SENG = Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted

February 20 – April 9, 2012 (Mondays)

11:30-1p, bring your lunch

location TBD

click HERE to REGISTER

CGA Members Only (JOIN NOW)

parenting_guide

Join us for a Guided Discussion Group for
Parents of Bright/Gifted/Talented Students
Based on the SENG Model

Learn strategies for managing the unique social and emotional needs of your bright/gifted/talented child by networking with other parents in a relaxed, guided discussion format. The emphasis is on positive aspects of parenting, avoiding power struggles, and helping these children learn appropriate life skills while enhancing the parent/child relationship.

Over a period of eight weeks, you
will explore:

  • Characteristics of gifted children
  • Communication
  • Dealing with motivation & Underachievement
  • Discipline & Self-management
  • Stress & Depression
  • Peers & Acquaintances
  • Only children & Siblings
  • Parent/child relationship

Where:

To be determined

When:

Mondays, Feb 20-April 9, 11:30a-1p  (bring your lunch)

Cost:

$60 per couple/individual

Includes:

  • 350+ page comprehensive book, A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children
  • Weekly handouts
  • Access to free lending library

REGISTER HERE

space is limited.

Sonya May reflects on TAGT 2011

February 7, 2012

Thank you so much for the scholarship to attend the TAGT conference in Austin.  It was a very inspiring conference, in which I attended a number of wonderful sessions!

A few of my favorite sessions that I attended included Bertie Kingore’s “Tiered Instruction: 35 Ways to Make it Work,” “Web 2.0 in the Gifted Classroom,” “Digital Thinking 3.Know,” and “Best Practices for GT kids in K-2.”

I got so many amazing ideas to use in my classroom and was able to implement many new ideas immediately upon returning to work.

I learned a variety of tiered activities in Dr. Kingore’s session that could be used instantly in my classroom.  I have already used a “thinking triangle” with literature and “math fingers” to help the children not only improve their math skills, but non-verbal communication skills as well.  Dr. Kingore gave us a number of wonderful activities that could be adapted for our classrooms.  In addition, she provided us with several useful websites, some of which I was able to post to my website for student use.  I have already been able to share a number of new ideas with my teammates.

The technology sessions that I attended on Web 2.0 tools provided me with a plethora of ideas for my classroom.  Upon returning to school, I immediately taught my students (and first grade teammates) how to create a wordle on “Tagxedo” as a culmination activity for our study of plants.  It was a great way for the students to process what they had learned in a new and exciting way!

I took a lot of notes throughout the conference and have already shared some of the ideas with co-workers.  I plan to share a lot more of the ideas through a training that I (as well as the other teachers who attended the conference) will provide for the staff at Lakeside.

Feel free to share any of my responses with the CGA community.  Once again, I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to grow as an educator.

 

Thank you,

Sonya May

1st Grade Teacher

Lakeside Elementary

Coppell ISD

Brown bag discussion with Todd Kettler. Gifted: What should it mean?

February 6, 2012

Gifted: What should it mean?

NAGC recently advocated for a new definition of “gifted” that differs greatly from any current view.  This new definition emphasizes:

1)  psychosocial and cognitive variables

2)  developmental model:

potential   –>  achievement   –>  eminence

How could this new definition impact the future of gifted education?

Brown Bag Discussion with

Todd Kettler,
CISD Director of Advanced Academics

Feb 15 & Feb 29, 12 noon

FREE

CGA Members only

Space is limited.  Priority given to Symposium attendees.

To register, contact:

Elizabeth Chappell, CGA President.

 

 

Want to find out more?  Check out Todd’s article that describes the changes by clicking here.

Creative Writing Competition — Final Results 2011-12

February 5, 2012

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Competition this year.  Here are the final results.

We will be taking book orders starting February 8, 2012 (click on Creative Writing Books in left column). Pre-ordered books cost $17 each book, including tax and shipping (1st place winners will receive one complimentary copy) before March 20, 2012. Books will be $20 plus shipping after March 20. A small number of extra copies will be available at the book release party — for the $20 price. Pre-order to guarantee your copy and the discount pricing.

Book Release party is April 4 at 5:45p.  Special guest: Pam Cope, author of Jantsen’s Gift, who has appeared on Oprah Winfrey and has been featured in articles in the New York Times and others.  Mark your calendar now.  Everyone is welcome to attend.

Here are the 1st Place recipients and Honorable Mentions (the stories of  each of these students will appear in the book).  In each category, the 1st place recipient was selected as the entry with the highest ranking in the category; honorable mentions include all entries that received either a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd ranking from each judge.  Honorable mentions are listed below in alphabetical order.

Judging category:

Results:

First Name:

Last Name:

Title:

Fiction 3 1st Place Anvita Ukidwe A Magical Acorn
Honorable Mention Jenny Ji Into The Cave
Honorable Mention Yashasvi Karri Victory
Honorable Mention Matthew Li Donald the Duck
Honorable Mention Aryan Pal The Haunted Sausage
Honorable Mention Rachel Sun True Love
Fiction 4 1st Place Isabelle Hernandez Four Seasons, Two Perspectives
Honorable mention Rithik Chennupati 2011 In Princeton
Honorable mention Sohom Ghosh Golok and His Alien Friends
Honorable mention Ananya Prakash Jill’s Halloween Adventure
Honorable mention Aneesh Sharma Life from a Gorilla’s Perspective
Honorable mention Benjamin Wang Artificial Supernova
Fiction 5 1st Place Manasi Ramadurgum The Tale of an Average Pencil
Honorable mention Mihira Gore My Unfinished World
Honorable mention Chaeyeon Han The Three Wolves and the Big Bad Pig
Honorable mention Nisha Singh Beatrice and Wonderland
Honorable mention Kelly Wei Within Reach
Fiction 6 1st Place Ardi Saunders Huff and Puff and Blew–from a different point of view
Honorable mention Zachary Eckley Invasion
Honorable mention Abbie Hall Escape
Honorable mention Pranjal Jain Face-to-Face with Androids
Honorable mention Asad Khawaja Journey to Calispur
Honorable mention Ashna Pathan Count Dracula’s Revenge
Honorable mention Minjung Yu They Called Me Hope
Fiction 7-8 1st Place Abhi Manivannan The Thing with Feathers
Honorable Mention Nikita Belathur Stolen
Honorable Mention Seoyon Lee Prince’s Story of Cinderella
Honorable mention Aditi Mukund The Beauty of Friendship
Honorable Mention Manasa Muppirala The Mistake
Honorable Mention Aviral Somani Cobra Connection
Fiction High School 1st Place Kelly Hall Doppelganger
Honorable mention Aimee Hyndman Guardian
Honorable mention Prerana Ramadurgum Lost
Honorable mention Lexie Yut A Tale of Two
Non-fiction Elementary 1st Place Maddie Hulcy Unexpected Fun
Honorable mention Chaeyeon Han When the Relatives Visited
Honorable mention Akansha Singh Decisions
Honorable mention Manasa Vemaraju Boston Tea Party – The act for freedom
Non-fiction High 1st Place Rachel Sandle Something New
Honorable mention Raga Ayyagari Thanksgiving
Honorable mention Joshua Chanin Finding My Voice
Honorable mention Jessica Chavarro Goodbye Lady
Honorable mention V Karri Permission
Honorable mention Brianna Williams The Product of a Real Family
Honorable mention Lexie Yut Shower for the Soul
Non-fiction Middle 1st Place Ananya Rajesh St. Eustace
Honorable mention Sara Koh The Unfinished puzzle
Honorable mention Aditi Mukund A Broken Childhood
Honorable mention Nathan Sims The Accident
Honorable mention Shruti Vellaturi Our Texas
Honorable mention Minjung Yu Just a Simple Seed
Poetry 11-12 1st Place Aadam Husain Heart Beats On
Honorable mention Petra Antoine Jealousy
Honorable mention Raga Ayyagari Different
Honorable mention Sneha Ayyagari For the Redwood
Honorable mention Jessica Chavarro Light Through The Confusion
Honorable mention Kelly Stewart Alzheimer’s Disease
Poetry 3 1st Place Sarina Bhattacharya Summer Time Fun
Honorable Mention Jenny Ji The Mouse
Honorable Mention Isabella Zeff A Quiet Town
Poetry 4 1st Place Emilie Sangerhausen The Cat
Honorable Mention Vanuli Arya What It Is
Honorable Mention Langston Gardner How Blessed I Am
Honorable Mention Aneesh Sharma Piano Keys
Honorable Mention Carrie Sheffield Forests
Poetry 5 1st Place Manasi Ramadurgum Inside my Sister’s Pocket
Honorable Mention Almira Rajwani Bluberry field
Honorable Mention Stella Yan Rain
Poetry 6 1st Place Ashley Rivera Unique
Honorable mention nikki falk Think
Honorable mention Hannah Hohman Goal
Honorable mention Christine Ji Hope
Honorable mention Sarah Low Endurance
Honorable mention Lauren McCord Anything in the World
Honorable mention Reyna Rivas Your Best Friend
Honorable mention Minjung Yu Angels Don’t Always Have Wings
Poetry 7 1st Place Meara Isenberg The Beach
Honorable mention Nikita Belathur The Meanest of Them All
Honorable mention Hiran Buyyanapragada Our Home Planet
Honorable mention BILAL HAQUE Fear
Honorable mention Abhi Manivannan The Girl and the Maple Tree
Honorable mention Manasa Muppirala The Best Day Ever
Honorable mention Veronica Nguyen On The Outside and Inside
Honorable mention Trinity Sullivan Steadfast In A Revolution
Poetry 8 1st Place Ananya Rajesh The South
Honorable mention Hriju Adhikari Life As We Know It
Honorable mention Sanskriti Agarwal Mother Nature
Honorable mention Gayatri Godithi How to spend life
Honorable mention Surbhi Kumar Don’t Wing it
Honorable mention Arthi Tarugu The Art of Unmoving
Poetry 9-10 1st Place Katy Li Wishbone
Honorable mention Kelly Hall Dear Shadow
Honorable mention Jessica Kelly Gray Blanket
Honorable mention Emaan Majed Demands
Honorable mention Aparna Panatpur A New World Acrostic Poem
Honorable mention Prerana Ramadurgum New Kid
Honorable mention Lexie Yut Waiting

CGA Symposium — Student Registration is almost full

January 31, 2012

Have you been waiting to register for the student enrichment sessions of the Symposium?  Don’t wait any longer.  We only have 6 spots left in K-2, a few more in 3-5th grade.  These openings will be filled on a first come basis.  Please note that our registration system is not completely up to the minute — your registration will not be confirmed until you hear from our Student Enrichment Coordinator.  If you have questions about availability, please contact Aanchal Prakash.

Register here: http://coppellgifted.org/events/symposium/

A parent must attend the symposium during the time the child is participating in the student enrichment.

We hope to see you at the upcoming CGA Symposium events: Feb 2 and Feb 4.  If you have any questions about this event, please contact Elizabeth Chappell.

Good Luck Destination Imagination (DI) teams!

January 28, 2012

The North Central Texas Regional DI Tournament will be held February 25, 2012.  Teams from Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Lewisville, Denton, Coppell, Perrin-Whitt, Decatur and Vernon along with some private and charter schools located within the boundaries of the above counties.   To find out more about this competition, please click here.

Congratulations and good luck to all of the teams that will be representing Coppell in the upcoming tournament!

 

Rising Stars:

Denton Creek & Austin: Christy McGregor, team manager.
Lakeside: Rupal Chiniwala, team manager.
Lakeside: Mary Creason, team manager.
Lakeside: Kelly Aguilar, team manager.
Cottonwood Creek: Nicole Frieder, team manager.
Cottonwood Creek: Tiffany Gresham, team manager.
Denton Creek & Wilson: Bindi Patel, team manager.

Competitive:

Lakeside: Swada Mahabaleshwarkar & Priyanka Katiyar, , team managers.
Denton Creek: Madhulika Saxena, team manager.
Wilson: Sneha Patel, team manager.

DI engages students through different challenges that push them to expand their creative problem solving abilities.  The end product has to be entirely created by the children.  If you are interested in finding out more about DI, contact our Coppell DI Coordinator, Linda Beeker at linda0402@verizon.net.

Symposium registration for student enrichment

January 24, 2012

The student enrichment classes — for students  while their parents attend our symposium — are filling up quickly.

Sign up your child now for the special enrichment sessions for students in grades K-2 and grades 3-5. Students will spend the day investigating principles of science, forces of nature, music and/or improvisation in sessions designed to challenge them to think quickly and creatively . Click here for details about the individual sessions and registration information.

The Grass is Always Greener… lessons from a year abroad.

January 17, 2012

The grass is always greener…

We just returned to CISD after spending a year abroad. Our children (aged 11 and 6) both went to a top-notch school, a prestigious International (American curriculum) school with a wonderful state-of-the-art campus and a great reputation. Both my children, but especially my 11 year old, learned what it was like to be removed from their comfort zones and adjust to a completely new environment and culture. They became more confident, and able to handle change more effectively. They began to learn another language in a totally different script. By its very nature, attending an international school meant that they had friends from all over the world.

These experiences of living abroad and being immersed in another culture cannot be marginalized in any way. These are learnings for life, which we cannot get from a book or the Internet, which we can only understand from experience.

And yes, it was an enriching and rewarding experience, an exciting journey, a thrilling chapter in our book of life. Yet there was something that made us look back at every turn, and compare. Perhaps if we had moved there from any place other than Coppell and CISD, we might have felt differently, but that we can only speculate on. There was something that kept us from saying, yes, this is where we see ourselves ten or fifteen years from now, that this is the school we want our children to graduate from.

We were quick to compare everything at the international school with our experience here at CISD. And my conclusion was, that in a way, CISD spoils you. The teacher-student-parent involvement spoils you. The sense of community spoils you. We are quick to assume that our school will work with us to figure out what is best for our children. We assume and we take for granted, because that is what we know, that is what we have experienced here in Coppell. And when we step away, we realize, that what we have here in Coppell is really quite special. Only when we look in from the outside do we realize just how green the grass is in Coppell.

So I have put down my observations, and let me add a disclaimer here. These are my observations based on one year abroad, at one international school and in one country. Perhaps my opinion might have changed had we been there longer. Perhaps my opinion might be different had we gone to a different school in either place. Perhaps I’d have had a different viewpoint in another country. They are in no way a generalization, and this is in no way an expert opinion. It is just my viewpoint, as a parent, and it may not necessarily be correct. With that out of the way, here are my thoughts-

It is hard to build a sense of community in an international school when there is high teacher turnover. Teachers typically come in on a contract, moving on to the next best country when their contract is over. For some teachers (and certainly not all), it is just an exciting way to see the world, which is fine for them but not so great for my child. Call me selfish but I want the teacher to be there, not because its base camp to see Egypt or Jordan or Bhutan but because she wants to teach, to enrich, to be involved and to participate, in the overall growth of my child.

It is hard to build a community when there is high student turnover. International postings are typically transient and students are used to kids coming and going. It just becomes a part of daily life, like a train station or an airport. There is one set of core students, and another set of students that come and go. Families extend their winter and summer breaks because they have to travel home, pulling students out of class early. All this results in a disruption of the normalcy, a change in the class dynamic and rhythm of teaching.

Many of the students in the school are seasoned expats even at age 10. New students are just one of many that will enter the class in a given year and they have to learn very quick how to fit in, and adapt to their new environment. They become very resilient to change and that can be both good and not so good. Good, because they learn very early on to adapt. Great, because they learn networking skills at a very young age. Not so good, because friendships tend to be fleeting, many knowing they will not last more than 2 or 3 years.

There was no concept of differentiation or ability based instruction. There was no concept of GT. There was no pull out, push in, clustering or acceleration for gifted children. None of the terms that we have grown so used to hearing, none of the terms that we take for granted here in Coppell. You cannot take a CBE exam at any stage. There is some differentiation beginning in grade 7 or 8, but nothing before that. All students were equal. However it was very apparent that all students were not equal. Not because I think my daughter is all that, but because each classroom was a melting pot of students that came from different countries and schools, with major differences in curriculum. Unfortunately, in a subject like math, they catered to the average, the middle, and sometimes even the lowest common denominator. Any concept of “challenge” work meant “more” work, instead of “more challenging or enriching” work

While at CISD, Town Center Elementary gave my daughter a solid grounding in the fundamentals of math. She was kept challenged at school, given individualized instruction, and mostly given the opportunity to learn at her pace. As a result, at the international school she attended, she was way ahead of her peers, and gained the respect of her teachers and classmates in the short time she was there. But she was bored. It was almost too easy for her and she had nothing to keep her interested or motivated. She was not exposed or given the opportunity to learn out of syllabus concepts, she was not given the opportunity to advance beyond the curriculum in any way. Going forward into middle school too, there would have been no opportunity for her to take a GT or pre-AP class, putting her at an immediate disadvantage, if we were to move back to the U.S in Grade 7 or Grade 8.

Going to a fancy private school has its plus points. The specials were naturally very well funded. The PE program was amazing; at an elementary level, the students were rotated through swimming, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, tennis, flag football, soccer and I’m probably leaving something out. The art program was intense, supplies were abundant and the output of the students was really top caliber. In older grades, international field trips to places like Greece and Tanzania, and opportunities for service learning through projects like Habitat for Humanity added excitement, enrichment and experience to their lives. And I’m sure you all would agree that small class sizes and paraprofessionals at every grade level in elementary school is a huge plus.

So if I were given the decision today, to do it all over, would I still want to spend a year abroad? Would I still travel with my family halfway across the world to live in a strange country? Absolutely, without doubt. Change is always good. Change shakes you up from complacency and forces you to adapt. It forces you to reboot. And with every change, with every decision you will have pros and cons, and you will find the balance. The undeniably biggest plus in this case, is the experience that living in another country offers, and the opportunities of networking in future.

Our year abroad was undeniably a wonderful experience, but its great to be back home in Coppell.

Rethinking Giftedness by Todd Kettler

January 17, 2012

On Thursday, November 3, 2011 most of the nation’s leaders in gifted education gathered in a ballroom at the Hilton Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana for the NAGC (National Association for Gifted Children) President’s Address by Paula Olszewski-Kubilius. NAGC Presidential Addresses are both opportunity and obligation, and they typically resemble courteous overviews of the workings of the organization or some noteworthy research study. But this one was different. The audience knew it shortly into the speech, and rumblings of the speech continue to this day.

Paula Olszewski-Kubilius proposed a rethinking of giftedness, a new definition. She called it a new paradigm, but I’m always leery of the overuse of that term. However, with a month of reflection, I might argue that paradigm is an appropriate term. Anyone who has read Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions has a distinct sense of the gravity of a paradigm shift, disruption of the field, animosity, new hierarchies. Generally paradigms shift slowly and painfully over time. A paradigm is a philosophical or theoretical framework for a discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations are deduced and experiments are performed. One paradigm fades away when it no longer adequately explains phenomena in the discipline. With that old paradigm generally will go a host of supporters who do not see the promise of a new lens.

The Presidential Address of 2011 was preceded earlier in the year by an article published by Rena Subotnik (American Psychological Association), Paula Olszewski-Kubilius (Northwestern University), and Frank Worrell (University of California-Berkley) in Psychological Science in the Public Interest (Volume 12, Number 1, January 2011). The article, “Rethinking Giftedness: A Proposed Direction Forward Based on Psychological Science,” offers evidence that the old paradigm of giftedness does not adequately explain phenomena and proposes a new definition of giftedness.

In her address, Olszewski-Kubilius explained that gifted education is largely marginalized in the landscape of K-12 education policy and reform. In fact, gifted education specialists are rarely even at the table to discuss new directions in education. Gifted education remains in the minds of much of the public an elitist enterprise that is at best a frill for school districts. Gifted education is optional in many states, and even states that mandate gifted services (i.e. Texas) funding and accountability are so negligible that it remains a low priority for educational leaders. The question of why this is the case rings loud and clear. Given the poor performance of even the most talented students in the United States on international comparisons, would it not make sense to address the policies and services to those we call gifted? These questions are not new, but if we take seriously what Olszweski-Kubilius proposed, the answers to the questions could take the field in quite a new direction.

The definition offered by Subotnik, Olszewski-Kubilius, and Worrell is comprehensive and different from previously accepted definitions delineated in state and federal policy.

Giftedness is the manifestation of performance or production that is clearly at the upper end of the distribution in a talent domain even relative to that of other high-functioning individuals in that domain. Further, giftedness can be viewed as developmental, in that in the beginning stages, potential is the key variable; in later stages, achievement is the measure of giftedness; and in fully developed talents, eminence is the basis on which this label is granted. Psychosocial variables play an essential role in the manifestation of giftedness at every developmental stage. Both cognitive and psychosocial variables are malleable and need to be deliberately cultivated. (Subotnik, Olszewski-Kubilius, & Worrell, 2011, p. 7).

Subtle distinctions of this proposed definition will continue to reveal themselves overtime, but some points of departure are obvious. First, there is more focus on performance. As individuals mature and develop, potential must give way to achievement. Previous definitions and conceptions emphasized an ontological giftedness which suggests that gifted students experience the world differently with or without any level of achievement. Ultimately being gifted is being different. I’ve even heard people say, “He’s so different; he must be gifted.” Second, the proposed definition locates talent development within a specific domain. Different domains have different trajectories of development, different milestones. Giftedness is a label of eminent talent across all domains from gymnastics to mathematics to politics, and how and when those talents are developed vary. For instance, it seems that by the age of 25, one could be a potentially gifted politician, but at the same age one could not be a potentially gifted gymnast. Gymnasts have either achieved eminence or not by the age of 25. Third, the proposed definition suggests new emphasis in the research literature of the field. The most common line of research at this point in gifted education is to study characteristics that distinguish high IQ (gifted) children from average IQ peers. This type of information seems much less relevant to the proposed definition. New emphases may include specific developmental models for how expertise and eminence are achieved or recognized in various talent domains. What are key indicators of potential in early years that suggest one may attain significant achievement in subsequent years? What cognitive and psychological variables matter most in developing talent? Which variable transcend domains and which variable are more unique to certain domains?

For better or worse, we have known for years that identified gifted students are no more likely to achieve eminence than non-identified students. Students who have participated in gifted programs are no more likely to achieve eminence than students who did not participate. The education community and the public at large have asked an emphatic why. As a field we have suggested it may be poor identification, or poor programming. Countless efforts have been made to improve both identification and programming. Resulting eminence for the identified gifted students did not change. There seems to be a repeated rumbling that it doesn’t make sense to talk about a gifted guitarist who doesn’t play guitar very well. Is that what we do when we talk about gifted students who don’t do very well in school? I suggest that is a valid but complex question with answers which are just as complex.

The proposed rethinking suggests that to solve the problems that plague the field, we have to completely change the way we think about giftedness, a paradigm change. We do not overcome elitism, marginalization, and educational neglect by improving the identification system, or cluster grouping, or standards-based professional development. At least that is the lesson that our current situation should teach us. Perhaps it is a good time to rethink.

Subotnik, R.F., Olszewski-Kubilius, P., & Worrell, F. C. (2011). Rethinking giftedness and
gifted education: A proposed direction forward based on psychological science.
. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 12(1), 1-54.

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