Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Best gifted education articles of 2016

So... 2016 has been a rough year. But on the bright side, there have been some great articles associated with gifted education. Here are some of my favorite thought-provoking reads from the past year, with a few snippets from each of them included below:


To help students learn, engage the emotions

"Great teachers understand that the best, most durable learning happens when content sparks interest, when it is relevant to a child's life, and when the students form an emotional bond with either the subject at hand or the teacher in front of them."

New analysis finds two measures boost K-12 academic achievement

"This latest study highlights the gap between empirical support for ability grouping and acceleration and the lack of policy support for implementing these techniques in the schools..."

A nation at risk: How gifted low-income kids are left behind

"It's hard to develop talent properly if you don't identify it early. A key part of the problem is that gifted low-income students are not being identified systematically."

How people learn to become resilient

"One of the central elements of resilience, Bonanno has found, is perception: Do you conceptualize an event as traumatic, or as an opportunity to learn and grow?"

The best-kept secret in gifted education: Above-level testing

"The secret of above-level testing is really not much of a secret. It's used extensively at universities that have centers for gifted education. Unfortunately, it's not used much by schools. This secret is hiding in plain sight!"

Beyond the 10,000-hour rule: Experts disagree on the value of practice

"It's just not scientifically defensible at this point to say that training history does or could explain all the variation [in talent]..."

How to raise a genius: Lessons from a 45-year study of super-smart children

"The research emphasizes the importance of nurturing precocious children, at a time when the prevailing focus in the United States and other countries is on improving the performance of struggling students..."

Grit is the buzzword among parents today. But are we focusing on the wrong thing?

"...our collective emphasis on grit is causing us to overlook other critical skills, and that oversight is having real consequences for our children."

America's report card: We're still ignoring low-income high-achievers

"The 'excellence gap,' then, is really two gaps. First, it means not enough high-achievers to assure the nation's long-term economic competitiveness, security, and cultural vitality. Second, it means not nearly enough disadvantaged kids reaching that level, suggesting not even a modicum of equal opportunity."

Rethinking intelligence: How does imagination measure up?

"An individual's goals within the learning classroom and excitement about a topic affect how he or she pursues learning, none of which is captured on IQ tests."

Why do fewer black students get identified as gifted?

"Whether the strategy is universal screening or better training of teachers to recognize giftedness among all students or another approach, our research suggests that school districts need to get serious about making sure that gifted services are accessible to all students who need them."

Should I grade-skip my gifted child?

"When gifted students who grade-skipped were compared to similarly gifted students who did not grade-skip, the grade-skipped students came out ahead in all academic categories."

Getting restless at the head of the class

"Every classroom has a few overachievers who perform above their grade level and don't feel challenged by the status quo. A new report suggests they are surprisingly common - in some cases, nearly half of all students in a given grade."

Our misguided effort to close the achievement gap is creating a new inequality: The 'play' gap 

"And now, in a misguided effort to close the achievement gap, we are creating a new kind of inequality...We are planting the seeds of disengagement for the young children we want to see succeed and stay in school."


Thanks to all of you for following this blog. Wishing you all a wonderful New Year!

Gail