Soumya’s parents just looked at her SAT scores online and found that she only needed ten more points on her math score to qualify for a prestigious gifted program. Determined to help their daughter however they can, they enroll her in an afterschool tutoring program (more on test prep). Soumya retakes the SAT and when her scores come in, her parents find that she actually performed 20 points lower in math than she did before. Her parents are shocked and quickly blame the tutoring service. … [Read more...] about Should my child retest? Scores can go in two directions
IQ test
Is My Child A Math Prodigy? What Can I Do For Them?
What are some signs of math talent? Mathematically talented students often show an early interest in and facility with numbers. For example, they may learn to tell time at age two and begin adding and subtracting long before they enter kindergarten. Anecdotes shared by parents about their precocious youngsters are helpful in identifying these students initially, but the objective information determined from an appropriate assessment is essential in determining the extent of their abilities and … [Read more...] about Is My Child A Math Prodigy? What Can I Do For Them?
Prodigies and Time Management
Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes a decade of intense practice – roughly 10,000 hours – to achieve mastery in any field. So, how does this apply to gifted students? Do gifted students from different countries actually invest their time differently in accruing those 10,000 hours needed to become masters of their field? And, in comparison, how do students in the US fare? As researchers of how academically gifted students develop talent, we recently surveyed academically … [Read more...] about Prodigies and Time Management
Increasing Representation of Low Income and Minority Students in Gifted Education
Low income and minority students are substantially underrepresented in gifted and talented education programs all across the United States. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, in the U.S. in 2006, 13.1% of Asian/Pacific Islander students and 8% of white students had been identified as gifted whereas only 4.2% of Hispanic students and 3.6% of black students had been identified. Although a number of environmental and societal reasons may contribute to such a … [Read more...] about Increasing Representation of Low Income and Minority Students in Gifted Education
Advocating for Your Child in School: Strategies for Every Step
Navigating a school system to ensure the best education for your child can seem intimidating, but we can help to break your process into clear, effective steps. 1. Identify the Barriers Talk to your child about what he or she is learning in school and in any gifted programming that the school provides. You may realize that the gifted program meets less than once a month or that your child feels unchallenged in class. There may be cause for concern if your child is assigned to tutor struggling … [Read more...] about Advocating for Your Child in School: Strategies for Every Step
Once a Genius, Always a Genius?
Few would argue against people knowing more about the world as adults than when they were children, but whether people become smarter as they age seems less universally accepted. … [Read more...] about Once a Genius, Always a Genius?
What Does It Mean to Be Gifted?
Successful intelligence is being able to take advantage of one’s strengths, compensate for one’s weaknesses. Successfully intelligent people can adapt, shape, and select their environment to best suit their needs and goals. This perspective may be a useful reference when considering what can be done for gifted kids beyond their school curriculum. … [Read more...] about What Does It Mean to Be Gifted?
Giftedness: A Motivational Perspective
True or false? Some people are born gifted, and others are not. You can tell who will be gifted from early on. Gifted children should be labeled and praised for their brains and talent. All of these statements are accepted by many as true. However, as evidence has accumulated over the past decade, another view has been gaining credence that portrays giftedness as a more dynamic quality that can grow or stagnate. … [Read more...] about Giftedness: A Motivational Perspective
Changing Views on Educating Gifted Students
More than a half century ago I began my first serious venture in studying gifted students. We identified students with Stanford Binet IQ test scores over 150 in the elementary schools of a university-town school system. The goal was to discover if the elementary teacher could, with some outside help from counselors and psychologists, provide an effective educational experience for a youngster with such advanced cognitive abilities ( one in 1,000). To our astonishment, instead of the four or … [Read more...] about Changing Views on Educating Gifted Students
Infinity and Zebra Stripes
Wendy Skinner’s account of raising her two highly gifted children, Ben and Jillian, in Infinity & Zebra Stripes: Life with Gifted Children (Great Potential, 2007) will be familiar to those parents confronted with similar circumstances. Skinner’s experiences working with teachers and school administrators are documented throughout this text … [Read more...] about Infinity and Zebra Stripes