Quo Vadis, Gifted Education

1. Quo Vadis, Gifted Education Joyce VanTassel-Baska, EdD. Smith Professor Emerita College of William and Mary

2. PARTICIPANTS WILL BE ABLE TO: • Analyze worldwide trends in gifted education • Connect these trends to Hong Kong opportunities for the gifted • Draw implications for future Hong Kong gifted program development

3. Organization of the talk • Leadership and the social-political seascape in education • The response of leaders to the call • The trend toward talent development and away from gifted education • The trend toward work with students of poverty • The trend toward options for the gifted outside of school • The trend toward high level learning for all

4. “I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”– Pablo Picasso

5. What is leadership in gifted education? • Attending to multiple realities • Using power to enhance the growth of others • Building learning communities • Accepting and creating challenge

6. THE TWO AGENDAS OF GIFTED EDUCATIONGIFTED STUDENTS ALL LEARNERS

7. The Educational Political Seascape • Standards movement has become assessment-driven and focused on narrow goals • Equity and Excellence still viewed as dichotomies • Competing values between standardization and personalization • Tensions between tradition and innovation

8. So, leaders of the gifted education movement must engage in dual realities—general education and gifted education—to gain traction in the current environment.

9. Know How People Learn • New knowledge is constructed based on existing conceptions . • Usable knowledge is connected and organized around important concepts that support transfer of learning . • The use of deliberate strategies needed to scaffold learning. - National Research Council, 2000

10. Use Models of Research-based Practice • Concept mapping • Articulation of thinking • Promoting higher level thinking • Making connections • Teaching metacognition

11. Make Content-based Modifications Align to standards by differentiation via: • Acceleration • Complexity • Depth • Challenge • Creativity

12. “IT IS NOT THE ANSWER THAT ENLIGHTENS, BUT THE QUESTION.” – EUGENE IONESCO DECOUVERTES

13. Use Inquiry and Ask the Right Questions • What do we know? • What do we need to know? • How do we find out? • What is the purpose? • How do we develop multiple perspectives? • What data do we use to drive our decision making? • What inferences can be made from analyzing the data?

14. Create Systems of Learning A system for program management A system for personnel preparation A system of identification A system for program and service provisions A system of curriculum development and design A system of classroom and institutional support for learning

15. Quo Vadis? • Talent T

16. Why the Shift from Gifted Education to Talent Development? • Disenchantment with the label (giftedness is an essence, bestowed) • Reaction against IQ testing • Focus on performance, not ability (can do) • Works as a metaphor for all of education

17. Gagne’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent INTRAPERSONAL CATALYSTS PERSONALITY Autonomy Self-Confidence Self Esteem, etc. MOTIVATION Initiative Interests Persistence GIFTEDNESS Aptitude Domains Intellectual { Creative { Socioaffective { Sensorimotor { Others { TALENT Fields of Talent (sample) Arts Athletics & Sports Business & Commerce Communications Crafts & Trades Education Health Services Science & Technology Transportation ___ ___ ___ Learning/Training/Practice ___ ___ ___ SIGNIFICANT FACTORS Persons Places Interventions Events Chance ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ENVIRONMENTAL CATALYSTS

18. Multiple Intelligences as a Basis for Talent DevelopmentGardner, 1983 • Intrapersonal • Musical • Logical-Mathematical • Spatial • Linguistic • Bodily-Kinesthetic • Interpersonal

19. Talent Search: A System of Talent Development

20. THE TALENT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS (INSIGHT FROM BLOOM, 1985) • Early exposure to the field • Right teacher at the right time (romance, rigor, master) • Role of schools as facilitative or blocking (not directly nurturing) • Progressive development characterized by high standards, much time and much hard work • Role of home environment in developing work ethic and sense of excellence (parental modeling)

21. Quo Vadis?

22. Why the Trend to Focus on Low Income Students? • Underfunded and underserved • The major issue in general education: How to close the achievement gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” • Poverty traps gifted students in neighborhood schools

23. Life trajectories of the gifted poor • High achieving students from poverty less likely to graduate and go on to college or graduate school than more advantaged counterparts. • Students from poverty more likely to choose careers commensurate with background rather than ability or achievement. • --The Achievement Trap, 2007

24. Psychological Issues of Low Income Students • Identity (bicultural identities) • Marginalization ( lack of a sense of belonging) • Ability and effort balance (smart people don’t have to work hard)

25. Self Perception as a Filter to Adult Achievement Adult Creative Productivity Educational Attainment Occupational Attainment Self Perception Self Perception Self Perception

26. PROMISING IDENTIFICATION APPROACHES WITH GIFTED AT-RISK LEARNERS • Traditional measures • Non-traditional measures • Try-out Activities • Nominations by educator, parent, community member • Use of profile data rather than a matrix

27. Key Services for Low Income/Minority Students • Personalized Learning • Tutoring, mentoring, counseling • Value-added Learning Opportunities • Extended time • Family Involvement and Access to Resources for Promoting Educational Attainment • Tutoring, mentoring, counseling

28. Quo vadis?

29. Why the Trend to Alternative Schooling? • Lack of response to gifted students in regular schools • Targeted programs and services provided • Flexibility in time and content

30. Relevant Acceleration Research • Acceleration strategies enhance motivation to learn among the gifted (Brody & Stanley, 2004). • Acceleration provides a sense of self confidence and self esteem among the gifted (Swiatek, 2007). • Acceleration enhances opportunities for creative production in careers (Lubinski & Benbow, 2007).

31. The Context for Alternative Models of Schooling Knowledge Explosion Alternative Schooling Models for G/T Vouchers School Choice Technology Advancing Privatization Global Competition

32. Alternative Schooling Models for the Gifted • Homeschooling • Distance learning • University dual enrollment and early entrance • Internships • Mentorships

33. University-Based Programs(dual enrollment, talent search, early entrance) • Available based on tested readiness, not age or grade • Coursework taken for high school or college credit • Focuses on study in area(s) of strength, typically one or two • Flexible in respect to course selection and timing • Context of university usually guarantees rigor

34. Distance learning • Requires and builds greater student initiative to maintain viable learning pattern (self efficacy). • Visual mode of learning highly attractive to many learners, based on exposure to video games and TV. • Allows for self-paced instruction with reinforcement and self correction.

35. Quo vadis?

36. Why the trend to high end learning for all? • Societies need high level skills to function in 21st Century. • Students are capable of higher level learning, given opportunities. • Gifted children exist on a continuum of human abilities, not a special track.

37. National Curriculum Network Conference March 6, 2008 Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska Jody and Layton Smith Professor of Education Executive Director, Center for Gifted Education The College of William and Mary

38. THE INTEGRATED CURRICULUM MODEL Issues/Themes Dimension Advanced Content Dimension Process-Product Dimension VanTassel-Baska, 1986

39. SCIENCE RESEARCH FINDINGS: QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES (6 STUDIES) Significant enhancement of critical thinking skills via scientific design for K-8 students Motivational power of PBL Continued growth over time for all groups

40. Language Arts Research Findings: Quasi-Experimental Research (6 studies) Significant learning gains annually in reading comprehension and critical reading for all groups Significant learning gains annually in persuasive writing Academic achievement effects were significant for all groups of learners regardless of socioeconomic status, ability level, or ethnicity. Longitudinal effects apparent across the elementary grades

41. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH FINDINGS (5 STUDIES) Significant change in differentiation practices over two years Enhanced student engagement Secondary specialized school teachers incorporate differentiation frequently and effectively

42. The Integrated Learning System for Successful Interventions

43. Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. – Abigail Adams

44. Consequences of inaction • Lack of social progress/resolution to the world’s most intractable problems (poverty, war, corruption) • Individual disaffection and alienation by the brightest from civic participation/social justice • Lack of cognitive development to optimal levels by the next generation

45. “THE ONLY PERSON WHO IS EDUCATED IS THE ONE WHO HAS LEARNED HOW TO LEARN…AND CHANGE.” – CARL R. ROGERS

46. Questions to ask about each trend • How is the trend impacting the Hong Kong gifted education program now? • What are the long term implications of this trend for Hong Kong gifted education? • How should the trend be addressed in program development initiatives?