For Parents of Gifted Children
Teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities across the United States abound, but are pre-service teachers being provided with the knowledge and skills needed to recognize and nurture gifts and talents in the children they will serve? Most teachers...
Volume 7 / Issue 4 / Summer 2007 Legislation/Law The Editor's View
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...
The impact of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation on gifted children has received national attention in recent months. The February 2007 issue of the School Administrator is devoted to the theme “Gifted Education Left Behind.” This magazine is...
Volume 7 / Issue 3 / Spring 2007 Legislation/Law The Editor's View
Florida recently passed legislation that requires all high school freshmen to declare a major. Each high school will decide which majors to offer from a list of 442 possibilities. The aim is to help students focus on potential careers and...
Currents Educational Strategies Volume 7 / Issue 3 / Spring 2007
In a report to the President of the United States, the White House Task Force on the Education of Gifted Persons states that “National attention to the recognition and development of gifted persons is intermittent, unevenly distributed, and inadequate...
Volume 7 / Issue 2 / Winter 2007 Legislation/Law The Editor's View
Not since the Sputnik era has the federal government exhibited such a vigorous interest in increasing the rigor of math education in America’s public schools. In April 2006, President Bush created the National Mathematics Advisory Panel. This body advises...
Currents Educational Strategies Volume 7 / Issue 2 / Winter 2007 Legislation/Law Research and Theory
What does it mean to be gifted? Experts in the field of gifted education have long debated over a universally accepted definition. The federal definition of the gifted and talented first appeared in the 1972 Marland Report to Congress and...
Volume 7 / Issue 1 / Fall 2006 Legislation/Law Parenting/Advocacy The Editor's View
The American Association for Gifted Children (AAGC) is the nation’s oldest advocacy organization for gifted children and receives numerous calls and e-mails from parents who are seeking information to help them understand the unusual abilities that their children are...
Gayle, Margaret Evans Volume 7 / Issue 1 / Fall 2006 Special Focus Tests & Testing Young Gifted
Will universities stop requiring students to submit an SAT or ACT score as part of their application? Some universities are finding that scores on these tests are poor predictors of collegiate success. George Mason University in Virginia indicates they are...
Ever offer your children money, gifts, or special privileges for every “A” they bring home on their report card? If you do, you’re not alone. Across the nation parents are rewarding their children for good grades in a variety of...
Currents Educational Strategies Volume 7 / Issue 1 / Fall 2006
Each day hundreds of thoughts go through our heads. Some are simple questions like “How can I turn those chicken breasts into something interesting for dinner?” while others are profound inquiries like “What is the meaning of life?” Everyone thinks....
Educational Strategies Volume 6 / Issue 4 / Summer 2006 The Editor's View
In his 2006 State of the Union address, President Bush called for 70,000 teachers over the next five years to lead Advanced Placement math and science courses. This would be an expansion of nearly 38,000 teachers with such training. The...
An Associated Press–America Online poll of 1,085 parents and 810 teachers of kindergarten through 12th-grade students finds that they disagree on many aspects of education, from homework and the Internet to standardized testing and discipline. When asked about the subject...
Currents Volume 6 / Issue 4 / Summer 2006 Parenting/Advocacy
For those who have witnessed sibling rivalry firsthand, the phrase “Me too!” is all too familiar. Offer one child a glass of chocolate milk and the other chimes in, “Me too!” Marvel over one child’s crayon drawing and the other’s...
Volume 6 / Issue 3 / Spring 2006 Parenting/Advocacy The Editor's View
Walk into most classrooms these days and you are likely to see a teacher monopolizing class discussion. Most schools remain largely autocratic even though democratically run schools tend to have fewer discipline problems, greater civic involvement, higher student engagement,...
Currents Educational Strategies Volume 6 / Issue 3 / Spring 2006
Encouraging my two-and-a-half-year-old son to write isn’t a problem. Encouraging him to express himself on paper, rather than on the walls, is the issue in my household. But once the act of writing is mastered and scribbling becomes meaningful composition,...
Educational Strategies Volume 6 / Issue 2 / Winter 2006 The Editor's View
In about a dozen cities, school district administrators are thinking of eliminating middle schools and reverting to K–8 schools. Their belief is that middle school students will perform better academically in a smaller, more nurturing atmosphere. Studies conducted in...
Currents Educational Strategies Volume 6 / Issue 2 / Winter 2006 Model Program/Schools
Many parents who homeschool are becoming interested in having their children participate in extracurricular activities and selected classes offered through the public school system. However, many districts are resisting the idea, citing administrative issues regarding resources, transportation, liability, and...
Are gifts and talents innate? Are geniuses born or made? Nature or nurture? These are questions that educators, psychologists, and philosophers have pondered for years. The consensus in the gifted field seems to be that while talents can be developed,...
Volume 6 / Issue 1 / Fall 2005 Talent Development The Editor's View
Antediluvian ('an-te¯-di-"LOO-ve¯-un), meaning “old-fashioned” or “out-of-date,” was the winning word in the 1994 Scripp’s National Spelling Bee (www.spellingbee.com). Even though the national spelling bee began in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1925, it is anything but antediluvian. In fact, spelling bees...
Currents Volume 6 / Issue 1 / Fall 2005 Model Program/Schools
A new Web site, www.schoolmatters.com, provides the general public with search and comparison tools applicable to a wide range of data about local schools and school districts. Using these tools, parents can find high-performing schools and make more informed...
Currents Volume 6 / Issue 1 / Fall 2005 Parenting/Advocacy Technology
Beware the summer slide—not the spiraling, thrilling water chute found at your local water park, but the loss of academic skills during the summer months. Math skills often slip the farthest, with students losing an average of 2.6 months...
Educational Strategies Volume 5 / Issue 4 / Summer 2005 The Editor's View
Is social studies another unintended casualty of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)? Nationwide, instruction in history, geography, civics, and economics is being squeezed out as schools feel the pressure to meet proficiency goals in reading and math. Al...
Kaplan, Sylvan, Peterson, and Princeton Review are just a few of the companies offering test prep courses for the SAT Reasoning Test or the ACT Assessment. As students aspire to get into the college or university of their choice,...
College Planning Currents Volume 5 / Issue 4 / Summer 2005 Tests & Testing
According to an article in Edutopia, about 11 percent of teachers resign before their first summer vacation, 30 percent after three years, and 45 percent within five years. The reasons? Surprisingly, salary is not one of them. A survey...
Currents Volume 5 / Issue 4 / Summer 2005 Parenting/Advocacy
It’s March and your child may soon experience spring fever, anticipating the summer months that are just ahead. As school winds down, music recitals, awards banquets, and other end-of-the-year events fill the calendar. The flurry of activity can fuel...
Volume 5 / Issue 3 / Spring 2005 Tests & Testing The Editor's View
A new survey reveals that 79 percent of American middle and high school students participate in some sort of extracurricular activity both after school and on weekends. Activities range from sports to music, with 57 percent of students participating...
Currents Educational Strategies Volume 5 / Issue 3 / Spring 2005
Toys. Kids love them. But as a parent, how do you determine which ones offer some sustenance and which are useless, moneymaking gadgets designed for visual appeal? Recently at a local toy store, my husband and I became dismayed...
Educational Products & Tips Volume 5 / Issue 2 / Winter 2005 The Editor's View
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed into law two and a half years ago to provide states with a systematic approach to achieve education reform and improvement. Some view the act as burdensome to states, districts, and...
Volume 5 / Issue 2 / Winter 2005 Legislation/Law Research Briefs
For years acceleration has been misunderstood and has been the least accepted intervention for highly capable students. Finally, A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students, a national report that provides key findings from 50 years of...
Currents Educational Strategies Volume 5 / Issue 2 / Winter 2005
Dual enrollment, whereby high school students enroll in college courses and earn high school and college credit simultaneously, is increasingly the subject of state legislation. Do your state’s policies promote or impede such programs? State Dual Enrollment Policies: Addressing Access...
Currents Educational Strategies Volume 5 / Issue 2 / Winter 2005 Legislation/Law
As summer draws to a close, swimsuits, shorts, and flip-flops are replaced with pencils, notebooks, and sweaters. Once again, you and your child eagerly anticipate the beginning of a new school year. Well, perhaps you are a bit more eager...
Volume 5 / Issue 1 / Fall 2004 Parenting/Advocacy The Editor's View
A new Web site based on the book Genius Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds, by Jan Davidson, Bob Davidson, and Laura Vanderkam (Simon and Schuster, 2004), pulls together an array of information often needed by parents,...
Currents Volume 5 / Issue 1 / Fall 2004 Legislation/Law Parenting/Advocacy
A love of reading is one of the best gifts that you can give your child. We hope that the “Connections” and “Consultant’s Corner” columns in this issue of DGL provide you with useful guidance in this area. However,...
Volume 4 / Issue 3 / Spring 2004 Technology The Editor's View
The No Child Left Behind Act may be leaving out the nation’s gifted students. A recent Wall Street Journal article reports that, to ensure that all of their students are proficient in reading and math by 2014, the public...
Can gifted students receive appropriate instruction in a regular classroom, or do they need to be grouped together for their curricular needs to be met? A recent article in Educational Leadership (vol. 61, no. 2) explores various researchers’ views. There...
Currents Educational Strategies Volume 4 / Issue 3 / Spring 2004
Are students who are bullied at greater risk of developing depression? Researchers from Wichita State University observed 266 elementary school students from the beginning of kindergarten through the end of the first grade. Their findings reveal that, on average,...
Currents Volume 4 / Issue 3 / Spring 2004 Social-Emotional Issues
A growing number of students are looking for alternatives to traditional education. Many online or virtual schools have emerged to meet the demand, and business is booming. Nationwide, about 50,000 students took virtual courses in 2002. Such a learning...
Currents Volume 4 / Issue 3 / Spring 2004 Model Program/Schools
A s the temperature drops farther and the winter holidays conclude, probably the last thing on your mind is summer. But now is the ideal time to begin planning summer experiences for your child. Many summer enrichment programs already...
Educational Strategies Volume 4 / Issue 2 / Winter 2004 The Editor's View
One parent alone probably cannot do much to improve a school, but a group of parents working together can be a powerful instrument for change. That is the message from the Parent Leadership Association (PLA), an organization that provides...
Currents Volume 4 / Issue 2 / Winter 2004 Parenting/Advocacy
As the Duke Gifted Letter begins its fourth year of publication, we enter a quest together: to fulfill your child’s aspirations. As the new editor in chief, I am delighted to accompany you on this adventure. As a former teacher...
Volume 4 / Issue 1 / Fall 2003 Parenting/Advocacy The Editor's View
More schools, taking to heart a recommendation made in “Raising Our Sights: No High School Senior Left Behind” (DGL spring 2002), are assigning senior projects. The goal is for students to demonstrate skills such as planning, researching, writing, and presenting;...
Currents Educational Strategies Volume 4 / Issue 1 / Fall 2003
The Survival Guide for Parents of Gifted Kids: How to Understand, Live with, and Stick Up for Your Gifted Child, by Sally Yahnke Walker, edited by Caryn Pernu. Free Spirit, 2002. Paperback, 167 pp., ISBN 1-57542-111-9. $14.95 This revised...
A Forgotten Voice: A Biography of Leta Stetter Hollingworth, by Ann G. Klein. Great Potential, 2002. Trade paper, 246 pp., ISBN 0-910707-53-7. $22.00 A Forgotten Voice details the life and accomplishments of Leta Hollingworth, one of the founders of gifted...
Do you know your state’s policies regarding gifted education? Do some states do a better job of addressing the needs of their brightest students? Who oversees gifted education in your state? If you do not know, a recent survey of...
Volume 3 / Issue 2 / Winter 2003 Legislation/Law Parenting/Advocacy Special Focus
Re-forming Gifted Education: Matching the Program to the Child, by Karen B. Rogers. Great Potential, 2002. Paperback, 512 pp., ISBN 0-910707-46-4. $28.00 An informative and valuable read for parents of gifted children, Rogers provides parents a primer in gifted...
Book Reviews Collins-Perry, Bobbie Volume 2 / Issue 4 / Summer 2002 The Top Shelf
You have guided your gifted children through many important accomplishments, and the next step is to help them prepare for college. There is good news: as college costs have risen, so have the monies designated for scholarships, many of...
College Planning Volume 2 / Issue 3 / Spring 2002 Karnes, Frances A. Special Focus
The days of “senioritis” are numbered! The last year of high school can no longer be considered a time to relax before adulthood. Instead, it should be, says the National Commission on the High School Senior Year, a “time...
Volume 2 / Issue 3 / Spring 2002 Research Briefs Research and Theory
As an adult, you have probably set many goals during your life, but have you ever wondered if your child has goals? All parents want their children to have aspirations. Sure, your child may want to achieve the highest...
Educational Strategies Volume 4 / Issue 4 / Summer 2004 The Editor's View
A U.S. Department of Education report reveals that parents of middle school children become less involved in their children’s education, because they feel that the children should do their homework themselves and that parents should not help unless they...
Currents Volume 4 / Issue 4 / Summer 2004 Parenting/Advocacy
The Children’s Mental Health Foundations and Agencies Network recently released A Good Beginning: Sending America’s Children to School with the Social and Emotional Competence They Need to Succeed. The monograph summarizes two papers commissioned by the organization. The first addresses...
Volume 1 / Issue 3 / Spring 2001 Research Briefs Social-Emotional Issues Young Gifted