Duke TIP

July 2007

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 five students we expected, we found fifty-four such youngsters in a town of

Training Highly Qualified Teachers

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 entering the general education arena are only exposed to children with exceptionalities (with the emphasis on the learning disabled rather than the gifted) through an exceptional children’s course.

Parents: An Integral Part of School Safety

A parent calls a bullying hotline because her eighth-grade daughter, who is bright and makes good grades at her school, is being singled out for taunts and hurtful rumors by a group of ninth-grade girls. Recently it’s gone beyond just words, and the girls are becoming more physically aggressive—following her after school and shoving her “by accident” in the halls. The girls have even thrown rocks at the mother’s car as she pulled out of the school parking lot. Her daughter has been at home for over a week, terrified to go back to class.

Separate but Better?

Here’s a riddle for you. What do these people all have in common?

Education, Politics, and the School Calendar

Few issues have stirred as much controversy recently as school calendar reform. In school board meetings and district forums across the country, educators, parents, and community leaders debate the educational, social, and financial impacts of year-round and traditional calendars. Current credible research on the academic merits gives year-round schools a slight edge, though much of the controversy seems to be emotionally and politically charged.

Crime Scene Investigation: Solving with Science

Interest in forensic science has boomed in recent years, partly due to the popularity of crime shows such as CSI  that follow a crime from the early identification of likely suspects to the scientific confirmation with hard evidence. Three products, appropriate for different age groups, allow young and old alike to apply critical thinking skills in assessing clues, testing evidence, and identifying the likely culprit: Ultimate Forensics Whodunit?

Kentucky Opens Academy of Mathematics and Science

In August, 120 of Kentucky’s brightest students will begin the school year at the state-supported Kentucky Academy of Mathematics and Science. As its name implies, the school will focus on a strong science, technology, engineering, and mathematics curriculum and is similar to residential science and math schools in fourteen U.S. states (nine in the Southeast).

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 as well as conversations with family and friends about her children’s educational needs.  A mother’s emotions are clearly portrayed during pivotal revelations of her children’s true abilities.