-
Earliest systematic efforts to educate gifted students in public schools
In St. Louis, William Torrey Harris, superintendant, allowed gifted students to advance every 5 weeks based on academic performance. This is one of the earliest forms of acceleration that we see in gifted education. This allowed students to advance quickly through school. -
Binet-Simon Intelligence Test
French researchers, Binet and Simon, create an intelligence test that measures whether a child is average, advanced or retarded. The test was identified the slower students so that they would receive special education support. It is revolutionary as it allows researchers to identify intelligence with a single number. This test was then adapted by American Psychologist of Stanford University, Lewis M. Terman and renamed the Stanford-Benet exam, which the fifth edition was created in 2003. -
Terman introduces concept of Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
In 1916, Lewis Terman releases the Standford-Binet intelligence test, which was to measure general intelligence which was thought to be based on genetics. This general intelligence was considered to be a "original endowment" not altered by education or environment. Terman was the first person to coin this as "an intelligence Quotient" or IQ. This term is still used today as well as a newer version of his Stanford-Binet test. -
Hollingworth publishes 1st Gifted Textbook
Leta Hollingsworth published the1st gifted textbook, Nature vs. Nurture" and had a very "child-centered therapy". Hollingsworth disagrees with Terman on one point, that intelligence is not based completely on hereditary but also is based upon environmental and educational factors. This lead her to want to create programs to help nurture gifted students. We are still creating programs in public education that follow Hollingworth's model of nurturing gifted students. -
Marland Report
S.P. Marland reported to Congress in 1972 that the gifted population was underserved. Marland's definition of giftedness 1) general intellectual ability, 2)specific academic aptitude 3) creative or productive thinking 4)leadership ability, 5) visual or performing arts 6)psychomotor ability. This report has really brought about an awareness that we still need to focus on gifted education today, as well as needing to find a way to assess the criteria in the report. -
Renzulli's Three Ring Conception of Giftedness
1978 Renzulli defined giftedness as a cross section of 3 major components 1) above average ability, 2) high level of task commitment and 3) high level of creativity. Renzulli also focused on the services to provide to students to motivate them to reach their potential. He proposes the Enrichment Triad Model to promote curiosity and inductive reasoning. Today, many educators still use his model for gifted education and try to modify their educational model based on his research. -
Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act passed
The Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act was passed by Congress in 1988 and funds grants and the government to come up with programs to identify gifted students. In 2015 and 2016 the Department of Education has given grants to expand models that to serve under-represented gifted students, particularly minority students.
